Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Webinar: Innovative Approaches to Improving the
Literacy and Essential Skills of Immigrants
2
Webinar Agenda
Welcome
Essential Skills and Labour Market Integration for Newcomers – Shareef Korah, Office of Literacy and Essential Skills
Essential Skills Initiatives in Language and Employment Programming
– Carol Derby, Immigrant Settlement and Integration Services
Engineering and Technology Upgrading Program – Karen O’Leary, Calgary Catholic Immigration Society
The Impact of Essential Skills Training for Immigrant Professionals – Laurel Madro, Bow Valley College
Questions and Discussion
3
Essential Skills and Labour Market Integration for Newcomers
Shareef Korah, Policy Analyst, Office of Literacy and Essential Skills
4
Reading
Writing
Document Use
Numeracy
Computer Use
Thinking
Oral Communication
Working with Others
Continuous Learning
Fundamental skills that make it possible for people to learn other skills.
Help people get a job, adapt to
change and succeed in the workplace.
Lite
racy
Esse
ntia
l Ski
lls
Understanding Essential Skills
5
Essential Skills
and Newcomers
6
Essential Skills and Labour Market Attachment Attachment to the labour market is critical within the first 5
years of arrival.
Research shows that low levels of language proficiency are strongly associated with unfavourable labour market outcomes.
While the percentage of newcomers with no English or French has decreased, there are still some who lack the oral communication skills needed to get a job and succeed at work.
Traditional language training alone may not be enough to help newcomers develop the skills needed to find employment and integrate successfully into the Canadian workplace.
7
Immigrants are important to labour force growth in Canada, however some face challenges English skills or workplace language may not be sufficient for the position. Non-verbal communication skills in a Canadian context may be lacking. Important workplace skills such as Working with others, continuous
learning and critical thinking may also present challenges.
Government, Service Providers and Training Providers can play a vital role by: Developing tools/practices to assist with the integration of new
immigrants; Ensuring that programs support immigrants to develop the skills that are in
demand in the workplace.
Newcomers and ES: An Employer Perspective
8
The Office of Literacy and Essential Skills (OLES)
OLES is a Centre of Expertise with a workplace focus, building
awareness and capacity in “what works” to improve the literacy and essential skills
of adult Canadians.
SUPPORTING NETWORKS
PROJECTS
KNOWLEDGE TOOLS AND RESOURCES
PARTNERSHIPS
9
Knowledge: Essential Skills Profiles
Essential Skills Profiles describe how workers in various occupations use each of the key essential skills. They include:
A brief description of the occupation; Examples of tasks that illustrate how each essential skill is applied; and Complexity ratings that indicate the level of difficulty of the example tasks.
10
Tools and Resources: Apprenticeship
MINI PROFILE: CARPENTER
INFORM ASSESS SUPPORT
10
11
Tool and Resources: Support Tools
MENTORING AND ESSENTIAL SKILLS
7
INFORM ASSESS SUPPORT
12
Partnerships: Settlement AT work Wikipage
13
Essential Skills Initiatives in Language and Employment
Programming
Carol Derby Manager, Labour Market Language
Immigrant Settlement and Integration Services (ISIS)
14
Why Essential Skills?
In Canada there are major
gaps between the skills
our jobs require and the
skills our workers possess.
~ Stacey Huget presenter at
Taking It to the Street
Today, many companies
are reporting that their
number one constraint on
growth is the inability to
hire workers with the
necessary skills.
~ Bill Clinton
15
How do we use Essential Skills?
Essential Skills are the foundation of everything we do.
Source: Ontario Skills Passport
16
Where do we use Essential Skills?
In Language & Communication Skills: Informing Curricula Lesson Planning Learner Assessment
In Employment Services: Employment Counselling Job Search Workshops Work Placements Other Employment Programs
New Initiatives
17
ES in Language Programming
Informing Curricula Lesson Planning Learner Assessment
18
Is it an Essential Skills Task? Ask yourself these questions:
Does the activity have a purpose? Will individuals do this outside the classroom?
If ‘YES’, then you have an Essential Skills task.
19
Connecting Essential Skills to Language
Source: Relating Canadian Language Benchmarks to Essential Skills - A Comparative Framework
22
Essential Skills in Curriculum Development
25
Essential Skills in Lesson Planning
26
Employment Counselling
Job Search Workshops
Work Placements
Essential Skills in Employment Programming
27
Essential Skills
Profiles
Source: Employment and Social Development Canada
Essential Skills in Employment Counselling
28 Source: Employment and Social Development Canada
Essential Skills in Employment Counselling
29
Essential Skills in Job Search Workshops
31 Source: Employment and Social Development Canada
Essential Skills in Job Search Workshops
32
Self assessment
Source: The Conference Board of Canada: Employability Skills 2000+
Essential Skills in Work Placements
33
Employer evaluation
Essential Skills in Work Placements
34
Practice Interviews
IPG Communication Skills Lab
IMG Clinical Skills Review
Engineering Competency Assessment
Essential Skills in Employment Programs
35
New Initiatives
Essential Skills Committee
Exploring concept of a Skills Portfolio
36
The Calgary Catholic Immigration Society’s
Engineering and Technology Upgrading Program
Karen O’Leary, Special Projects Resource, Business, Employment & Training Services
37
About CCIS
The Calgary Catholic Immigration Society (CCIS) is a non-profit organization that offers settlement and integration support to immigrants and refugees in Southern Alberta.
Since our incorporation in 1981, CCIS has provided over 30 years of programs, services, and community partnerships.
38
About CCIS (continued)
CCIS offers programs and services in the areas of Community Development, Resettlement and Integration, Services for Families and Children, Health and Wellness, and Business, Employment and Training.
Our team of 204 staff members and 1,600 volunteers collectively speak more than 60 languages.
We offer over 70 programs and services out of 14 service locations.
CCIS serves over 11,000 newcomers each year.
39
More than 2,600 newcomers receive our employment services each year.
Services include employment training, language learning, employment counseling, and skills enhancement to assist immigrants and refugees in achieving their career goals.
Through our partnerships with local businesses, sector councils, and educational institutions, we develop and deliver programs and services that address the evolving needs of the newcomer population and employers, as well as emerging labour market demands.
CCIS’ Business, Employment and Training Services (BETS) Division
40
CCIS’ Integrated Training and Bridging Programs
Since 1985, CCIS has delivered more than 120 Integrated Training and Bridging Programs in 15 different industries.
We currently facilitate several long-term Integrated Training and Bridging programs in Oil and Gas (Seismic, Drilling, Power Engineering, and Service Rig), as well as training for Engineers, Millwrights, Electricians, and Sheet Metal Workers.
41
CCIS’ Integrated Training and Bridging Programs have been designed to provide customized skills enhancement and upgrading to foreign-trained professionals with backgrounds in specific trades and technical fields.
Programs include Employability Skills and Essential Skills-based training with CCIS, Occupational Skills training with the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, and an unpaid Work Experience Placement with a local employer, many of which lead to permanent employment.
CCIS’ Integrated Training and Bridging Programs
42
The Engineering and Technology Upgrading Program
This program has been developed, in partnership with SAIT, to provide newcomers, who have education and experience in the Engineering field, with the necessary training to work towards their professional designation in Alberta, and to secure employment in their field of expertise.
43
Training Components
Each intake of the program provides 15 newcomers with:
– 9 weeks of Essential Skills and Employability Skills Training with CCIS;
– 5 weeks of AutoCAD and Occupational Skills Training with SAIT;
– 12-week Collaborative Work Experience Placement.
44
CCIS’ Essential Skills Training
The Engineering and Technology Upgrading Program includes training in all 9 Essential Skills.
This training component is marketed to participants as “Required Competencies to meet the standards and expectations of Engineering Occupations in Alberta.”
The targeted competencies are based on extensive feedback from industry representatives, as well as the HRSDC Essential Skills Profiles for NOC groups 213 (Civil, Mechanical, Electrical and Chemical Engineers) and 214 (Other Engineers).
45
Essential Skill Required Competencies
Writing
Write entries in reporting or administrative forms
Write emails and memos to other staff members to give instructions or inform regarding project status, procedures, etc.
Write detailed reports for various clientele. For example, Chemical Engineers write trial reports for the operations team and edit summary versions for management.
Examples of Essential Skills-Based Competencies
46
Essential Skill
Required Competencies
Reading
Read and understand emails and letters from coworkers, colleagues, and clients confirming meeting arrangements, responding to questions or enquiring about the status and content of projects
Read and analyze research and reports Read and analyze articles in professional
journals specific to their areas of expertise Read and critique technical reports Read and synthesize text entries in
administrative and reporting forms
Examples of Essential Skills-Based Competencies
47
To master each competency, participants complete individual and group-based classroom activities, which are assessed by the Instructor.
All training activities are based on workplace case studies and authentic workplace materials, which have been provided by our partnering employers, and other sector council and industry representatives.
Training Activities
48
Based on feedback from employers, foreign-trained professionals require the most support and upgrading in:
Reading Writing
Oral Communication Working with Others
Not surprisingly, the skills for which newcomers require the most support are those that are language-based and largely informed by culture.
What we’ve heard
49
The 12-week work experience placement provides participants with an opportunity to apply their Essential Skills in an authentic workplace.
Employers are asked to assess participants’ demonstration of Essential Skills in their daily operations.
Employers evaluate participants using an “Essential Skills Competencies Checklist.”
The Work Experience Placement
50
Please indicate if you feel your work experience participant
demonstrates the necessary mastery of the following
competencies to meet your standards and expectations.
Writing Skills
Can the work experience participant...
Write entries in reporting and administrative forms? Y N N/A Write emails and memos to other staff members? Y N N /A Write detailed reports? Y N N/A
Additional Comments or Suggestions for Improvement:
Sample Content from the ES Competencies Checklist for Employers
51
Thinking Skills
Can the work experience participant...
Reach and share innovative solutions to common workplace problems or challenges? Y N N/A Demonstrate leadership and decision-making abilities? Y N N /A Demonstrate job-task planning and organizational skills? Y N N/A Prioritize tasks and create schedules to meet project deadlines? Y N N/A
Additional Comments or Suggestions for Improvement:
Sample Content from the ES Competencies Checklist for Employers (cont’d)
52
Employers monitor participant’s workplace activities and performance and complete these evaluations at the mid-point and end of the 12-week work experience placement.
Throughout the work experience placement, participants receive ongoing support from program staff in the form of useful links, resources, and customized assignments to help them to further enhance their skills, in accordance with their employer’s feedback.
The Work Experience Placement
53
Outcomes of the Engineering and Technology Upgrading Program CCIS is currently delivering our 26th intake of the
Engineering and Technology Upgrading Program.
Since 1994, 375 foreign-trained Engineers have completed the program.
The average success rate of the completed intakes of the program is 97%, where the required rate is 75%.
54
Our success rates are based on participant employment, in occupations commensurate with their skills and qualifications, at the 6-month follow-up.
Participants view Essential Skills training component as an opportunity to upgrade their skills and demonstrate the necessary competencies to integrate into, and succeed within, their professional field in a Canadian context.
Based on employer feedback, participants consistently demonstrate the necessary Essential Skills, workplace competencies and Employability Skills to ensure job retention.
Long-Term Success for Program Participants
55
a stranger & you made me welcome
I was
56
The Impact of Essential Skills Training for Immigrant Professionals
Laurel Madro, Program Coordinator, Centre for Career Advancement/TOWES, Bow Valley College
57
The Concrete Experience
Working with Internationally Trained Professionals (ITP) since 1999 through CRTP.
Some ITPs were not reaching their potential in the workplace.
Needs assessments and research resulted in the identification of skills gaps.
58
Examples of Skills Gaps
Searching for information on the internet.
Writing email and other correspondence.
Presenting or creating presentations.
Completing internal forms, on-line and on paper, such as vacation request forms or other HR related documents.
59
Test of Workplace Essential Skills.
IALS (International Adult Literacy Survey).
Re-defined literacy: Reading Text, Document Use, Numeracy.
Lead to the 9 Workplace Essential Skills.
What is TOWES?
60
• 0-225 Level 1
• 226-275 Level 2
• 276-325 Level 3
• 326-375 Level 4
• 376-500 Level 5
Complexity Levels for TOWES
61
What is the relationship between the TOWES scores of Internationally Educated Professionals (IEP) and employer reported workplace performance? Are IEPs with higher TOWES scores better performers at work?
The Research Question
62
Use of TOWES and other assessment tools to determine skills gaps.
Collection of qualitative data from host companies and alumni.
Review of English language levels needed to complete workplace tasks in all 4 (reading, writing, listening and speaking)
Factoring in the changing digital technology demands.
Understanding the cultural differences in expected work duties.
Observation and Applied Research
63
40% of Canada’s Adults do not have ES levels needed for satisfactory job performance.
Employers cannot assume a sufficient supply of fully skilled workers.
Failing to eliminate ES shortages constrains innovation and adaptation to new technologies.
The Business Case
64
Corporate Readiness Training Program (CRTP) experience lead to Success in the Workplace, an OLES funded project.
Workplace training initiatives that included: – AltaLink – Vista Projects – City of Calgary – Worley Parsons
What We Did
65
Developed to fit into the work schedule.
Tested all employees who expressed interest.
Getting employer and learner buy-in.
Delivered a blended approach with on-line and classroom training.
Pre & Post tested with TOWES.
Tested oral communication with Versant.
How the Program Worked
66
Customizing training to meet the needs of the organization and the learner.
Meeting with management and staff to do a preliminary assessment of skills gaps.
Build lessons around the thinking skills in the periodic table of learning.
Posting materials on a Wiki so learners can go back and review.
Teach strategies and keep referring back to those strategies with each lesson.
Customized Training
Periodic Table of Learning
67
Results: ACCC National Framework
68
Corporate Readiness Training Program (CRTP): Applied Research Project
Collectively they have:
4 PhDs 18 Masters Degrees 34 Bachelor’s Degrees 2 diplomas 1 certificate 1 CGA designation
Pakistan Japan Nigeria Colombia Israel Russia China India Nepal Iran Iraq
Peru Tunisia Nicaragua Venezuela Bangladesh Ukraine Egypt Philippines Sri Lanka Kazakhstan
Countries of origin: Academic background of test subjects:
69
Mean RT DU N Low RT DU N High RT DU NPre Test 262.6 241.9 275.4 204 187 198 339 318 354Post Test 278 250.2 287.8 217 187 220 340 325 359
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400TO
WES
Raw
Sco
re
CLB Average High Low
Reading 8.5 10 7
Writing 8.1 10 7
L/S 8.4 10 7
TOWES Results
70
Levels 1 &2 struggled the most and only 1 of the 5 lowest had found employment 3 months after the end of the program.
Levels 3-3+ performed better in work placement and 5 of 7 found employment (one had health issues and one went back to school).
Factors affecting employment:
PhD specializations limit number of opportunities;
Poor economy during study; Lower skills levels; Health issues.
Employment: 3 Months Later
71
Essential Skills Workshop at ACCC CIIP offices.
Pilot project that trained over 300 professionals in China, India and the Philippines.
45 coached on-line.
New Delhi, India July 2012
Essential Skills for Immigrants: Pre-Arrival Training
72
Summary
In all projects, learners reported a greater confidence in their ability to navigate workplace documents and find and use information.
Learners who are tested at TOWES Level 3 were able to:
– work more independently; – work more safely; – learn on the job; – be more accurate and efficient at work.
73
Questions and Discussion
