An Orientation Guide for the New LBS College Practitioner

Unit # 7: Key Ministry Initiatives, Strategies and Projects

Objective:

to learn about current Ministry initiatives and their impact on your LBS program

Literacy for the Workplace

The Workplace Literacy Strategy was released in 2000 to further develop LBS and extend literacy services to the workplace. See Appendix 6 of the LBS Guidelines for a description of this initiative: http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/training/literacy/basic/basic.pdf

The strategy has two parts:

Workforce which focuses on making LBS-funded services more responsive to the workplace, so that learners are better prepared for entering or remaining in the workforce
Workplace which focuses on making LBS-like services available to the workplace on a fee-for-service basis

Workplace literacy is usually delivered on site. Workforce literacy is usually delivered in LBS classrooms and is more generally applicable than the specific demands of a given workplace. Log on to http://www.on.literacy.ca/literacy/litfact/work.pdf to review a four-page fact sheet on workforce literacy developed by the Ontario Literacy Coalition. It will give you a quick overview of workforce literacy.

While there has been some initial activity to introduce workplace literacy to the field via five pilot sites, full implementation has been delayed. The new activities, Taking Stock and Building Capacity, initiated by the Ministry in 2003-2004, are designed to strengthen the capacity of delivery agencies to serve learners with employment goals. Taking Stockinvolves a site survey and a community survey that together will provide a summary of where agencies are at with workforce activities. Building Capacity involves professional development opportunities for practitioners in workforce literacy.

These initiatives are very timely for colleges. In Nove mber 2003, the colleges of Ontario Network (CON*NECT) signed an exclusive 3-year agreement to use and distribute TOWES (Test of Workplace Essential skills) in Ontario. Twenty colleges are included in the agreement with the developer, Bow Valley College (in Alberta). TOWES is a comprehensive assessment tool that can measure a full range of essential skills needed by Canadian workers in today’s job market. Essential skills are those skills used by people to conduct a wide range of everyday life and work tasks. They also provide people with a firm foundation for acquiring other skills and knowledge. The essential skills tested by TOWES include reading text (prose passages), document use and numeracy.