Some Definitions: What Are Essential Skills?Skills for Life, Learning and Work:
Essential Skills (also called basic skills, literacy skills, etc.) are much more complex and contextual than just being able to read and write at some one, universally basic level – literacy is the ability to read, write, work with numbers, problem-solve, communicate, and/or think critically at whatever level is basic to the task at hand. Thus, when one thinks of “basic skills” in the context of the college or the workplace, one can imagine a wide range of skills and skill levels. But, whatever they are in a given situation, “literacy” or “basic” or “essential” skills are the foundation for all training and skills development activities – and for lifelong learning in and beyond the workplace. International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS)The International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) was initiated by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to help its 29 member nations better understand how they might foster a fundamental shift to a learning economy and society – a shift considered necessary for competing successfully in a global marketplace. In undertaking IALS, the OECD partnered with Eurostat and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Its Canadian partners included Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) and Statistics Canada. Seven industrialized countries participated in the first IALS study in 1995:
A second wave of international research was conducted and released in 1997 in a document called Literacy Skills for the Knowledge Society. It added to the body of IALS research results from an additional five countries:
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