Overview:

Marilyn Luft took delegates through the actual integration process, using a program she developed for Portage College and Alberta Pacific Forest Industries (ALPAC), a program aimed at Aboriginal learners. Marilyn began her session by reviewing the International Adult Literacy Survey and the methodologies used. She then explained the relationship between the IALS assessment scales and the Essential Skills Research Project currently being conducted by Human Resources Development Canada. Marilyn stressed that the essential skills profiles generated by the Research Project are very helpful tools for instructors but that it is necessary to understand the conventions and processes used in the template.

Marilyn spent time walking delegates through two profiles, noting the skills categories addressed, the ratings assigned and the usage symbols indicated. She told participants that she would only be addressing reading, writing, document use, numeracy and oral communication in her integration lesson as these were the essential skills with which she worked in the ALPAC program.

Marilyn began the integration process by showing delegates how to access the HRDC profiles and use the information provided to identify the essential skills required for occupations being addressed by college programs. Marilyn emphasized that once essential skills are determined important to an occupation by the training institution, industry validation must be sought. She then demonstrated how she constructs a skills matrix which shows at a glance the essential skills used in an occupation (or several related occupations) and their frequency of use – this ensures that those skills needed most often on the job are given priority in a training program.

She then illustrated how she identifies integration or splicing points, which are used to segue into an essential skills lesson. Marilyn advised delegates that workplace essential skills are more effectively addressed when they are approached from a familiar or “everyday” context. In other words, start with skills the learner knows and uses regularly before laddering into more workplace-specific competencies. For example, use Ikea directions to teach assembly diagrams and then transition to workplace examples; use the TV guide to address nested tables before moving on to workplace shift schedules. She also advised that document use is one of the most important essential skills that can be taught in a technical training program. This is because secondary schools do not usually address workplace documents and the special kinds of writing and reading skills required to use these documents. Therefore, document use skills will need work in technical and employment preparation training programs. Marilyn ended by reiterating that integration is the most effective way to address WES training.