The framework would also incorporate the HRSDC Essential Skills and use valid, reliable assessments based on the IALS/Essential Skills scales which are nationally recognized and therefore capable of providing a common assessment language for all stakeholders.

Essential Skills provide the foundation for learning all other skills and enable people to evolve and adapt to change. Through extensive research, the Government of Canada and other national and international agencies have identified and validated nine Essential Skills. These non-technical skills are used in nearly every occupation and throughout daily life in different ways and at different levels of complexity. Essential Skills include

• Reading Text
• Document Use
• Writing
• Numeracy
• Oral Communication
• Thinking Skills (Problem Solving, Decision Making, Job Task Planning and Organizing, Significant Use of Memory, Finding Information)
• Working with Others
• Computer Use
• Continuous Learning

Essential Skills are not new to the literacy field in Ontario. In fact, for the past several years many LBS agencies have been using Essential Skills and the occupational profiles to develop curriculum and performance assessments (demonstrations) for learners with employment goals. More recently, Essential Skills have been used to develop learners’ training plans (Community Literacy of Ontario, 2008).

Programs and services outside of LBS also see value in using Essential Skills. The following initiatives involving Essential Skills have been undertaken in Ontario:

• Ontario Skills Passport
• Essential Skills Check-Up Tools Project
• Student Applications of Working and Learning (AWAL)
• Discovering the Workplace and Navigating the Workplace – Grade 10 and 12 courses
• Cooperative Education
• Specialist High Skills Majors