How can TOWES be used?

For the employer, TOWES provides an objective measure, which relates skill levels to international standards. With the growing importance of competency and certification issues, such credible measurement is a necessity. TOWES can also be used:

• to target the essential skills that should be included in training programs (including starting levels and end points)
• as a pre-test and post-test to determine how much learning has occurred
• to determine the kinds of training programs that have to be introduced when new technology or processes become part of a workplace
• to help workers move from one position (within a company) to another by targeting the skills required for advancement
• to help assess worker abilities when the worker does not have Canadian credentials
• to help assess worker ability to perform job requirements (a more inclusive and reasonable approach to recruitment than simply using a grade level as a qualifier)
• to help workers plan careers and to make realistic re-deployment decisions (a worker’s
• TOWES results can be compared to essential skills profiles for a variety of occupations)
• to help develop job descriptions that more closely match the requirements of the occupation
• to help identify candidates for new positions
• to assist career councillors to provide realistic employment options to clients

What are the TOWES G-Series Tests?

TOWES G-Series Tests accurately measure essential skill competencies in the areas of reading text, document use and problem solving with numbers. These competencies can be compared to the national benchmarks required of individual occupations as determined by HRSDC via the essential skills occupational profiling process.

The TOWES G Series Tests comprise problem sets from a range of occupational areas. Each problem set has several related questions, which test literacy/numeracy skills at different levels of complexity (to match the range of complexity demanded by actual workplace tasks.) The names of the problem sets often reveal their origins - ‘Grain Drying,’ ‘Marine Radio,’ ‘Mine Emergency,’ and ‘Shipping Order’ problems. Each problem set is a particular instance of tasks using essential workplace skills. (See the following example of a TOWES problem set.) In other words, each TOWES G Series Test is a selection of problem sets taken from the validated TOWES test bank.

To ensure that the worker has mastered literacy and numeracy skills to the required levels, TOWES includes tasks and documents from a variety of occupations. These tasks assess the worker’s ability to apply skills in a number of workplace contexts, a strategy called essential skills transference.