| Alberta Workforce Essential Skills (AWES) | Impact Study: Essential Skills and Food Sanitation and Hygiene Training |
Alberta Restaurant and Food Services Association (ARFA) recognizes that this may have an impact on some of their membership. ARFA believes that currently there are valued employees across the province that may not have the language and literacy skills to pass the food safety certification. Included in this group are immigrants, older workers and aboriginals.
AWES, working with ARFA and ATEC, has undertaken the task of determining whether limited essential skills will impact worker's success in achieving certification when the new food safety certification regulations are implemented.
Workforce essential skills are the enabling skills that provide people with a foundation for learning job-specific skills which allow them to perform the tasks required in their occupations. These essential skills underlie the performance of most workplace tasks and help to enlarge the knowledge and technical skills required in the workplace. The term 'essential skills' replaces narrower terms such as 'literacy' or 'basic skills' which refer to only some of the skills which can be considered 'essential' in modern workplaces.
For the purpose of setting skills standards in Canada, the 'essential skills profiles' have been developed as a part of the Human Resources Skills Development Canada (HSRDC) Essential Skills Research Project. The essential skills, skills that people use in their jobs and in their everyday lives, include the following: