Many young people enter the labour market directly after high school, but lack the basic skills required in today's working environment for entry-level jobs. Unfortunately, our statistical analysis did not identify entry-level occupations and the characteristics of workers in them. We hope that the Best Practices research project developed by HRD will provide this much needed information. However, the education model that we have recommended should help solve the transition problem. In the meantime, trainers must provide employability improvement training to the young people who have left school insufficiently prepared for work or for skill training.

36. We recommend that training providers (educational institutions and community-based trainers) adopt a holistic approach to training delivery - integrating a wide range of services to support specific clients' needs and developing a capacity to respond quickly to local labour market needs.

Individuals involved in training (teachers, counsellors, instructors, cooperative education coordinators, administrators) should have access to training and accreditation. There is a need for "industry leave" (like the cooperative education system) for educators and trainers in schools, colleges, and community-based systems. They should receive not only a combination of practice in the classroom and theoretical courses, but also periods in actual working sites in the private and public sector.

37. We recommend that professional associations and employers ensure that training and career development are provided to training professionals, to allow them to adapt to and support the changing learning environment.
    
    
    

Access to training

The present system is filled with barriers, resulting from the incoherence of the transition system. Members of the equity groups and other individuals with acute learning disabilities generally face those barriers most often.

Statement of belief

We believe that all working-age individuals have a right to training of belief opportunities.

The research reports prepared for the four equity groups (Appendix B) identified the major barriers to training:

• Access or entry issues, such as lack of programs, long waiting lists, unstable and short-term funding, high entrance fees, lack of information about programs, physical barriers and lack of technical aides, inappropriate eligibility requirements, distance, sexism, racism, language;
• Lack of financial and other necessary support, such as income support, child care, emotional support, transportation, cultural awareness;
• Poor quality and usefulness of programs, such as flexibility of curriculum and program, availability of life skills, career planning, and counselling, preparation and upgrading programs.