Essential Skills

Essential Skills are the skills needed for WORK, LEARNING and LIFE.  They provide the foundation for learning all other skills and enable people to evolve with their jobs and adapt to workplace change.

Essential Skills are not the technical skills required by particular occupations but rather the skills applied in all occupations.  For example, writing skills are required in a broad range of occupations.  The complexity and frequency of writing varies, of course.  Some workers fill out simple forms every day, while others write daily or monthly reports.

Essential Skills Reader’s Guide

Through extensive research, the Government of Canada and other national and international agencies have identified and validated nine Essential Skills.  They include:  Reading Text, Document Use, Numeracy, Writing, Oral Communication, Working with Others, Thinking, Computer Use, and Continuous Learning.

Students and Job Seekers may use the Essential Skills framework for Career Exploration, Career Research, Job Preparation and Skill Enhancement.

Employers may use Essential Skills Tools and Assessment for Recruitment & Selection, Retention & Succession Planning, Job Description Development, Training & Professional Development and Performance Review.

For more information contact:
Pam Jadischke at 519.885.0300, ext. 5542.
(pjadischke@conestogac.on.ca)

If you are an employer, click here to learn more about the Essential Skills training we could offer to your employees: www.conestogac.on.ca/ct/essential.jsp