The Skills for Success: Validation Study is a national applied research initiative, led by Bow Valley College, and funded in part by the Government of Canada's Skills for Success Program.
The Government of Canada's Office of Skills for Success recently released an updated and modernized skills model, designed to respond to the evolving labour market and emerging skill demands. The new Skills for Success model (previously referred to as Essential Skills) focuses on the foundational skills needed by all Canadians to continue to participate, adapt and thrive in work, in education and training, and in modern society.
The project aims to support the transition to, and adoption of, the Skills for Success through applied research. This includes validating the skills through the piloting of evaluations and training resources aligned with the new model.
The integrity and validity of this project relies on research, data, psychometric evaluation, and collaboration with a national network of partners. Bow Valley College is seeking the support, participation, and contribution of skills practitioners, service training providers, instructors, consultants, employers, and subject matter experts throughout the project to meet the following main objectives:
- Support the national adoption of and transition to Skills for Success through validated applied research, specifically as it relates to Reading, Numeracy, Writing, and Digital Skills;
- Develop and pilot a suite of modular workplace-based online asynchronous training resources focused on skill enhancement, paired with evaluation to measure proficiencies aligned with the new model;
- Conduct quantitative and qualitative analyses to evaluate and demonstrate efficacy, reliability, and validity;
- Establish predictive validity of the new model, through surveys, evaluation and training linked to key performance indicators such as education and labour market outcomes; and
- Report back to stakeholders on recommendations and best practices, using current research findings, to support future work in this field.
Bow Valley College is well-positioned to support this work, leveraging over 20 years of extensive experience, expertise, and data collection, as it relates to the field of literacy and essential skills, specifically within assessment, training, and resource development.
Bow Valley College is thrilled to lead this initiative, as we collaborate with partners nationally to collectively respond to the evolving needs of the Canadian labour market through the Skills for Success.
For more information contact: sfs@bowvalleycollege.ca
