Integrating Essential Skills into Training - National Adult Literacy ...

WHAT ARE WORKPLACE ESSENTIAL SKILLS?
(compiled by Pat Salt)
Definitions of Workplace Essential Skills
• the kinds of skills people use to carry out a wide variety of everyday occupational
tasks
• the foundation upon which more occupation-specific skills are built (the Velcro to
which other training sticks)
• enabling skills that help people perform tasks required by their jobs
• skills which allow workers to learn new skills
• skills which enhance a worker’s ability to adapt to workplace change
• skills necessary to use printed and written information to perform competently in a
workplace and to develop one’s knowledge and potential
• basic skills that help workers to fulfill their individual and collective potential at work,
at home, in the union, and in the community
• generic skills required by most workplaces in the country
• the skills that help you to keep a job
• the literacy and thinking skills that individuals require on a daily basis
• the kinds of skills called basic, foundation, enabling, core, transversal, generic,
critical, portable, key, non-job specific skills
Some Specific Examples of Workplace Essential Skills
◊ reading and responding to an email
◊ writing in a logbook
◊ reading instructions in a manual
◊ interpreting a technical drawing
◊ making a call to a supplier
◊ referring to a collective agreement
◊ converting miles to kilometres
◊ scheduling daily tasks
◊ making a decision about which supplies to order
◊ working with a colleague to estimate project expenses
◊ conducting research on the internet
◊ remembering the accounting code for an expense claim
Human Resources Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) Essential Skills
Classifications
• reading text
• using documents
• writing
• numeracy
• oral communication