CERIC-funded project to examine role of career education on outcomes of young Canadians

The Social Research and Demonstration Corporation (SRDC) is undertaking a project, supported by CERIC, that will identify the impact of career interventions/education on high school students’ post-secondary choices and workforce outcomes. The project will use data documenting 10 years in the lives of 7,000 young Canadians across 72 schools in British Columbia, Manitoba and New Brunswick, including their occupational aspirations at age 14, their post-secondary education and their earnings. It aims to help equip the career counselling profession to respond authoritatively to increasingly urgent policy questions about how best to structure career education for young people.

Visit ceric.ca to learn more about the project.

Brookfield Institute report examines diverse drivers of change in Canadian labour market

Turn and Face the Strange: Changes impacting the future of employment in Canada illuminates the diverse and intersecting trends driving change in Canada’s labour market. While technological trends will play a significant role in the future of work, many other trends could also influence future skills demand in positive and negative ways. Turn and Face the Strange paints a complex picture of the future, exploring 31 broad trends in the areas of:

  • Demographic change
  • Globalization
  • Technological change
  • Environmental sustainability
  • Urbanization
  • Increasing inequality
  • Political uncertainty

Brookfield Institute is continuing research in this area and is planning to share an insights report in summer 2019 based on workshops held in six Canadian locations.

Head to brookfieldinstitute.ca to read the report.

Training for working Canadians is scarce, Public Policy Forum report finds

This report examines Canada’s strengths and weaknesses in skills development as well as training models from around the world, and suggests improvements to lifelong learning systems. It suggests that while Canada’s K-12 education system is a world leader in equipping children and young people with the skills they need, training opportunities for workers in the labour force are scarce and unevenly distributed. Among the findings:

  • Less than one-third of Canadians receive job-related, non-formal education.
  • Those who do get job-related training receive only 49 hours of instruction annually, below the OECD average of 58 hours.
  • Less educated, Indigenous and older workers, as well as workers living in rural and remote communities, are less likely to receive workplace training.

Check out the full report at ppforum.ca.

Research report sheds light on Canada’s settlement sector

The Competencies of Front-line Settlement Practitioners in Canada: A Background Research Report is part of a project funded by CERIC and led by ECaliber Group and Calience Research that aims to enhance understanding of capacity-building among settlement workers. This timely report examines the nature of front-line settlement work and the context in which it is carried out. It also reviews what research and work has been undertaken toward strengthening the competencies of front-line settlement practitioners.

A finalized set of competencies and career pathways as well as insights gained during the implementation of the project will be captured in a final report and an infographic.

Find out more about this project at ceric.ca.

Ontario inadequately preparing students for jobs, adulthood: report

Ontario schools are falling behind in preparing students for future jobs and adulthood, according to a Counselling Foundation of Canada-funded report by People for Education titled Roadmaps and roadblocks: Career and life planning, guidance and streaming in Ontario’s schools. The province has a policy aimed at supporting students, from kindergarten to Grade 12, for career and life planning, but schools are struggling to implement it, the report says. These challenges come at a time when there is growing pressure to prepare students for a rapidly changing, increasingly complex future, the report suggests.

Read the report at peopleforeducation.ca.