September 19th is Skills for Success Day. What are Skills for Success and why are they important?
According to the Government of Canada Skills for Success provides Canadians with the everyday skills they need for work, learning and life. Improving these skills helps people succeed in today’s world. (1)
With funding from the federal government, the NWT Literacy Council worked with the Northwest Territories Department of Education, Culture and Employment to develop an employment readiness program for people in smaller NWT communities. The program was geared towards people who wanted to enhance these nine skills, all of which are integral to becoming more employable. The program involved four weeks of classroom learning and two weeks of work placement. During the classroom sessions, participants learned from these areas:
- Effective Communication
- Using Entry Forms
- Working with Others
- Working with Timesheets
- Getting Paid at Work
- Landing a Job
- Professionalism, Attitudes, and Expectations.
They also took part in workplace certification courses, such as First Aid, Driver Training, or WHMIS (Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System).
In the NWT context, however, we knew that participants learned skills for success not only through formal classroom instruction but also through cultural activities. As a result, the course had a strong focus on connecting with community culture. This helped reinforce people’s identity, increase their confidence, and create a program that was truly community-based. To facilitate the cultural connections, each program hired a community coordinator, a local person who knew the people and the ways of the community. That person proved to be invaluable to the success of both the program and its participants.
The cultural activities varied from community to community based on the needs of the community and the expertise available. For example, in one community participants built a shed to smoke wild meat and fish. In others, they listened to Elders telling stories, interacted with local artists, assisted with a spring carnival, reflected on self-government and land claims agreements, cooked traditional food and learned how to handle wild food safely. Participants recorded their activities digitally. The activities involved all the Skills for Success, but from a different perspective, a perspective that reflects who people are here and the lives they live.
Following the classroom sessions, participants spent two weeks practicing their skills and expanding on these skills in a work placement.
Delivering a program like this in smaller NWT communities presented many challenges. Some were expected: the communities were remote—some were fly-in only; there was no local instructor; locally available supplies were limited, so supplies had to be flown in; there was a lack of infrastructure, like a teaching facility, or low band width for internet access. Others were completely unexpected: the arrival of a grizzly bear in the community; the death of a participant; a fly-in instructor who acquired COVID and had to be replaced; and widespread evacuations because of wildfires! These situations interrupted classes and required considerable degrees of adaptability and creativity to overcome them. Despite these curve balls, the programs were successful. In all, more than 60 people participated. Of those, more than 50% were offered employment. All the participants noted their increased confidence.
- Helen Balanoff, Project Specialist: Skills for Success
