Evaluation & Learning Strategy
The Future Skills Centre (FSC) fosters innovation in skills development by investing in partnerships to identify emerging or in-demand skills issues and test new solutions to address them. Through funding and technical assistance, FSC drives experimentation, generates insights and promotes shared learning within Canada’s skills development ecosystem. Evaluation and learning are at the core of our work, helping us understand which innovations are effective and where continued experimentation and solutions may be needed.
At FSC, evaluation refers to a systematic inquiry to assess the effectiveness, efficiency and/or value of a given intervention. It is used to assess the merits of an overall approach. Evaluation supports evidence building, continuous improvement and the development of effective solutions to identified problems. Although evaluation uses many of the same methods (e.g., surveys, interviews, focus groups, etc.) as research, its role in driving and supporting innovation is different. We do recognize that value and worth of an intervention may differ based on community context and worldviews, and we have worked alongside partners to integrate different ways of knowing and value systems in our evaluation practice.
The role of evaluation in driving innovation
Evaluation focuses on understanding what works, what doesn’t, and under what conditions. Ideally, it identifies areas of success (with positive results) but also illuminates areas of poor results (or unintended consequences). Critically, evaluation should also help untangle the “why” behind these results, and offer lessons for similar interventions and policymakers. As such, evaluation is a critical tool for effective innovation, ensuring that we’re looking closely at the extent to which an innovation idea works (or not) and how it might be improved. FSC invests in innovation projects which:
- test promising solutions to problems through pilots and
- generate critical insights around what works, for whom, and under what conditions.
This is essential learning and evidence to support any further investment or scaling of the intervention or approach. We do track outputs and activities for a supported project, but we’re keenly focused on moving beyond tracking outputs towards identifying outcomes – the larger changes that an intervention is aiming towards. So, while we measure how many people finished a given training program, we’re also curious about the people who dropped out, and why. We’re also attuned to what happens to people after they finish a training program – do they get a job? How does a “successful” participant compare to someone who didn’t participate in the program? Evaluation helps us answer these questions and more.
We believe that the skills ecosystem needs a stronger approach to data, measurement and evaluation. We envision a system not focused only on outputs and training numbers, but one with organizations that drive continuous improvement through effective data usage, focused on the tangible outcomes for employees and employers. This will require a whole system that embraces open dialogue on successes AND failures, including honest discussions about policies and programs that do not have the intended effect. We believe this will enable better decisions and stronger policies for the whole skills ecosystem.
Our evaluation and learning partners
We collaborate with a network of evaluation and learning partners with diverse methodological, geographic, population, and sector expertise. These partners work with FSC projects to:
- Define core issues and problems, whether articulated as long-standing structural issues facing particular workers and employers, or the need for institutions to improve the delivery of key services;
- Develop a theory of change or working hypothesis on how interventions are intended to help address or solve for the underlying problem(s);
- Outline how the evaluation of the intervention will be able to address key strategic questions within FSC’s Focus Areas and build knowledge not only for the project, but also for the wider skills ecosystem;
- Gather and analyze evidence over the course of a project to test the hypothesis/theory of change, develop conclusions that respond to the specific intervention of the project and also contribute to the wider strategic questions.
Our current evaluation and learning partners were selected through an open call in March 2025 to support our knowledge generation and evaluation objectives.
Sharing our learning
Using both research and evaluation, FSC generates timely and relevant insights on priority topics, and mobilizes that knowledge for wider adoption and impact in policy and practice. In addition to the reports generated from our partners, our key knowledge products include insights from individual projects and our state of skills reports, which synthesize learning across groups of projects on key topics. Key insights are also shared via blogs, podcasts, in-person events, FSC-led webinars, peer learning groups where practitioners engage with one another, and other events where FSC is invited to speak or present. To stay in the loop, sign up for our newsletter.
For a deeper dive into our evaluation and learning journey and key takeaways, watch our webinar recording. The session features a presentation on the State of Skills report on evaluation in the skills and training ecosystem, alongside insights from two of our evaluation partners—one discussing evaluation practices across multiple projects and another focusing on Indigenous-led evaluation approaches.
More insights and evidence from FSC
In Motion & Momentum+ (IM&M+)
Real Estate Development Incubator: A Model for Equitable Participation
