References
This database has been compiled to provide a searchable repository on published research addressing “future skills” that will be a useful tool for researchers and individuals interested in the future of work and the future of skills.
The database integrates existing bibliographies focused on future skills and the future of work as well as the results of new ProQuest and Google Scholar searches. The process of building the database also involved consultations with experts and the identification of key research organizations publishing in this area, as well as searches of those organizations’ websites. For a more detailed explanation of how the database was assembled, please read the Future Skills Reference Database Technical Note.
The current database, assembled by future skills researchers at the Diversity Institute, is not exhaustive but represents a first step in building a more comprehensive database. It will be regularly updated and expanded as new material is published and identified. In that vein, we encourage those with suggestions for improvements to this database to connect with us directly at di.fsc@ryerson.ca.
From this database, we also selected 39 key publications and created an Annotated Bibliography. It is designed to serve as a useful tool for researchers, especially Canadian researchers, who may need some initial guidance in terms of the key references in this area.
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Reference
Building connections: Platforms for the future of education and skills in Canada
The Conference Board of Canada has spent the past five years examining the advanced skills and education challenges facing Canada today through a multi-stakeholder research initiative called the Centre for Skills and Post-Secondary Education. In collaboration with public and private sector stakeholders, we studied important themes and issues in education, skills development, and future skills needs, with special emphasis on postsecondary education and advanced skills. This initiative looked at education and skills through a national lens, while recognizing that education and skills development are typically the mandates of provincial and territorial governments. Where possible, we convened stakeholders across government, industry, and education sectors to take a truly pan-Canadian view of the issues. Through our research and convening, we identified six cross-sectoral, multi-stakeholder platforms and some over-arching aspirations for each. This document distills the challenges and disruptors, best practices, and recommendations from our 40+ research reports, briefings, and events. It also identifies a number of intersecting goals.
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Employability skills toolkit for the self-managing learner
The Employability Skills Toolkit for the Self-Managing Learner is a suite of practical tools designed to help learners use and develop the skills needed to enter, stay in, and progress in the world of work. The Toolkit offers practical support for managing lifelong learning for personal growth and workplace success and provides Canadians with much-needed information about what employability skills look like and examples of ways they can develop and demonstrate their skills at home, school, work and in the community.
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General innovation skills aptitude test 2.0
The General Innovation Skills Aptitude Test (GISAT2.0) raises awareness and understanding around the skills, attitudes, and behaviours individuals and organizations need to be innovative—as listed in The Conference Board of Canada's Innovation Skills Profile 2.0 (ISP2.0). By identifying, and then assessing, the innovation skills found in individuals and required by organizations GISAT2.0 is a powerful tool that assists workplaces and individuals to better match their innovation skills capacities with their innovation needs.
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Generation innovation: The talent Canada needs for the new economy
The launch of this report is timely, as the government takes a step in the right direction in its efforts to launch a new innovation agenda. The fact that the government recognizes that innovation goes further than just technology by having six focus areas is particularly positive. Properly anchoring the innovation agenda to business sector priorities will require an ongoing and open dialogue with employers on what their needs are, and how to prepare the next generation of students to take on these challenges.
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A battle we can't afford to lose: Getting young Canadians from education to employment
This report identifies policy areas affecting skills gaps, both in Canada and globally, and provides a review of recent contributions to the policy debate. We find these policy areas reflect what is lacking in the Canadian education system and labour market: 1. Labour market information (LMI): This section examines Canada’s collection, interpretation and dissemination of data reflecting labour market conditions and projections. 2. Career decision-making: This section describes the factors and influences, both formal and informal, that shape Canadian students’ career interests and goals. 3. Work-integrated learning (WIL): This section addresses the various forms of education and training that occur in the workplace, such as co-op and internship programs, and the extent to which they are used or underused in Canada. 4. National leadership and coordination: This section examines the possible ways in which Canada could improve youth’s school to-work transition to mitigate the skills gap, now and in the future.
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The right skills: Celebrating skills in the arts, humanities and social sciences (AHSS)
The British Academy’s Skills project has sought to articulate and celebrate the skills gained through studying arts, humanities and social sciences (AHSS), and to lead a high-level debate about the value of these skills to the individual, to society and to the economy. The report looks at how these skills are taught, learnt and applied in society, drawing on existing evidence and generating new evidence through commissioned research. It includes recommendations of areas for further action which will set the agenda for the Academy’s programme of work on skills to 2020, but also create a context for developing new partnerships with policy makers, organisations and businesses across the sector.
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State policy agenda
Governors and state legislators have a unique opportunity to help prepare their constituents for the many ways that work is changing. Outsourcing, global competition, and rapid advances in technology are transforming jobs and industries, leading to economic disruption as old products, jobs, and industries are replaced by new ideas and companies. While these changes have brought economic benefits, they have also contributed to stagnant wages, declining benefits, weakening workplace protections, and, in some cases, job loss. Policymakers, employers, education and training institutions, and other critical stakeholders must work together to create an economy that helps workers take advantage of new and changing jobs, while providing the necessary supports that workers will need to weather the disruptions from changes in technology, trade, and organizational structure.
As governors and state legislators explore measures responsive to the changing nature of work, the Aspen Institute Future of Work Initiative State Policy Agenda highlights a set of policy options that would help address this challenge. These proposals focus on three approaches: modernizing worker benefits and protections, building a skilled and resilient workforce, and aligning and prioritizing future of work policy.
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Towards a new capitalism: A policy agenda to restore the promise of work
The forces of innovation and global competition – combined with an increasing quest for short-run profits at the expense of long-run value – are undermining the partnership between business and workers, and contributing to stagnating wages, economic insecurity, and declining workforce investments. We need a new model of capitalism that offers novel ways to meet these challenges. Our agenda of new ideas has three overarching goals: Workers should benefit from the economic growth their productive capacities help create. That means rising wages and a greater stake in the businesses where they work. All workers should have access to critical safety net benefits and protections, no matter their employment classification. Workers need more skills, more flexibility, more say, and more opportunities to fulfill their potential and keep pace with the future of work. Our policy agenda attempts to accomplish these goals by encouraging businesses to reward and invest in their workforce, using three leverage points – business incentives, public information, and corporate governance. Because we recognize not all businesses will respond to these leverage points, we also include policies that empower workers to pursue economic opportunity, security, and training outside of the employment relationship.
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Toward a new capitalism: The promise of opportunity and the future of work
This document, “The Promise of Opportunity and the Future of Work,” describes how technology and global competition have modernized the American economy in many positive ways, but that some changes have also made it harder for Americans to find jobs with the wages, benefits, and skills training to get ahead. The associated policy agenda, “A Policy Agenda to Restore the Promise of Work,” offers a set of ideas to meet the challenge. It recognizes that policymakers have often responded to the aforementioned trends with regulations meant to protect employees, but this approach can drive up costs and encourage businesses to rely more heavily on contract and contingent work, which in turn provides even less security to workers. This agenda provides an alternate approach, one that restores the promise of work with - out stifling innovation. It is a work in progress, and neither one of us endorses every single idea. We offer these ideas in order to start a conversation across sectors and parties about how we can come together to address these common challenges.