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Future Skills

Future skills – basic literacy, numeracy and socio-emotional skills – are important across all economic sectors and occupations. Figuring out who and how to address skills gaps is key to building an inclusive workforce with upward mobility.

Young boy working on robot project
Research

Curriculum and Reconciliation: Introducing Indigenous Perspectives into K–12 Science

Curriculum and Reconciliation: Introducing Indigenous Perspectives into K–12 Science briefly and visually outlines the landscape of school science curricula across the country. Several jurisdictions integrate Indigenous content, perspectives, and ways of knowing, while others have yet to include references to Indigenous perspectives.
September 28, 2020 34 minutes
Podcast
Season 1 | Episode 4

Upskilling and Reskilling (Mid-Career Workers)

Reskilling and upskilling are now imperative for both employees and organizations to keep pace with the digital and technological innovations that are changing the way...

Featuring: Heather McIntosh, Glenda Quintini, Sashya D’Souza, Karn Singh

September 14, 2020 35 minutes
Podcast
Season 1 | Episode 3

Skilled Trades—Transitioning to a Digital, Green, and Human Future

Apprenticeships get a bad rap. All too often, we perpetuate negative images of the trades: dirty, low pay, and boring. These stereotypes couldn’t be further...

Featuring: Heather McIntosh, Andrew Bieler, Jeff Ranson , Jim Szautner

August 17, 2020 31 minutes
Podcast
Season 1 | Episode 1

Developing Social and Emotional Skills in an Automated World

We’ve all heard it before: Technology is disrupting the world of work, eliminating “low skill” jobs and harming the future of the trades. Daunting? Sure....

Featuring: Heather McIntosh, Steve Higham, Maria Giammarco, Paul Brinkhurst , Jennifer Adams

Father, mother and two young children hugging
Research

Mapping the Landscape: Indigenous Skills Training and Jobs in Canada

Indigenous businesses are growing and — importantly — creating employment for others. Further, self-employment and entrepreneurship is increasing. If there is an opportunity for the next generation, and for current adult workers, to leapfrog into the future of Canadian work, it may very well be through Indigenous-led business.
Group of people collaborating
Research

Preliminary Report: Canadians’ Shifting Outlook on Employment

An Environics Institute survey suggests COVID-19 did not dent Canadians’ outlook about the future or their confidence in their ability to bounce back quickly after hard times, even as the pandemic’s effects on employment began to be felt.
Norther College lights campus from outside.
Project

CLIMB: Continuous Learning for Individuals’ Mid-career and Beyond

Mid-career workers are most vulnerable to disruption of the labour market but there is little widespread information, resources, or training to support a mid-career change.
Worker wearing protective gear welding a metal pipe.
Research

Assessing Canada's skills gapexternal link icon

The skills that workers need are changing thanks to automation and new technologies. That means it’s more important than ever to find reliable ways to identify the gaps between the skills workers have and the skills employers need, and how those gaps will change over time.
Graduation cap with graduation paper on a stack of book
Research

Leveraging the Skills of Social Sciences and Humanities Graduates

Canadians are among the best-educated people on the planet. But are they getting the education they need — particularly in the fields of social sciences and humanities — to maximize their employment prospects in today's fast-changing workplace?