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National clients extend our reach

We work with clients across Canada to develop and implement effective workforce-oriented programming. Our flagship product, CAMERA (Communication and Math Employment Readiness Assessment), a series of standardized, competency-based tests, underpins this work.

Taking our expertise to Nunavut

Nunavut Arctic College is the only institution of higher education in Nunavut, serving all 25 communities. The college’s Adult Basic Education programs provide basic skills for adult learners but are not sufficient to allow them to access higher education – something many students need to find better paying jobs. Arctic College identified this as a gap in their programming and approached PTP for help with meeting the needs of these potential learners. We worked with Arctic College to develop an Essential Skills curriculum tailored to the needs of adult Nunavut learners, with program content built around the life and work experiences of an Inuk living in a local community. This would have been a significant effort for any education program, but the challenges were even greater in Nunavut. Each of the 25 communities has a unique culture and teaching/learning tradition, so program materials had to be tailored to each community.

To get a better sense of the needs of local learners and instructors, our program developers worked with college staff to compile local materials that would reflect learners’ cultural experiences, including more than 1,000 workplace and cultural documents. They also visited the communities, conducted interviews with instructors, observed classes and, in one instance, even taught part of a class. Our staff then used this background to research and develop the necessary course materials, including in-class assessments and assignments, and design and deliver training on the use of the products. The products included course curricula, assessment tools, evaluation guides and instructor training, all tailored to the Nunavut context. The impact of this partnership improved Nunavut’s adult basic education services, which in turn enhanced the ability of Nunavummiut to take advantage of better job opportunities in the region’s growing economy.

Innovative training for Indigenous construction workers

In October 2017, we began to develop and test an innovative essential skills training model in partnership with Indigenous communities and local employers across Canada. The project, Pathway to Work, is funded by the federal government’s Office of Literacy and Essential Skills. It is tailored to construction-related occupations and is intended to improve the essential skills and employability of Indigenous workers.

In building this partnership, organizations from across Canada came together to learn about Indigenous persons’ experiences, and how their training needs can best be served. The diverse perspectives provided by our partners significantly strengthen the team and extend the toolkit PTP can use in responding to community needs.

In 2019, we will be conducting community engagement and community needs assessments in BC and Manitoba.

Other noteworthy projects

  • We worked with the Deaf Literacy Initiative to develop Deaf CAMERA, an assessment system for Deaf learners in literacy programs who want to develop the skills they will use in a job. Deaf CAMERA is used to assess learners’ skill levels and strengths in reading, writing, document use, and numeracy. As with other parts of the CAMERA system, Deaf CAMERA tasks are similar to real workplace tasks.
  • We worked with RESDAC (Réseau pour le développement de l’alphabétisme et des compétences) to adapt CAMERA (Communications and Math Employment Readiness Assessment) for use in francophone workforce-oriented literacy programs.
  • We worked with Centre FORA to translate and adapt the workwrite series of instructional guides into French, making these materials accessible for Francophones at a low literacy level.
  • We have worked with Futureworx (Nova Scotia), on a number of projects, including Workforce and Essential Skills and CAMERA training. Recently, we made a joint presentation at the ProLiteracy Conference on Adult Literacy on the benefits of using complementary tools to create blended program strategies for transitioning low-skilled adults to the workforce.

For more information about these and other projects, please contact Heather Paterson at heatherp@ptp.ca or 905-622-9208.