Why Skills for Success?
Many Canadian workers do not have the skills needed to equip them to meet the typical skill demands of their jobs.
Being unable to meet the minimum performance requirements of their jobs limits their career opportunities and wages, and makes them vulnerable to a variety of other negative outcomes.
There are 9 skills that can set workers up for success with work, learning, and life – no matter where they live or what job they pursue. They are the foundation for learning all other skills, and they enable people to evolve with their jobs and their lives and to adapt to change in the workplace and in life. Read more in the Facilitator’s Guide.
The Story of Skills for Success
The Skills for Success, formerly known as Essential Skills, were identified and launched by the Government of Canada in May of 2021, updating the existing framework in response to an evolving labour market. These 9 skills are updated to reflect the rapidly changing skill needs and requirements:
- Numeracy
- Communication
- Collaboration
- Problem solving
- Writing
- Adaptability
- Reading
- Creativity & Innovation
- Digital Skills
In the updated framework two new skills have been introduced – Adaptability and Creativity, and Innovation. These added skills represent the growing demand for socio-emotional skills from Canadian employers.
Some other changes include:
- Document Use being integrated into Reading, Writing and Numeracy,
- Oral Communication refined to Communication,
- Working with Others expanding into Collaboration, and Thinking Skills refined to Problem Solving.
Get Your Game on with the SFS Challenge Series on Kahoot!
Skills/Compétences Canada(SCC) has launched the Skills for Success challenge series on the Kahoot! platform. These quiz games are designed to help students discover the nine plus one Skills for Success (SFS) including Reading, Numeracy, Adaptability, Collaboration, Writing, Creativity & Innovation, Communication, Problem Solving and Digital. It also provides them with an opportunity to use their thinking skills in different contexts and apply what they’ve learned.
This game will have students on their toes as they learn about the Skills for Success, how to use them, and their importance for careers in the skilled trades and technologies. The first two games that are being launched will focus on the nine plus one Skills for Success, and Reading, this year’s SFS theme. Additional quiz games will be available for each of the Skills for Success. The next SFS Challenge Series will be launched during National Skilled Trade and Technology Week, from November 5 to 11, 2023.
The quizzes in the SFS Challenge Series range from selecting an answer from multiple choice questions, to filling in the blank, to identifying skills through pictures, to watching videos and reading text. All games will teach students about the Skills for Success while helping them develop these valuable skills.
Games available:
Skills/Compétences Canada — Intro and Fun Facts
Reading
Collaboration
Creativity & Innovation
Communication
Adaptability
Numeracy
Problem Solving
Digital
Writing
Workready Youth Workbooks
Looking to improve your skills and set yourself up for success in the workplace? If you’re a teacher, you can compliment your class material with these workbooks. In addition to PDF workbooks, as of October 2022, we now offer an interactive online experience that can track answers and progress for each workbook in a student dashboard.
Grow your skills
Numeracy
Your ability to find, understand, use, and report mathematical information presented through words, numbers, symbols, and graphics.
Reading
Your ability to find, understand, and use information presented through words, symbols, and images.
Writing
Your ability to share information using written words, symbols, and images.
Adaptability
Your ability to achieve or adjust goals and behaviours when expected or unexpected change occurs, by planning, staying focused, persisting, and overcoming setbacks.
Creativity & Innovation
Your ability to imagine, develop, express, encourage, and apply ideas in ways that novel, unexpected, or challenge existing methods and norms.
Communication
Your ability to receive, understand, consider, and share information and ideas through speaking, listening, and interacting with others which includes broader concepts such as non-verbal communication.
Collaboration
Collaboration skills help you perform better in a team by understanding how to support and value others, manage difficult interactions and contribute to the team’s work.
Problem Solving
Your ability to identify, analyze, propose solutions, and make decisions. Problem solving helps you to address issues, monitor success, and learn from the experience. Strong problem-solving skills will help you gather the right information, identify and solve problems, and make better decisions.
Skills for Success Mobile Assessment App
Ready to test your skills and learn more about working in the trades? The Skills for Success Mobile App is currently available free for download in the Apple App Store and Google Play.
What to expect:
- Profiles of over 40 different trade and technology careers.
- Summary of the Skills for Success for the workplace.
- A comprehensive set of questions that can be completed on average in 15-20 minutes.
- Results are provided as a star rating link to careers in trade and technology sectors.
- Social Media features for users to share their results with friends, teachers and parents.
- Students can post and compare their results to see how their friends are performing and progressing.
- Teachers can use the App as a classroom tool.
- A link to the Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) Office of Literacy and Essential skills with access to all the National Occupational Profiles.
- Results can be compared against the levels of complexity in the ESDC profiles for specific skilled trade careers.
- A directory of all trade and technology schools and training facilities in Canada.
Try it out today!
Activities
Are you a teacher looking for exercises for your class? There are many interesting ways to explore skilled trades and apprenticeship with your students. Check out the links below for activities that will help your students practice the Skills for Success.
Cooking
Electrical Installations
Refrigeration and Air Conditioning
Hairstyling 1
Hairstyling 2
Carpentry
Graphic Design
Automation and Control
Masonry
Automotive Repair
Car Painting
Looking for more support?
Contact your local Skills/Compétences Canada office nearest you. Our staff will be happy to help you organize a classroom presentation about skilled trades for your students.
Success Kits
Skills for Success offers activity kits for teachers to use in their classrooms.
Request a kit
Fill in the form below and a member of our team will be in touch with you as soon as possible to coordinate!
Skills for Success at SCNC
The Skills Canada National Competition (SCNC) is the only national, multi-trade and technology competition for students and apprentices in the country. Each year, more than 550 competitors from all regions of Canada come to SCNC to participate in over 40 skilled trade and technology competitions.
One of the main highlights of the two-day competition is Skills for Success. Students and guests engage in hands-on challenges, presentations, and interactive activities intended to increase their awareness of how to recognize the Skills for Success in any given trade or technology career.
We look forward to integrating more Skills for Success events to SCNC 2023!
Looking for more information?
Please contact Marisa Sosa, Director, Programs and Diversity & Inclusion, at [email protected]
Try-A-Trade® And Technology Activities
These activities enable visitors to put their skills to the test and get a feel for the trades. Visitors complete a variety of trade and technology related projects, including bricklaying, electrical wiring, graphic design, cooking, and many more. In several instances, visitors can bring home a product that they created with their own hands. Students are encouraged to complete their Skills for Success passport, where they identify the Skills for Success used at various Try-a-Trade® and Technology activities. Submitted passports are eligible to win a prize.
Let’s Talk Skills for Success
This live, national webcast was hosted on-site during the Skills Canada National Competition. A series of guests discussed the importance of Skills for Success in their respective industries. Celebrity guests spoke about their experiences with the Skills for Success (Essential Skills) and our very own Team Canada Alumni 2017 discussed how they used Skills for Success during competition.
Watch the 2019 webcast with Alumni, Essential Skills (Skills for Success) and Recruitment, or How Skills for Success (Essential Skills) Meets the Challenges of an Evolving Workplace. You can also watch on our YouTube channel.
Skills For Success Forum
The Skills for Success Forum (formerly Essential Skills Forum) is an opportunity to bring education and industry together to discuss the importance of educating youth on the nine Skills for Success, and how they relate to the skilled trade and technology occupations. This free half-day conference enables attendees to participate in interactive sessions that encourage open dialogue amongst many stakeholder groups.
Skills For Success Youth Assembly
The Skills for Success Youth Assembly provides a venue for young adults, aged 18-22, to discuss current trends in skilled trades and technology.
The goal is to gather recommendations–from the voices at the table, who represent various regions across the country–on how to improve SCC activities. Conversations are guided by predetermined criteria and vary from year to year.
This assembly is more than just a one-time platform for dialogue; it becomes a think tank of talented youth talking about those engaged in trades and technologies in Canada. It has a lasting legacy–it sparks networking opportunities where strong relationships are formed and serves as a space where leadership potential is unveiled.
