Essential Skills Services
(Last Updated 4/7/2009)

Essential skills are the important building block skills that were identified through the federal government sponsored Essential Skills Research Project.  Essential skills provide the foundation for learning all other skills and enable people to evolve with their jobs and adapt to workplace and life change. Conversely, a lack of essential skills can cost companies significant time and productivity losses.

CSTEC has worked with employers, unions, education and training institutions and governments to develop innovative approaches to identifying and remedying essential skills gaps in different workplaces. These include Skills Identification Tools to help identify essential skills gaps and the range of Essential Skills training courses that are available to upgrade these skills.
If you want to find out more about CSTEC’s essential skills services, check out the links on the right hand side of this page that answer some of the frequently asked questions about essential skills.

You can also contact our Essential Skills Coordinators to find out more about how CSTEC can help you.

• In Western Canada, contact Brian Stettner at Bstettner@sasktel.net
• In Ontario, contact Lillian Roe  at missgoulais@hotmail.com
• In Quebec, contact  Gerard Gregoire at wggregoire@videotron.ca

Essential Skills Presentations - Ottawa 2009

Worplace challenges: an industry perspective (1.4MB)

The Steel Industry and Colleges Retool The Workforce (1.4MB)