What are essential skills?
Essential skills are the skills needed for work, learning and life. They provide the foundation for learning all other skills and enable people to evolve with their jobs and adapt to workplace and life change. The Federal Government’s Essential Skills Research Project (ESRP) has identified the nine “essential” skills as:

• Reading Text
• Writing
• Document Use
• Numeracy
• Thinking Skills
• Problem Solving
• Decision Making
• Critical Thinking
• Job Task Planning and Organizing
• Significant Use of Memory
• Finding Information
• Working with Others
• Computer Use
• Continuous Learning
• Oral Communication

Why are essential skills important?
Essential skills are the building blocks for all learning. Essential skills cannot be equated with levels of formal education or possession of credentials.  Many high school, college and university graduates lack the essential skills that most employers seek. For example, an engineer might have exceptional technical skills but may lack the communication skills necessary to convey information to contractors. On the other hand, some people with little formal schooling can acquire sophisticated essential skills outside of school through life experience, personal initiative, or in the workplace.
Many employers have used essential skills to:

• Develop job descriptions and/or occupational standards
• Decide what skills to look for when hiring
• Develop staff training plans and/or curriculum

How can CSTEC help me with essential skills?
CSTEC can help you to develop a more strategic and cost-effective approach to your training by using essential skills as the necessary building blocks to all learning. More specifically, we can:

• Provide you with survey tools which can be used to:
• Assess your current workplace skills
• Determine the critical essential skills needed in each of your key occupational groups
• Identify the essential skills gaps
• Assess your current workplace training in terms of its course content
• Assess your current workplace training in terms of its delivery methodologies
• Work with your training committee (s) to ensure that essential skills are seen as a foundation to all learning
• Provide you with a wide range of modularized training courses that can be delivered in a classroom or e-learning format.
• Review your job operating procedure manuals to ensure the use of “clear language”.