Building evidence to strengthen skills development policy and practice
As the evidence generation lead for the Future Skills Centre (FSC), Blueprint is working with skills development projects funded by FSC to generate evidence that can inform strengthen development policy and practice.
Since FSC’s launch in 2019, we have been developing an approach to evidence generation that can:
· Support innovation in skills development
· Generate rigorous evidence to support the scaling of effective models, and
· Build a culture of evidence-informed decision-making
We are working with a wide range of skills development projects funded by FSC to use data and evidence in new and creative ways to achieve these objectives.
In spring 2020 we begun working closely with six projects funded by FSC to develop and test some of our new tools and methods for evidence generation. Our objective is to work with these projects to generate evidence that can strengthen their program models, improve implementation quality, and prepare models for broader scaling.
The projects
· NPower Canada, an organization that provides underserved youth with training in digital and professional skills, is expanding programs designed to provide low- income youth with training in digital and professional skills for careers in IT, while at the same time making the IT workforce more inclusive and diverse. Read more about our work with NPower here
· The Canadian Career Development Foundation plans to expand across Canada an innovative pre-employment program that provides resources and training for community groups to support individuals facing employment-readiness challenges. It helps participants build resilience and develop skills that better prepare them to enter the workforce.
· A consortium of research partners including the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health is testing a program to enhance employment and education supports for youth facing mental health challenges that integrates mental health services with support finding a job or an academic program.
· Futureworx Society, based in Nova Scotia, is testing the effectiveness of an online application designed to build social and emotional skills needed for success in the labour market.
· Pier Labs is designing a sector-based training model that seeks to improve the job prospects of low-income individuals in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.
· Mohawk College plans to develop a program to train vulnerable populations, including newcomers to Canada, young people and adults on social assistance, with digital and transferable skills for careers in the material-handling sector.
These projects are part of a $37 million investment by FSC in innovative and community-based projects that seek to fill employers’ skills gaps and help workers gain in-demand skills.
Check back soon to learn more about how we are working with these six projects to generate rigorous and actionable evidence.
To learn more about our FSC evidence generation approach, read our Evidence Summary 2021 and 2020 Annual Evidence Report
As the evidence generation lead for the Future Skills Centre (FSC), Blueprint is working with skills development projects funded by FSC to generate evidence that can inform strengthen development policy and practice.
Since FSC’s launch in 2019, we have been developing an approach to evidence generation that can:
· Support innovation in skills development
· Generate rigorous evidence to support the scaling of effective models, and
· Build a culture of evidence-informed decision-making
We are working with a wide range of skills development projects funded by FSC to use data and evidence in new and creative ways to achieve these objectives.
In spring 2020 we begun working closely with six projects funded by FSC to develop and test some of our new tools and methods for evidence generation. Our objective is to work with these projects to generate evidence that can strengthen their program models, improve implementation quality, and prepare models for broader scaling.
The projects
· NPower Canada, an organization that provides underserved youth with training in digital and professional skills, is expanding programs designed to provide low- income youth with training in digital and professional skills for careers in IT, while at the same time making the IT workforce more inclusive and diverse. Read more about our work with NPower here
· The Canadian Career Development Foundation plans to expand across Canada an innovative pre-employment program that provides resources and training for community groups to support individuals facing employment-readiness challenges. It helps participants build resilience and develop skills that better prepare them to enter the workforce.
· A consortium of research partners including the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health is testing a program to enhance employment and education supports for youth facing mental health challenges that integrates mental health services with support finding a job or an academic program.
· Futureworx Society, based in Nova Scotia, is testing the effectiveness of an online application designed to build social and emotional skills needed for success in the labour market.
· Pier Labs is designing a sector-based training model that seeks to improve the job prospects of low-income individuals in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.
· Mohawk College plans to develop a program to train vulnerable populations, including newcomers to Canada, young people and adults on social assistance, with digital and transferable skills for careers in the material-handling sector.
These projects are part of a $37 million investment by FSC in innovative and community-based projects that seek to fill employers’ skills gaps and help workers gain in-demand skills.
Check back soon to learn more about how we are working with these six projects to generate rigorous and actionable evidence.
To learn more about our FSC evidence generation approach, read our Evidence Summary 2021 and 2020 Annual Evidence Report
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