workers in transition natcon
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Connecting the Workforce to Learning
www.cewca.org
Centre for Education and Work (CEW)
Connecting the Workforce to Learning
www.cewca.org
PLAR:Workers in Transition
National Research Study
“Number one I would say it was mind opening. It gave you a different perspective on how to look at something; a different perspective on how to look at your skills; a different way of
charting skills. . . .” Lillian, Portfolio Workshop Participant, British Columbia
Connecting the Workforce to Learning
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Research Project
• Three year national study
• Funded by HRSD
• Measure the effects of Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR) strategies for workers in employment transition
Connecting the Workforce to Learning
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Unique Research
First large-scale national study on PLAR and portfolio as a tool for employment transition
Project Partners: Halifax PLA Centre and the Saskatchewan Labour Force Development Board
Portfolio Workshops were conducted in– Nova Scotia and New Brunswick– Manitoba– Saskatchewan– British Columbia (Vancouver Island)
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Participants
• Over 300 participants from across the country
• All walks of life
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Emphasis on Work-Based Portfolio
We wanted to determine whether the development of a work-based Portfolio would help workers in transition in the job search, interview and employment process.
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Portfolio Product
A physical collection of evidence which proves learning or skill
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Portfolio Process
An intellectual process of identifying and reflecting on the value and application of learning and skills obtained in the workplace, through academic endeavours, and through other life experiences
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Portfolio as a Transition Tool
The process of identifying and reflecting on skills is just as or more important as the portfolio product to people in the employment transition process
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Participant’s Voice
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Recruitment
PHIL
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Results of the study
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Portfolio Helps the Employment Transition
ProcessDeveloping a Portfolio Helped Study Participants Improve Their Job Search Readiness
Preliminary results show that 73.3% of study respondents say that Portfolio has been an important part of their job search process.
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Readiness for the Job Search Process
• More Effective Interviews
• Realistic Self-Assessment of Skills
• Clearer Employment and Educational Goals
• Greater Confidence
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Supports More Effective Job Interviews
• Gave participants concise information about their vocational and transferable skills. This provided confidence going in to an interview.
• Skills information could be readily brought to mind during an interview, ensuring that participants would not falter when asked about their skills.
• Some participants used their portfolio during the interview to demonstrate skills, while others simply had the portfolio with
them during the interview and could refer to it if required.
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Demonstrate Skills to Employers
Portfolios were used to demonstrate skills to potential employers.
In preliminary follow-up data, 43.3% of employed respondents had used the Portfolio they developed in an interview.
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Participant’s Voice
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Portfolio for Job Interviews…
• Portfolio helped people get ready for the interview by bringing to mind their skills and accomplishments.
• Of those who used the Portfolio in an interview, 84.6% said the Portfolio helped them in the interview process.
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Participant’s Voice
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Promotes Career Development
The portfolio process helped people identify new skills or recall skills that they have but have not used in their recent employment.
Preliminary results show that 74.8% of study respondents agreed that the Portfolio workshops helped them identify skills they did not know they had.
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Participant’s Voice
“I’d say there are some skills there that I didn’t even know they were skills. I had assets that I didn’t know were skills or could be used or were employable.”
Gary, Manitoba
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Transferable skills
Identifying transferable skills helps people widen their job search opportunities.
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Participant’s Voice“Yes, they helped me realize that some of them were transferable, basically because I thought that everything I was doing I could only do in an office setting, or everything I was doing could only be done in a retail store. But I kind of realized customer service and having good phone manners and being able to multitask and keep all kinds of different balls in the air at once, like in a work setting, can be done anywhere.”
Rebecca, Manitoba
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Helped Clarify Education and Training Goals
Study participants had a better understanding of whether more education or training was required in order to achieve their career goals
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Wade, East Coast
Participants’ Voices
Seth, East Coast
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Defined Personal and Career Goals and Values
The portfolio process helped people clarify their personal goals and values as well as their workplace knowledge and skills
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Participant’s Voice
Evelyn, Manitoba
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Developed Confidence In…
• Job search and interview process• Plans to achieve career goals• Value of skills and learning gained
in workplace
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All regions agreed
• Confidence was increased as a result of doing portfolio
• This finding was consistent across all regional sites.
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Participant’s Voice
Mallory, British Columbia
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Participant Group Results
• Transitions for:– Immigrants– Persons in Mid-Career – Persons with Acquired Disabilities– Older Persons– Youth
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Immigrants• Re-enter professions• Find a job quickly• Explore new career options
Olivia, Manitoba
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Persons Contemplating Mid-Career Changes
Values and goals setting component of the portfolio workshops often required additional reflection time before moving forward in the portfolio process.
Challenges included length of time before retirement, pension plans, loss of income if training for a new career, and family obligations like caring for children and elderly parents.
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Participant’s Voice
“I’m fifty-two this year, so I’ve got to make up my mind about what I’m doing. All the kids are grown and doing their own . . .It’s time for me to do what’s good for me, so that I have a fulfilling life as well.”
Alison, British Columbia
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Persons With Acquired Disabilities
Persons with acquired disabilities face the task of redefining their job skills, sometime in radically different ways from their previous work.
Portfolio workshops helped focus on what they can do in their lives and careers, rather than on what they can no longer do.
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Participant’s Voice
Ethan, British Columbia
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Older Persons
The portfolio process helped older participants identify their strengths based on their years of experience in the workforce.
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Participant’s Voice“I think one of the. . .reasons I was interested in doing it was because I was feeling like, ‘Oh goodness, I can’t do anything,’ because I wasn’t getting jobs and I was feeling like, ‘Oh, I’m too old,’ or something. And I’m not feeling that I’m too old, but I mean that I’m considered too old and those kinds of things. So in reflecting on a lot of things I’ve done, I realized that I have a lot of skills that I can use in a lot of different places.” Beth, Manitoba
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Youth
Some of the youngest participants in the study worried that their age might equate with lack of experience and direction.
“I guess for people like me that are young people who don’t really know what they’re doing, [to figure out] their skills and get them all kind of pointed in the right direction.”
Wesley, Saskatchewan
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Final Report
Preliminary information about this project is available on the CEW website @ cewca.org
The Workers in Transition Study will conclude in November 2006
The Final Report will be posted on the CEW Website at that time
Connecting the Workforce to Learning
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Centre for Education and Work