Friday, as part of the nationally marked Essential Skills Day Parkland College hosted an open house.
Employers and community agencies were welcome to attend the event to get information on essential skills. Parkland College representatives were on hand to answer questions and provide information.
Brendan Wagner Communications Officer with the College said the day is designed as a way to again connect with community partners, to say thanks in terms of job placements, and to have some dialogue regarding needs and expectations on both sides of the partnership.
"It's networking. That's definitely what it's all about," he said.
The essential skills are; reading, document use, numeracy, writing, oral communication, working with others, thinking, computer use and continuous learning.
Wagner said having the skills can be the difference between success at a job, or career, or struggling.
"You have to have the foundation before you can build a career," he offered.
Essential Skills Day raises awareness and celebrates the importance of the nine Essential Skills as defined by the Government of Canada. These skills are reading, document use, numeracy, writing, oral communication, working with others, thinking, computer use, and continuous learning.
Essential Skills are the skills that people need for learning, work and life. They are used in the community and the workplace, in different forms and at different levels of complexity.
The skills "are needed for nearly every job and daily life, and are the foundation for learning all other skills," noted a college release." Improving the Essential Skills of workers has tremendous impact for both the employee and employer, including higher retention rates, improved safety, and increased productivity."
This is the third year recognizing Essential Skills Day at the College, said Wagner.
Since its inception in 1973, Parkland College has worked to expand the philosophy of life-long learning in East Central Saskatchewan. Among the seven basic principles upon which the community college system was founded is the idea that programs are to be developed in response to the needs of the community. Today, Parkland College offers a broad spectrum of educational services from trades training and high school upgrading to the province's most diverse off-campus university offerings.
