CALGARY, AB – Canada’s provinces and territories are moving at different speeds toward incorporating new competency-based curricula that will give schoolchildren a leg up in life and work, according to a report released today by the Canada West Foundation and The Counselling Foundation of Canada.

The report, called Know, Do, Understand, examined K-12 school systems across Canada to determine how far each province or territory has moved toward adopting competency-based learning approaches.

Competencies are the skills, knowledge and attributes needed to know, do and understand real world tasks. For youth, incorporating them into K-12 education gives them essential tools to succeed in the workforce after graduating. Students may need help to bridge the gap between the competencies taught in the classroom and the way they relate them to their careers outside of schools, according to the report.

Among the report’s findings:

>Provinces and territories are each moving toward a competency-based approach to teaching, learning and assessment, but at different paces and with different levels of commitment.
>Quebec is the only province where competencies are fully incorporated into its curriculum and assessment.
>Competency development better equips young Canadians to navigate the complex career pathways of the 21st century.

“Being able to apply what you know in new contexts is a vitally important competency,” said Janet Lane, Director of the Foundation’s Centre for Human Capital Policy. “With this move to competency-based learning, our young people will be better equipped to apply what they are learning in jobs we haven’t even begun to design yet.”

“It’s encouraging to see many jurisdictions in Canada moving towards the integration of competency frameworks within K-12, including how they relate to career exploration,” said Bruce Lawson, President of The Counselling Foundation of Canada. “However, there is still work to be done.”

Young people need to better understand how to link the competencies they are learning in school and apply them beyond the classroom, Lawson said.

The Counselling Foundation of Canada is exploring how it can support third-sector agencies that offer youth-focused, capacity-building programs to implement career competencies into their programming. They are also interested in seeing how post-secondary institutions could likewise increase competency awareness throughout all faculties.

The report builds on the work the Canada West Foundation has done in examining the benefits of competency-based training approaches and why Canada must move quickly to catch up with the rest of the world and move toward this type of workforce development.

The full version of Know, Do, Understand can be downloaded here.

The Canada West Foundation focuses on the policies that shape the West’s quality of life. For more than 40 years, we have been a passionate advocate for western Canada.

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For more information, please contact:

Jamie Gradon
Manager of Communications
Canada West Foundation
403-700-9535

Sharon Ferriss
Director, Marketing, Web & New Media
The Counselling Foundation of Canada
416-929-2510