BACKGROUND

This document is the result of telephone interviews conducted with College Academic Upgrading Managers during August and September, 2005. The purpose of this report is to promote awareness of college initiatives with the broader literacy community. It is also to provide colleges with examples of innovative practice and contact information to facilitate further development and implementation across the system.

I would like to thank all those individuals who participated so generously in the interview process. The interviews took much longer than the originally planned half hour. I would also like to thank everyone for returning the draft Individual College Profiles so quickly. I know that this initiative was yet another deadline at the busiest time of the year, and I appreciate the high priority which you all put on responding.

All colleges participated in the Train Ontario 2 workshops. A careful reading of the materials provided at these workshops reveals that while they were comprehensive and well organized, they did not capture the on-going or planned activity in the College Sector. Very few examples of college workforce best practice were included in the materials. In addition, many of the examples from the other sectors were most applicable at LBS Levels 1 - 3.

PROCESS

Managers were asked to book an interview time. They received a memo explaining the purpose of the interview as well as a discussion guide. (Appendix A)

Following the interview, College Profiles were written and returned to the managers for their input. Colleges could add or delete information.

The final step was to analyze each of the profiles to identify initiatives about which other colleges might be interested in getting more information.

OVERVIEW OF COLLEGE DELIVERY

During the interviews, a number of principles were identified repeatedly by the managers. It also became evident that many practices were common to all colleges. These principles and commonalities are outlined in the first part of the document

INDIVIDUAL COLLEGE PROFILES

The content of these profiles is based on the interviews. These profiles describe only those initiatives which were discussed during the interviews and definitely do not describe everything happening at each college