OVER VIEW OF COLLEGE DELIVERY

REALITIES & COMMONALITIES

Overview

This report is not intended as an in depth description of on-going and planned activity in the college sector in the areas of workforce and essential skills delivery. The recent Train Ontario 2 workshops and materials did not include many college examples of workforce delivery. This summary is, therefore, intended only as a brief overview to introduce other deliverers to the college environment and the types of workforce activities which are currently on-going. It is also intended to make colleges more aware of activities currently taking place at other colleges to encourage communication and sharing of strategies and materials.

The information was gathered from phone interviews with program staff at each college in August and September, 2005. The categories are based on those headings identified in the recent Train Ontario 2 workshops and materials: Strategic Planning, Marketing and Partnerships, Supporting Practitioners, Program Evaluation and Policies and Procedures. Workforce materials development, including curriculum, learning materials and demonstrations, is a major category not identified as a separate heading in Train Ontario 2. It is embedded in the Strategic Planning and Program Evaluation categories.

During these interviews, staff from all colleges repeated that a number of realities concerning college delivery needed to be stressed. This Overview will try to capture these concerns.

COLLEGE REALITIES

1. For colleges the separation of the Employment goal from the Further Training goal is highly artificial. All post secondary programming is focused on specific employment sectors. Students enroll in post secondary programs to secure employment. Preparing for further education at a college is preparing for the workplace. There is a difference between entry level jobs that do not require further education to be considered for employment and those that can only be accessed with sector specific training at the post secondary level. There are a few students in college programming who will never be able to handle the rigours of post secondary programming ( plateaued learners). Colleges have strategies in place to assist these plateaued learners to enter the workforce directly. The college focus is on the majority of students they train - those able to master the more advanced skills requiring post secondary education.

College aggregate activity for 2004-2005 for LBS/OBS levels is as follows:
LBS 1     less than 1%
LBS 2     7%
LBS 3     23%
LBS 4     24%
LBS 5     21%
OBS       25%