The 2010 Summer Institute will bring together policy-makers, literacy and essential skills providers, and researchers to examine what is currently being counted to evaluate the results of WES programs and whether enlarging the frame of reference could lead to better outcomes for workers, employers and the country as a whole.

The Institute offers a unique opportunity to share and create knowledge at a collaborative event with a limited registration (100). They build the program around participants’ experience and expertise. Last year, they explored the issues of what works in workplace literacy and essential skills based on twenty years of programming and limited long-term assessment. This year, participants will present, question and reflect on how such programs have been evaluated. They will ask whether we are indeed capturing the outcomes that employers, workers and governments claim to want, whether current policies and measures align with good practice, and what credible alternatives exist.

Thye will start from some recent large-scale studies in the UK and New Zealand, and share some early findings from a pan-Canadian project that is adapting the NZ model for long-term evaluation of workplace initiatives in the provinces of Manitoba and Nova Scotia. They will also look at programs from other parts of Canada, the US, and selected other countries. To begin the conversation, we will send a few short documents three weeks before the Institute. These include updates from recent studies on workplace literacy and essential skills in Canada and abroad. Each registrant is asked to identify issues and questions on a one-page Participant Profile. These are compiled and shared so they have a common starting point.