FAQ

The eleven Essential Employability Skills are mandated by the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development as part of the program of instruction for Ontario College Certificates, Diplomas, and Advanced Diplomas.

It is the program’s responsibility to ensure that every EES is taught (T), assessed (A) and has culminating performances (CP), but an individual course should address 3-5 skills at most

It’s a common misconception that the more EES you include, the better your course design. In fact, you are encouraged to include just a few EES in any one course and to plan for intentional teaching and assessment of the EES associated with it. Fewer is better.

Including EES in your course is best accomplished when the skills are integrated with the vocational learning. Thoughtful consideration of the types of learning activities and assessments you include may make it possible to include EES without needing to “cut” other content. Most professors find that their existing assignments already involve teaching and/or assessing at least one or two.

Course outlines are updated regularly, which includes reviewing the EES associated with a particular course. Keep in mind that any changes you make to the outline have an impact on the program as a whole, so it’s important to consult with your program coordinator. If the EES currently associated with your course appear to be misplaced (not really connected to your curriculum in a significant way), talk to your coordinator or ask for curriculum help.

A numeracy component exists in every program, beyond the obviously math-related professions. The challenge is sometimes identifying those skills and tasks that involve numeracy.  When you think of this skill, consider the many ways in which all types of calculating, estimating, and resource planning involve math.

Good communications skills are an important predictor of success in life. Students’ oral, written and visual communications skills develop with ongoing feedback. The ability to use technical and professional vocabulary accurately and to explain concepts to diverse audiences needs to be taught, practiced, and evaluated in vocational courses, too. Providing students with feedback and assessment of communication across the program helps students recognize its value.

You should include in your course outline only the EES that you teach and/or assess with intent ̶  that is, skills deliberately addressed by the curriculum.

It depends… Most assignments have deadlines. However, to address the time-management EES, you need to ensure that you are actually teaching students how to meet deadlines with specific strategies and providing feedback and assessment. Task-planning skills should be taught and practised.  If you are assessing time management, a portion of the grade should be assigned to demonstrating this.

EES are taught and assessed across the program, and in some cases, you may teach a skill but not specifically assess it, or you might assess a skill that has been taught previously. However, be sure that you don’t assess a skill before it has been taught.

The fact that an assignment has a group work does not suggest that the student has been taught or assessed on how to work in a group (EES 9). If the course specifically teaches and assesses how to interact as part of a team or how to develop professional relationships, then EES 9 is addressed.

Culminating performances are practical demonstrations of skill that take place in as close to a “real-life” context as possible; tests don’t usually provide this context. However, there may be exceptions:  if you can make a case for it, talk to your coordinator and program faculty to ensure that the choice is valid.

You can see how EES are mapped in your program in COMMS. Click on “Generate Reports,” select your program, choose one of the EES Reports and click “Run Report.”  You’ll see a chart that combines information from all the courses in your program   ̶   essentially, a “map” of how the EES are addressed.