Document Use in Entry Level Healthcare Occupations: Essential Skills Resource for Aboriginal Learners. Instructor Guide & Learner Guide

What is the overall impact of the initiative and how is this measured?

The overall goal of the SIAST initiative was to enhance Essential Skills (ES) proficiency, employment success, and ultimately the representation of Aboriginal people in health sector occupations. This was to be accomplished by developing and/or re‐imagining existing ES tools and practices to incorporate culturally appropriate ways of learning for Aboriginal adults working or targeting work in the health care sector.

The tool was used/tested with a variety of learners across Canada and the descriptive feedback was positive.

What challenges have you faced and how were these overcome?

It is important for instructors/facilitators to take the time to read the Instructor Guide prior to using the Learner Guide with learners. When testing the guides we found this did not happen in one location.

Employer engagement to test the guides was not achieved despite repeated efforts.

What are 3 key lessons you learned from developing or delivering your initiative? What advice from those lessons would you share with others?

Testing the guides in other communities across Canada reassured us that the guides had a broad appeal. If we were to do a similar project again, I would ask for more feedback from an employer perspective. All of our colleges used the guides with students; none were able to test them in a work-based setting.

Which Essential Skills are covered by the initiative? Document Use Numeracy Writing Oral Communications Working with Others Thinking Skills Continuous Learning

How are the Essential Skills integrated into your initiative?

The Learner’s Guide offers learners an orientation to ES, document use and oral communication, and helps learners see document use in the context of Aboriginal worldviews and culture. The Learner’s Guide also provides learners with methods or strategies for approaching document use and a selection of
document use exercises ranging from simple to complex. Within the exercises on document use, learners are asked to make links to their cultural knowledge and experience, past and present.

How do you assess participant Essential Skills?

Ideally one would pre and post-test learners using a recognized ES assessment such as TOWES when using this resource in conjunction with other ES developmental activities.

What are the components of the initiative? Occupation-specific skills training

How was Indigenous culture integrated into the program content or delivery?

Considerable time and effort was expended to ensure the materials incorporated Aboriginal teaching/learning methodology, examples from Aboriginal heritage, and testimonials from Aboriginal health workers. The bibliography for the Instructor’s Guide includes 28 print sources and 29 on‐line resources that were reviewed and used for the purpose of the project. In addition, the writer worked with an Aboriginal Student Success Advisor at SIAST to liaise with key people in the Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region and Aboriginal communities near Regina. He also worked closely with a SIAST Essential Skills instructor to choose appropriate documents for the Learner’s Guide and develop relevant exercises for these documents. Materials/guides were distributed to Aboriginal experts in the SIAST community before being distributed to the pilot sites. Qualitative responses by learners in pilots.

What do you think are the most important competencies and attributes for staff involved in this initiative to have?

Ideally the guides would be used by a skilled ES facilitator; however, there is sufficient information and instruction in the instructor guide for it to be used by any trainer/facilitator.

Who are your partners, and what is their involvement in the initiative?

Partner name	Role	Responsibilities
Northern Lights College, B.C.	Test college	As part of the project, test colleges were asked to use the resources with learners, college or work-based, in their communities.
Lambton College, Ontario	Test college	As above
Nova Scotia Community College, Nova Scotia	Test college	As above