Labour market and education ministers release information toolkit sharing best practices in aligning skills with the needs of the economy

TORONTO, Dec. 11, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Provincial and territorial education and labour market ministers advanced their common agenda today with the release of a toolkit designed to promote better alignment between skills and education systems and the needs of the labour market. Titled a "Toolkit of Promising Practices," the document represents the fulfillment of a provincial and territorial ministerial commitment made at the Skills for the Future symposium held in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, in July 2014.

"The Toolkit is a concrete, practical step toward coordinating education systems with the demands of the economy," said Mr. Sam Hamad, Quebec Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Solidarity and co-chair of the Forum of Labour Market Ministers (FLMM). "It highlights innovative programs and initiatives that provinces and territories have undertaken to develop the skills needed in the 21st century. By sharing information on best practices, we are able to learn from one another about how to address shared educational and labour market challenges."

The Toolkit organizes initiatives into four broad themes:

•    Upgrading the Skills of Canadians
•    Aligning Secondary Education Programming to Labour Market Demand
•    Aligning Postsecondary Education Programming to Labour Market Demand
•    Supporting the Labour Market Attachment of Target Populations

The diversity of the initiatives shows the variety of challenges that the provinces and territories face. As different as those challenges are, they also reveal commonalities that form the basis for sharing practices. "Each province and territory has unique demographics and unique economic circumstances. They all have to find their own way to make education and training systems suit those circumstances," added the Honourable Hal Perry, Minister of Education, Early Learning, and Culture for Prince Edward Island and Chair of CMEC. "But there are also experiences they have in common — such as maintaining a competitive workforce in an increasingly knowledge-based economy — that allow them to learn from one another. The Toolkit goes a long way to promote that learning."

About CMEC

Founded in 1967, CMEC is the collective voice of Canada's ministers of education. It provides leadership in education at the pan-Canadian and international levels and contributes to the exercise of the exclusive jurisdiction of provinces and territories over education. For more information, visit us at www.cmec.ca.

About FLMM

FLMM was established in 1983 as an intergovernmental forum to strengthen cooperation and strategic thinking on the labour market priorities of the provinces, the territories, and Canada. For more information, visit us at www.flmm-fmmt.ca.

Information

Colin Bailey
Director, Communications
CMEC
Cell: 416-938-1911
Tel.: 416-962-8100, ext. 259
E-mail: c.bailey@cmec.ca
Twitter: @CCMEC

François Montminy-Munyan
Director
FLMM Secretariat
Tel.: 418-646-0425, ext. 43316
E-mail: francois.montminy-munyan@mess.gouv.qc.ca