Module 1: What is the Workforce System?

syllabus 

Why am I here? 

I am 

  • talent development 
  • instructional designer 
  • educator 

long interest in promoting lifelong learning; job skill training; professional development that is 

  • evidenced based training / development 
  • competency based training / development
  • formally recognized via 
    • digital badging, eportfolios, micro credentialing (which may emerge as a strategy to help facilitate workforce system changes) 
currently involved in addressing problems found in unregulated trades - one - painting (working with a paint contractor on designing a skills based, evidence based, standards based approach to becoming a architectural painter 
  • poor public perception of industry - unregulated, untrusted
  • recruitment difficult 
    • poor training regiment
    • poor hiring practices 
  • retention difficult 
    • short term work / gig common 
    • low pay 
  • advancement unclear 
    • career paths? 
    • sub contractor / self contractor .. to red seal (apprenticeship) 
      • barriers to entry 
    • yet many transferable job skills ... if documented could be learned and shared for use in future employment 
      • project management 
      • customer service / relations 

  • compared to other parts of the globe 
    • common problem 
      • unregulated 
        • exceptions? 
          • parts of Europe 
          • Australia
    • exciting things happening in the USA 
      • OSN 
        • open skills network
          • attempt to index all job skills to facilitate 

            • mobility 
            • recognition  


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LEARNING OBJECTIVES 

After this module you will be able to: 
  • Differentiate between ‘the workforce’ and ‘workforce systems’ 
  • Describe what a workforce system is using tangible examples that would help an outsider grasp the concept 
  • Identify various actors in the workforce system (ie, training institutions, employers, industry associations, organized labour) 
  • Using specific examples, identify some common gaps or barriers in the workforce system and describe how these barriers and gaps push certain candidates out of the talent pipeline or sideline them

Workforce system change 

  • identify how the current system works / doesn't work 
    • evidence? 
      • skills gaps 
      • unemployment key groups 
        • aged
        • youth 
        • challenged, determined 
  • identify strategies for addressing short coming
    •  

  • Systems Change in the National Fund (executive summary, pp. 4-7) 
  • Jane Addams Resource Corporation: A Case Study of a Sectoral Employment Development Approach (The Aspen Institute) (pp. 1-14)

Systems Change in the National Fund (executive summary, pp. 4-7)

  • implementing demand-driven employment strategies that advance the skills of workers while also resolving the skills gaps facing American businesses
    • job market needs
    • skill gaps 
  • to improve family-supporting career opportunities for low-wage and unemployed individuals, provide employers with skilled workers, and advance local economic development. 
    • small business focus? 
    • identify local skills gaps
    • target critical workers
    • coordinate collective solutions to local and regional workforce challenges
  • system may include 
    • individual employers
    • employer associations
    • labor management organizations
    • community colleges 
    • other training organizations
      • publicly funded career centers 
      • workforce development agencies
      • community-based nonprofit organizations
Systems change 
  • Systems change” refers to changes in organizational policies, procedures, practices, and culture within or across organizations in a system that improve services or activities aimed at benefitting specific stakeholders, markets, or populations.
    • they change the way that organizations work, individually and collectively, 
    • they alter stakeholder perspectives in ways that change their priorities and actions, 
    • the changes brought about to institutions and systems increase the scale of services and opportunities offered to workers and employers
    • the structures and working relationships created through National Fund efforts are institutionalized and sustained. 
  • fundamental improvements in four key areas:
    • work force development systems 
    • how to improve support for both low-skilled/ low-wage workers to improve their skills, find jobs, and advance in their work lives
      • make transparent / recognize transferable skills 
      • make transparent and support learning path opportunities that extend beyond job
    • employer business practices
    • how to support employers in providing low-skilled, low-wage workers with opportunities for education or skill enhancement and/or career advancement
      • measures of success?
        • Expansion and increased clarity of career ladders and advancement opportunities.
        • Increased employer-supported training opportunities.
        • Increase in the number of workers having access to benefits. 
        • Wage increases for trained workers. 
        • New HR practices put in place within/across employers or industries.
      • practices and policies that improve wages, benefits, or working conditions for frontline workers
      • self directed (but scaffolded) professional / career development plans 
    • policy
    • supporting industry partnerships, career pathways, or other mechanisms and organizations that will likely lead to greater investments in low-wage workers and/or job seekers and simultaneously meet employer education, training, or skill needs (policies) 
      • measures of success?
        • New policies. 
        • New investments to support training/advancement of low-income workers.
      • greater involvement / coordination of associations, with colleges etc. 
      • open skills project in the USA
    • philanthropy 
    • invited to support low-skilled, low-wage workers in acquiring education and skills and finding jobs or advancing in their jobs and careers.
      • measures of success?
        • Expansion of funding support for low-skilled, low-wage workers acquiring education and skills and finding jobs or advancing in their jobs and careers.
        • Creation of a workforce funder collaborative in the region.
        • Increase in number of funders who are members of the regional workforce funder collaborative.
        • Increase in funds pooled and aligned by philanthropy in support of low-skilled, low-wage workers acquiring education and skills and finding jobs or advancing in their jobs and careers. 
        • Creating/fostering new linkages and communication among funding entities.
      • interesting
        • what philanthropy does this now? 
          • incentives to do so? 
          • obstacles to doing so? 
          • shortcomings?


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