Education & Skills

The Conference Board of Canada helps inform and improve Canada’s education and skills sectors. Through independent and collaborative evidence-based research and analysis, we examine and address key issues in the country’s fast-changing learning ecosystems. Our work provides leaders with the actionable insights they need to build a stronger future.

Two circular images--the larger one shows a man with headphones working on a computer; the smaller one shows the outside of a concert and glass building

Featured

Bridging Generational Divides: Advancing Digital Skills in Canada’s Apprenticeships and Skilled Trades Ecosystem

Tradespeople will need a range of new digital skills to keep pace with the future of work and to thrive in digitally connected workplaces. They will need them to operate computerized equipment, access blueprints on digital devices, and use digital diagnostic tools, among other tasks.

Impact paper | 30-min read
Focus Area—Education & Skills

If post-secondary institutions open, will students go?

Post-secondary education is built largely on a model of bringing people together – in classrooms and common spaces, libraries and labs – to socialize, share knowledge, and develop new skills.ke of COVID-19, Canadian businesses will need talent with practical experience and future-relevant skills. One of the most promising ways to do this is by expanding access to work-integrated learning (WIL).

Commentary | 3-min read

Working Students, Building Futures

To stay competitive in the wake of COVID-19, Canadian businesses will need talent with practical experience and future-relevant skills. One of the most promising ways to do this is by expanding access to work-integrated learning (WIL).

Online experience | 8-min read

The Future Is Social and Emotional: Evolving Skills Needs in the 21st Century

More and more, employers require new hires who possess not only specialized knowledge and technical skills, but also social and emotional or “human” skills.

Summary for executives | 4-min read

Recent Reports

Bridging Generational Divides: Digital Skills in the Trades

Tradespeople identified seven core 21st-century digital skills that are needed to adapt to the future of the trades. These skills require knowledge of digital tools and interact with both trade-specific technical knowledge and social/emotional skills, which evolve over a person’s lifespan.

Summary for executives | 4-min read
Focus Area—Education & Skills

Building the Future of Apprenticeships in Canada

There’s a revolution happening in skilled trades. The revolution is being sparked by automation, low carbon economies, digitization, and other emerging work trends. These new technologies need skills that are not usually at the core of a trade school education.

Online experience | 8-min read

Social & Emotional Skills in Business School

Understanding the issues and challenges facing business schools today.

Report | 60-min read

The Future Is Social and Emotional

Demand for skilled employees is not new, but the skills considered “in demand” have evolved. While developing skills is a life long endeavour, the skills that Canadians learn through post-secondary training are key to workplace success. But demand for social and emotional skills (SES) is growing. Are we doing enough to prepare Canadians for the evolving workplace?

Online experience | 8-min read

Mergers, Affiliations, and Consortiums

Like marriages, mergers between post-secondary education (PSE) institutions typically involve two parties, with considerable planning before assets are legally combined. And, in both cases, it’s almost always easier to get in than out. In Canada, our institutions are seemingly reluctant to “take the plunge," compared to peer countries.

Impact paper | 52-min read