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Essential Skills (Adult Basic Education
by nwccs
Program Categories Program Capacity, Projected Enrolments (Full-Time and Part-Time) & FLEs 2021-22 Forecast 2022-23 Budget 2023-24 Estimate 2024-25 Estimate Cap FT PT FLEs Cap FT PT FLEs Cap FT PT FLEs Cap FT PT FLEs
Institute Credit 319 297 64 262 359 269 21 305 379 296 21 352 408 319 21 359
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Industry Credit 632 11 997 20 1197 24 1377 28 Industry Non-Credit 96 4 109 4 196 8 225 9
ABE Credit 208 260 17 142 207 192 15 261 213 198 15 269 213 198 15 269 ABE Non-Credit 262 166 105 92 333 231 102 182 346 240 106 188 353 243 110 191
University 19 19 22 30 11 45 49 10 54 55 20 65
Total 789 742 933 532 899 722 1255 817 938 783 1545 896 974 815 1768 920
Essential Skills (Adult Basic Education)
Essential Skills/Adult Basic Education (ABE) programming provides foundational skills development for adults to successfully enter meaningful employment or careers. Two primary sources of funding exist to support delivery of the comprehensive ABE program at NWC: i) Funding from the Ministry of Immigration and Career Training in the form of a conditional grant, and; ii) third party contributions from school divisions and First Nations communities.
Third party contributions allow the College to expand the number of ABE programs and seats. For 2022-23, the anticipated third party resources are lower than previous years as one First Nation has advised they are no longer funding Adult 10/12 programs off reserve due to the public policy change for provincial training allowance. The anticipated third party resources poses a risk, if the forecast is not achieved, then programs will need to be cancelled as all of the ABE grant monies have been allocated to the program plan. This would be unfortunate as the need for ABE programming in our region far exceeds the available resources to support foundational and essential skills development.
The change in public policy for provincial training allowance is a risk for the NWC Adult Basic Education program plan. Given the short timelines, the College was unable to speak with all 24 First Nations in our region but did have discussions with the main Tribal Councils and some of the Bands. The reactions have primarily been one of concern especially given the potential funds to support students are not under a single portfolio. The seats represented in the business plan will be impacted if students on and off reserve cannot secure enough funding to participate in the training. Some programs were moved to a First Nation to help mitigate the impact of this change in public policy. The College remains committed to working very closely and collaboratively with First Nations communities to develop and deliver culturally respectful programs. Enhancing education and employment outcomes for Indigenous communities in the region continues to be a priority for NWC.
Over the past two years of the pandemic, ABE participation levels and overall student success have been lower. Many First Nations communities in our region were still on lock down this past year and when Level 2 programs cannot be delivered this impacts the number of students transitioning to Level 3 & 4. In addition, the College is receiving more applications from upgraders (students who previously graduated) to get prerequisites for post-secondary primarily in math and science. This results in lower graduation rates and creates challenges with scheduling. The 2022-23 program plan will continue to be affected by the pandemic. The plan reflects most programs returning to pre-pandemic enrolment levels however with the uncertainty they may not be achievable. To say the least, the multi-year program plan for ABE was challenging to develop.
The College has always had a strong workforce exposure strategy for our students; however, the pandemic will continue to influence how we support our students in understanding the world of work and the opportunities available to them. The College is hopeful the café kiosk business incubator program, the students in Level 3 have operated for several years will be able to open again in 2022-23. The College also anticipates more businesses will be willing to take students for work placements later this fall and winter. The College continues to have a commitment to work integrated learning and has designed four essential skills for the workplace program to address skilled labour market shortages identified by our communities. All programs with a significant reliance on the business community are at risk during the pandemic.
As a provincial leader in Indigenous education, the College continually reflects and improves the quality and relevancy of our ABE programs to enhance education and employment outcomes. In 2022-23, the College will be delivering ABE programming primarily face-to-face implementing some of the best practices learned in the blended environment. The College will continue to use technology to maximize learning outcomes through strong instructional design, build digital skills and bridge access to lessons. Instructors and students will continue to be supported to use the technology effectively. Student lack of access to stable affordable internet is still a challenge for many of the students.
NWC is committed to working with each individual student to create a program plan to maximize their potential and meet their career goals in a timely fashion. This requires multiple program types being available unfortunately this is not easy for our vast high needs rural region. The pilot of a renewed Level 2 and Level 3 program on the main campuses was impacted by low numbers of students so in order to give this philosophical shift a true test the main campuses will continue this pilot in 2022-23. Level 2 programs will be 160 days and run from Sept to May to allow students to enter at multiple points hone their skills and move on when ready. These Level 2 programs will continue to focus on skill development in academics, life skills and employability but the strategy for each student will be customized based on their strengths, skill gaps and goals. Similarly, the Level 3 programs will be set up with multiple planned intake dates and each student will begin their journey at their skill level and take only those courses required to meet their goals. This may result in less students graduating with a full Level 3 but will move the student more quickly towards their career goals. On the two campuses, the Level 4 program will continue to be delivered in trimesters to support the timely transition of students. The course offerings at each location have been aligned to maximize the courses available between the two locations. This may afford a student the opportunity to take a course remotely from the other campus to complete their program plan more quickly. This pilot requires continuous assessment of student competencies and confidence as well as clear goal setting and understanding what is needed to achieve said goals. This pilot requires some adjustment to College processes for intake, program planning and exit strategies. The ultimate objective is for each student to create the quickest skill/competency developing path to their career goal. The plans for the two main campuses remain similar to last year.
Rural communities such as Duck Lake and Cut Knife will continue to have Level 3 and 4 programming with proximate reserve communities hosting 80 day Level 2 programs. The programming in Debden will not be offered in 2022-23 given low numbers over the past four years. Programming on proximate reserves is still planned. The number of students participating could still be impacted by the change in the financial support to students.
Other on-reserve programming include combination programs at Witchekan Lake and Pelican Lake. The program design supports learners and reduce barriers to success. The Level 4 students will receive some of their lessons from a campus program to maintain quality. The College will deliver two programs on Thunderchild First Nation based on their request. One program will focus on academic preparation and the other employment readiness for oil and gas careers.
In 2022-23, NWC is aligning all essential skills for the workplace (ESWP) funded programs to address skills gaps in the labour market as identified by local employers. Each of the four program have been specifically designed to develop relevant skills, knowledge and abilities for the respective industry. The CiCan Supportive Care Assistant program will be delivered in the form of an Essential Skills for the Workplace Place program focusing on indigenous peoples and newcomers. Funding from Immigration and Resource Career Centre (IRCC) will be used to support this program in addition to the ESWP grant. This pilot program will include all of the CiCan program inclusive of the four-month work term, two Saskatchewan Polytechnic Continuing Care Assistant (CCAs) modules to add value to the program and ultimately employability of the students, essential skill development and language support for the newcomers. This program will be delivered in the Battlefords given our target population and access to non-SHA facilities for the work placements. Most of the SHA spots are for Saskatchewan Polytechnic so this limits the communities we can offer this program successfully. Should the College not meet the target commitments to CiCan then a second offering in Rosthern will be delivered given the number of proximate affiliate health facilities. Regardless the Rosthern ESWP program will have a CCA focus given the demand for CCAs locally, regionally and provincially.
The other ESWP programs are designed for positions that require technical skills but are often hard to recruit for given lower pay, fewer hours or the nature of the work so ultimately the employers under hire and invest continuously in on-the-job training. The intent of these programs is to provide solid base skills to better equip the students to hit the ground running upon hire and add value to those they serve. The programs are all designed to provide some credit classes from Saskatchewan Polytechnic/Lakeland, relevant safety/industry credit, a formal work placement and the outcomes for each of the nine essential skills relevant to the specific job. There is some risk with this strategy given some resistance from Saskatchewan Polytechnic in brokering individual modules.
The College will deliver two educational assistant ESWPs – one in Meadow Lake and the other in Leoville. The school divisions have greatly appreciated the program we developed in partnership with Living Sky school division a few years ago proven by the many requests to deliver it. The College has delivered an early childhood (ECE) level 1 prep with ESWP funds over the past few years but will be adding value to it based on feedback from employers. The renewed version will follow the same principles as above but also add some additional skills to meet the gaps identified by employers. The ECE ESWP will be delivered in Meadow Lake and North Battleford to support the loss of the full time STA program.
Overall, the program plan for 2022-23 will have an increase in training seats and days over the previous year business plan and has many new approaches, initiatives and innovations. Execution of this plan is reliant on the realization of third party resources, less pandemic impacts
on our communities and students receiving adequate living allowances to actively participate in training.
Table 6 outlines our 2022-23 program plan for ABE, which utilizes the entire ABE conditional grant, ESWP allocation and anticipated levels of third party funding. The plan demonstrates commitment to our principles and we will be offering programming in fifteen locations. The year 2 and 3 proposed plans are also based on these principles however post pandemic training seats will increase. The plans reflect some anticipated movement in locations based on success and maximizing resources. Each of the three-year plans can be viewed in Appendix C.
Table 6. 2022-23 Program Plan for ABE
Program Type and Location Business Plan 2022-23
ESSENTIAL SKILLS (ABE)
Level 4 Adult 12
Level 3 Adult 10
Cut Knife Duck Lake Meadow Lake North Battleford North Battleford – Night Pelican Lake FN
TOTAL Level 4
Cut Knife Duck Lake Meadow Lake North Battleford Pelican Lake FN Witchekan Lake FN
TOTAL Level 3
Level 2 Ahtahkakoop FN Beardy's Okemasis FN ERP Beardy's Okemasis FN Big River FN Little Pine FN Mistawasis FN Meadow Lake - pathways North Battleford North Battleford - pathways Witchekan Lake FN
Literacy & Essential Skills for the Workplace
Leoville ERP Sweetgrass FN Thunderchild FN ERP Thunderchild FN
TOTAL Level 2
ECE - North Battleford
ECE - Meadow Lake
EA Prep - Meadow Lake CiCan CCA - Rosthern
Seats Program Length
Projected Training Days
12 170 2,040 15 170 2,550 30 170 5,100 45 170 7,650 15 40 600 6 170 1,020
123 18,960
12 170 2,040 15 170 2,550 15 170 2,550 30 170 5,100 6 170 1,020 6 170 1,020
84 14,280
12 80 960 12 80 960 12 80 960 12 80 960 12 80 960 12 80 960 15 160 2400 15 80 1200 15 160 2400 6 170 1020 12 75 900 12 80 960 12 60 720 12 80 960
171 16,320
12 80 960
12 60 720
12 75 900
12 60 720
CiCan CCA - North Battleford TOTAL ESWP
TOTAL College 2022-23 TOTAL College 2021-22
12 60 720
