Workplace Training Archives - SRDC

Trade and Geopolitical Trends Analysis for the Environmental Sectors

Wallaa Daramlly — Sat, 28 Feb 2026 18:42:17 +0000

Working with ECO Canada, SRDC conducts a qualitative assessment of how major global economic and geopolitical shifts are reshaping conditions for Canadian industries and their workforce needs, with a special focus on the environmental sectors. Recent developments – including trade wars, evolving geopolitical alignments, and uncertainty surrounding the renewal of the Canada‑United States‑Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) – are influencing sector performance in complex and sometimes counterintuitive ways. Many Canadian industries, including those in primary and resource‑based sectors, begin to experience not only challenges but also adaptive or beneficial opportunities, underscoring the need for deeper evidence‑based analysis.

We conduct a comprehensive review and synthesis of Canadian and international literature, scanning academic studies, policy analyses, industry reports, and labour market and skills research. We supplement this literature review with an analysis of secondary data, primarily from Statistics Canada, to contextualize findings. We draw implications on observed and anticipated shifts in labour and skills demand. Finally, we validate findings with industry stakeholders through key informant interviews.

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Scaling & Replicator Strategic Evaluation and Learning Support for FSC

Wallaa Daramlly — Wed, 03 Dec 2025 15:12:24 +0000

SRDC is undertaking several evaluations within new categories of Future Skills Centre (FSC) projects. The SCALE initiative invited existing FSC partners whose projects were ready for the next scale-up phase to apply for additional funding to advance their projects along a clearly defined scaling pathway. The projects were selected to answer pressing strategic questions that represent gaps in knowledge and/or practice – and around which FSC investment strategies are oriented. The projects embrace ongoing testing of program feasibility and effectiveness derived from specified scaling objectives. The REPLICATE initiative funds FSC partners whose projects present the best evidence of effectiveness and impact to conduct replication projects with up to two or three different partners working in different geographical locations. The projects test the feasibility of replication as further proof of the effectiveness of the program and help to further build up a cohort of partnerships ready to move towards full scaling and sustainability, as well as test replication as a strategy for project sustainability.

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Green Futures Training Partnership: a CBTU and SMART Canada Project

Wallaa Daramlly — Sat, 02 Aug 2025 14:29:29 +0000

This project is a partnership between CBTU, SMART Canada, SkillPlan, and SRDC to develop and deliver green training for sheet metal workers across Canada. The five-year project aims to provide green training to more than 2,000 apprentices and journeypersons in three key regions across the country. The project will feature the development and delivery of a ‘SMART Canada Green Seal Certificate’ for apprentices and journey workers as well as the modernization and digitization of all SMART Canada apprenticeship training.

In partnership with the project partners, SRDC and SkillPlan are leading the needs analysis, including a blueprint of supports for in-class and virtual training as well as a certification framework and associated implementation plan. SRDC is also leading the research design and evaluation of the project. This includes testing and measuring the delivery and training results of the project and sharing these results amongst a variety of stakeholders to contribute to better practices and outcomes among the sheet metal and roofing trades and on a larger scale across the skilled trades industry.

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National Training System to Ensure Low-Carbon Building Performance to Reduce Energy Consumption

Wallaa Daramlly — Wed, 09 Jul 2025 18:09:01 +0000

SkillPlan, in partnership with the International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers and Local Unions (IAHFIAW), Canada’s Building Trades Unions (CBTU), Social Research and Demonstration Corporation (SRDC), Climate and Industry Research Team (CIRT), and Building Efficiency Resources (BER), is supporting Canada’s climate and low-carbon economy goals by developing, implementing, and evaluating a national energy assessment training program for the Insulator Heat and Frost Red Seal trade. The project will train both unionized and non-unionized journeypersons and apprentices in the Insulator Heat and Frost Red Seal trade with technical, operational, and communication tools to upgrade their knowledge and skills, and develop their leadership capacity.

SRDC is leading a comprehensive needs analysis to support the design of the program training. SRDC will also support this project through developing a comprehensive evaluation framework and protocols, conducting fieldwork, data quality control, analysis, and knowledge dissemination.

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Strategic Evaluation and Learning Support for the Future Skills Centre 2025

Wallaa Daramlly — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 20:58:11 +0000

Since 2020, the Future Skills Centre (FSC) has supported the development, refinement, or expansion of approaches to developing skills for workers from a variety of backgrounds and in a variety of sectors. These innovation projects are required to mobilize knowledge and evidence among key stakeholders, institutions and decision-makers for the purposes of improving policies and practices in Canada. SRDC is developing a mix of retrospective and prospective evaluation approaches for a subset of these projects, dependent on the timelines and stage of development of each project. These involve quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis using document and data review, interviews with project partners and their subcontractors, implementation evaluation, and theory of change or logic model development. SRDC’s learning and evaluation framework is designed to capture what has been learned from these projects for the future development of the skills ecosystem in Canada.

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Expanding Apprenticeship Success Through Improved and Enhanced System of Technology (EAST Project)

Wallaa Daramlly — Thu, 27 Feb 2025 20:11:39 +0000

SkillPlan, BC Construction Industry Skills Improvement Council, in partnership with Canada’s Building Trades Unions (CBTU), Provincial Building Trades Councils (PBTC), U7 SOLUTIONS, British Columbia Colleges (BCC), and the Social Research and Demonstration Corporation (SRDC), are providing online educational tools, resources, and materials to support apprentices progressing in and obtaining certification in an apprenticeship in the Red Seal trades. This project will be delivered across Canada. More specifically the project seeks to firstly improve the quality of training in the skilled trades by utilizing a structured, integrated, and accessible online training system and secondly to support Red Seal trades partners to create safe and inclusive workplaces of equity-deserving groups, including women, youth, newcomers, Indigenous and racialized persons, persons with disabilities, as well as low-skilled individuals by expanding training platform and developing new courses. SRDC is helping to test and measure the results of this project through a mixed-methods approach which will include administrative data from online platforms, surveys, and interviews.

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Pathway to Productivity: Using Pay-for-Performance to Facilitate SME Investment in Human Capital

Wallaa Daramlly — Thu, 06 Feb 2025 15:38:03 +0000

This initiative is testing the effectiveness of a Pay-for-Performance (PFP) funding model in encouraging small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to increase their investment in employee training across various industries. We are exploring the potential of PFP to promote more intentional employer planning and support of training activities, and more generally to build a culture of continuous learning within SMEs. Furthermore, we are seeking to understand how the PFP model previously implemented with our partners Excellence in Manufacturing Consortium (EMC) can be adapted cross-sectorally, leveraging the existing expertise of SRDC and EMC along with the unique insights and employer networks of our new sectoral partners, The Environmental Careers Organization of Canada (ECO Canada), Food Processing Skills Canada, and BioTalent Canada.

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Analysis of the Labour Market Challenges and Workforce Development Needs of BC’s Non-Profit Housing Sector

Wallaa Daramlly — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 16:35:43 +0000

Non-profit housing providers face significant challenges in recruiting and retaining staff due to increasingly complex tenant needs, an aging workforce, and the necessity for specialized knowledge in asset management and energy efficiency. Staffing shortages and the difficulty of attracting professionals to non-urban areas exacerbate these issues. Additionally, there is a need for Indigenous-led training programs and the potential professionalization of housing-related careers. This project aims to address these challenges by scanning relevant secondary data sets to capture insights into labour market characteristics and trends relevant to the non-profit housing sector’s workforce as well as develop and implement a survey of provincial sector workers that identifies opportunities for capacity building and policy work to support BC’s non-profit housing sector.

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EMC Level Up Skills Evolution: Scaling Up Sectoral-Based Micro-Credentials Project – Phase 2

Wallaa Daramlly — Sun, 27 Oct 2024 17:01:39 +0000

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) often struggle to upskill and reskill their workforce to keep pace with rapidly evolving industry trends. Traditional training methods may not be sufficient to address the dynamic needs of SMEs, especially in light of technological advancements. SMEs also face challenges in identifying and accessing training aligned with the skills needs of their increasingly diverse workforce. This project aims to address these gaps by developing and testing a Rapid Skills Marketplace to increase SMEs’ access to timely and industry-relevant training. It also contributes to the efficiency of the skills ecosystem by exploring ways to foster collaboration across sectoral training providers and between industry and post-secondary education institutions. As the research partner on the project, SRDC helps facilitate discussions among partners and stakeholders throughout project design, delivery, and sustainability planning. We apply research methods to document the implementation and operation processes. We also support project partners in incorporating principles of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Reconciliation (EDI&R) to ensure project outputs and outcomes are responsive to Canadian diverse labour force.

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Evaluation of Riipen’s Level UP

Wallaa Daramlly — Sun, 27 Oct 2024 16:44:57 +0000

SRDC is working with Riipen to evaluate its Level UP program. Riipen is a mission-driven social enterprise and the world’s largest experiential learning marketplace platform, connecting educators, students/learners, and employers across North America. The Level UP Program is Riipen’s flagship Canadian program, launched in early 2021 to provide over 33,000 learning experiences by March 2025.

The evaluation focuses on the first four years of the program and combines comprehensive administrative data with results from a broad, public-facing survey of recent graduates to assess longer-term outcomes for Level UP participants and identify an appropriate comparison group.

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