Construction management training goes on-line | BuildForce Canada

Construction management training goes on-line


OTTAWA – The Construction Sector Council (CSC) is poised to provide on-line training to construction management following the federal government’s approval of $663,000 in funding.

The CSC is working with the Canadian Construction Association (CCA) to move its national Gold-Seal Certification Program for Project Managers, Superintendents and Estimators into an e-learning environment.

“Computer-based distance learning has a strong future in construction training,” says the CCA’s Human Resources Director, Dennis Ryan, “and the Gold Seal e-learning initiative is a promising testimony to the collective will of this industry to move forward together to develop solutions aimed at promoting education, skills development and training to the Canadian construction workforce.”

“An on-line program that offers courses certified to the rigorous Gold Seal standard, and tailored to reflect provincial or territorial differences, is probably the single, most important way to increase the number of managers, supervisors and estimators, and allow them to take their skills across the country.”

The courses will be offered through the CSC’s distance learning service, which allows employer and labour groups, construction safety associations, education and training institutions, and many others to create and offer web-based, interactive education and training.

“The Gold Seal initiative is just the tip of the iceberg,” says CSC Executive Director George Gritziotis. “The CSC has already developed other material for on-line learning, such as pipeline construction safety training, and the concept is generating a lot of enthusiasm in the industry.”

Terry Brown, General Manager for Greyback Construction Ltd., and a member of the CSC Board of Directors, can vouch for that: “Distance learning technology is a revolution in construction training,” he says.

“It will go a long way to providing opportunities for the continual up-grading of construction manager's skills, and for life-long learning - in all regions of Canada - by making standardized training easily accessible,” says Brown, who is also the chair of the CCA’s Gold Seal Committee.

“By delivering high-quality industry courses through the Internet, we can bring the bricks and mortar to the user’s doorstep or, should I say, laptop.”

The Gold Seal e-learning project is one of many human resource initiatives being developed by the Construction Sector Council to address the current and future human resource needs of the construction industry in Canada. Funding for the project comes from the Government of Canada’s Sector Council Program.

“The Government of Canada is very pleased to support the Construction Sector Council’s “E-Gold Seal” project, which will do much to improve the skills of Canada’s construction industry and improve worker mobility,” says the Honourable Joe Volpe, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development. “The construction sector is vital to Canada’s economy, and this project will help ensure its continued success.”

The CSC is a not-for-profit, independent partnership organization established in 2001, made up of representatives from labour and business. The CCA represents the interests of the non-residential sector.

For more information on this and other CSC programs:
Michelle Walsh
Manager, Communications
Construction Sector Council
Tel: (613) 569-5552
Fax: (613) 569-1220
walsh@csc-ca.org