OaSIS and Aptitudes Tests

[Francois Paradis]

ESDC released the Occupational and Skills Information System (OaSIS) in December 2022 as a successor of the Career Handbook. There have since been ongoing consultations with various stakeholders, including CAVEWAS, to increase OaSIS’ usability for vocational rehabilitation professionals.

A few months ago, ESDC retained the services of EPSI, a consulting firm and provider of psychometric tests based in Gatineau, Quebec (you can learn more about EPSI and it test offerings here:https://epsi-inc.com/en/). EPSI’s mandate is to assess the feasibility, validity and relevance of a linkage between an aptitude assessment tool (e.g., General Aptitude Test Battery and similar) and the ability factors in OaSIS. In other words, can the GATB and similar aptitude tests currently available be validly used to measure OaSIS ability factors? If not, are there ways to increase the usability of such tests with OaSIS?

Two CAVEWAS directors (Ms. Tami Damini and Francois Paradis) participated in an initial meeting on January 8, 2024 between ESDC and EPSI. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the relevance of aptitudes in vocational rehabilitation. A review of selected aptitude tests, namely the GATB, CAPS, CareerScope and CFIT also took place. CAVEWAS provided EPSI with technical data on those tests as well as a copy of the Revised Handbook for Analyzing Jobs for further analysis.

A second meeting will take place on February 8, 2024 to discuss EPSI’s analysis of the above aptitude tests and their current usability with OaSIS ability traits.

A third meeting on March 11, 2024 will focus on reviewing the feasibility of linking different aptitudes/psychological tests (including the GATB) to OaSIS traits and how to properly select and use such tests.

Relevant updates will be posted here. As always, your comments and questions are encouraged!

[Renee Daudlin-Iacobelli]

Thanks for working on this!  Integrating OASIS to testing would be great!

[Eric Paquet]

Excellent, Francois. Looking forward to learning more. Tks.

[Manel Djebrouni]

Thank you for the update!

[Francois Paradis]

I had a second meeting with ESDC and EPSI on February 8 and I got to provide feedback on the importance of having tests to measure abilities in OaSIS. I heard that measuring motor aptitudes (K, F and M) in this age of digital testing is impractical and that aside from the GATB, there are few psychometric tests that measure these aptitudes. In all likelihood, VE’s will have to rely on work history to estimate motor aptitudes and on medical sources to estimate residual motor abilities. I explained that we at least want to have a reliable test for the other OaSIS abilities (cognitive and visuo-spatial), along with a test to measure literacy and numeracy skills. It seems that this will be feasible.

The third and last consultation will take place on March 11 at 2 PM. Let me know here if you would like to join. EPSI will send ESDC a final report with their recommendations afterwards and I will share what I learn here.

[Raquel Francis]

Thank you Francois for your efforts and contribution…it is important that we are able to integrate the first six of the GATB results, often Insurers want to see this in evaluation.

[Francois Paradis]

<div>Dear colleagues,</div>
Our last meeting with ESDC and EPSI took place on March 11, 2024. CAVEWAS had the opportunity to review and discuss EPSI’s findings and recommendation regarding the usability of current aptitude tests with OaSIS ability traits.
<div>In a nutshell, EPSI identified that:</div>

1. <div>CH aptitudes and OaSIS ability traits are sufficiently similar in definition to allow comparison.</div>
2. <div>Existing aptitude tests allow for valid interpretation of test scores against OaSIS ability ratings, providing one is mindful of the differences in scale and methodologies (aptitude tests are typically norm-referenced while OaSIS traits are criterion referenced). A series of psychometric tests was reviewed and analyzed by EPSI for this purpose in their final report to ESDC.</div>

<div>CAVEWAS will arrange for EPSI to do a presentation to our members on recommended psychometric tests and methods to ensure valid and reliable interpretations with OaSIS. Please stay tuned for an update and feel free to share your comments.</div>

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