At Skills Builder Global, our mission is to ensure that one day, everyone builds the essential skills to succeed. But as our number of global partners has grown, a crucial question has emerged: How do we measure the collective impact of such diverse efforts?
Recognising that not every programme can (or needs to) do everything, we have refined a model that standardises how we look at the impact of essential skills provision: The Skills Builder Impact Levels.
The Impact Levels provide a transparent accreditation, allowing individuals, teachers, and employers to find the right programme for the right need, and enabling us as a Partnership to aggregate and celebrate our collective success.
Skills Builder Impact Levels
These levels reflect the varying intensity of a programme's focus on essential skills development, ensuring every contribution is both valued and measurable:
1. Impact Level 1: Raising Awareness
Programmes at this level focus on introducing Essential Skills. These programmes help individuals to become more aware of the eight essential skills and understand their fundamental importance for success in life and work. This is the crucial first step on the journey.
2. Impact Level 2: Reflecting on Essential Skills
Moving beyond awareness, Level 2 programmes empower the individual. Success here is achieved when programmes give individuals the opportunity to become more self-aware of their current skill levels and define their next steps by actively reflecting on the essential skill steps within our Universal Framework.
3. Impact Level 3: Practising Essential Skills
This is where theory turns into application. Programmes at Level 3 are successful when they give individuals the direct opportunity to apply and practise their essential skills and the specific steps in a real or simulated context.
4. Impact Level 4: Progressing in Essential Skills
This is the highest level of intensity and commitment. Programmes that achieve Level 4 success combine the crucial element of reflection (before and after applying skills) with programme content that is specifically targeted on making steps of progress in essential skills. These programmes are built explicitly for growth.
Driving transparency with the Skills Builder Impact Directory
By being transparent about the "what" and the "how" of provision, we can make huge strides forward. The Impact Levels are the foundation for the Skills Builder Impact Directory.
The Directory celebrates and promotes the incredible work of our partners who are opening up opportunities to learn about, reflect on, practise, and build essential skills. By using the Impact Levels as a measure, we are moving closer to solving the problem of collective impact measurement, creating a truly global movement where every individual has the opportunity to build the essential skills to succeed.
You can read more about the Impact Levels in this Guide, or book in a call with the Skills Builder Global team here.
