The apprenticeship programme, run in partnership with Richmond upon Thames College, offers young people who want to work in sports the opportunity to gain experience, qualifications and be paid at the same time!
The Harlequins Foundation apprentices will leave their training with a recognised sporting qualification, as well as the experience and confidence needed to be a great coach. Like all their successful apprentices, they’ll be trained in Teamwork and Leadership, Speaking and Listening, Problem Solving and Creativity, and Staying Positive and Aiming High – essential transferrable skills which can be applied to almost any part of our lives.
Over the course of the programme, apprentices complete a Level 2 Community Activator Apprenticeship Standard and gain a Level 2 Multi-Skills Through Sport.
Furthermore, they all take part in the Essential Skills Academy, a series of workshops that support them to make measurable progress in employability skills, as they take part in the course alongside there 'on-the-job' training. Progress is recorded through Skills Builder Benchmark.
The Big Challenge (Years 7-9) aims to ignite entrepreneurial spirit through a city-wide competition that connects young people and employers through an immersive enterprise experience.
Students are loaned £25 start-up funding by their school and supported by Business Advisors, resources, and employer supported workshops to develop an idea to test in the market, reflecting on their experience as the programme completes in February.
The programme aims to encourage ambition, careers awareness and aspiration and provides an opportunity for young people to gain an understanding of the world of work through innovation, entrepreneurship and business start up.
The programme provides:
Please visit the BiG Challenge website for further information: https://bigchallenge.biz/
City Year UK (CYUK) is a Leadership and Development programme which provides young people aged between 18 - 25 with training, opportunities and networks which will develop them as active citizens, leaders, and professionals. The programme combines real-world experiences and is underpinned by a comprehensive training, coaching, and networking programme.
CYUK believes that a participant’s year should also serve as a launch pad for their career. By making explicit reference to and using resources from the Skills Builder framework, the programme gives participants the time and opportunity to find out about their strengths, weaknesses, and areas for development. There is a clear skills match between what employers want and the capabilities young people can develop through full-time volunteering and social action. CYUK use the Skills Builder Universal Framework for essential skills as the framework of reference for young people's development. Through workshops, guest speakers and mentors, the volunteers progress in skills development and gain an insight into a range of careers.
Through CYUK's guided reflection curriculum and alumni programme, participants reflect throughout and after the programme to track and quantify whether progress has been made. One of their alumni said: "Use your City Year to think!”
Aimed at young people aged 11 to 15, Creative Briefs is an 8-week classroom-based programme designed to stimulate real-world thinking. With a range of resources and interactive sessions led by a mix of artists, cultural professionals and organisations across 12 creative industries, participants will gain essential skills through immersing themselves in a creative practice.
Each Creative Brief focuses on 3 essential skills: Aiming High and two others which are unique to that discipline's project. Students have the opportunity to practise and reflect on the skills they use throughout the project. Teachers are able to evaluate progress in the three focus skills throughout the project, supported by the Skills Builder Hub.
The Briefs and accompanying sessions are designed to be delivered remotely or in person, with the schools’ involvement being supported by Babylon ARTS.
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Cuffley Active Learning Centre incorporates the Skills Builder Framework to deliver adventure and personal development experiences that align with the Skills Builder essential skills.
The Centre liaises with teachers prior to their trip to ensure that learning goals are clear, with options for pre- and post-course evaluations to identify target areas for development.
Informed by teacher and / or pupil self-evaluations via the Skills Builder Hub / Benchmark, the Centre's skilled facilitators create opportunities to work with groups or individuals to develop targeted steps within the Skills Builder Framework. Challenges on High Ropes, Low Ropes or the Climbing wall are combined with problem-solving activities and a focus on wellbeing.
All activities are designed to give opportunities for review and reflection, so that students build their confidence and skills through their stay - be it a one-day course or a 5-day residential.
The team at Cuffley Active Learning Centre is very happy to work with teachers to design a programme that focuses on one or more of the essential skills - and can adapt as pupils progress through a visit. For details, please visit the website below.
Digital Innovators is an award-winning training provider that supports young people and employers by providing employability training and experience needed to meet current and future business needs.
The organisation helps young people and those not currently in education, employment or training, access career opportunities by providing them with the confidence, self-belief, leadership and digital skills to help them stand out.
Through focusing on personal and employability skills development, Digital Innovators helps students progress into meaningful employment with local employers or further education. As a member of the Skills Builder Partnership, Digital Innovators hopes to collaborate to ensure skills are further aligned with employers’ needs, including ensuring consistency with local educational organisations
This is an 18-month learning and developing programme, where individuals are taken out of their comfort zone and given the chance to develop their essential skills. Within this, they complete a 6-month skills module. Throughout they assess their skill sets, create informed skill development action plans and regularly check-in on their progress with their manager.
Horizons is a post-16 sixth form in Derby for students who need additional support and guidance to be able to access further education and work placement experience. It offers positive, progressive pathways for students with learning difficulties and additional needs towards a brighter future.
Horizons students study a Foundation Learning Programme and transitional pathway with the end aim of supporting students with Learning Difficulties and additional complex needs to become confident to make the choice of following a route into a suitable further education provision or employment. The transitional part of the course provides learners with variety a of vocational opportunities with different off-site providers and a tutor programme that includes careers guidance and Personal and Social Development.
Horizons 6th Form embeds the essential skills framework throughout the whole curriculum, leading to links in all subjects and a universal skills language. The framework is also used in the innovative enterprise space that is a platform for students developing employability skills. Through courses with alternative providers as well as on site learning, independence is supported and fostered as young people grow in confidence and recognise their own progression in essential skills.
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The 10-session Engage programme helps young people (in PRUs or at risk of exclusion from mainstream) develop 3 key skills: Staying Positive, Aiming High and Teamwork. Spiral believes that these are the 3 foundational skills they need to help them be able to interact positively with others, learn from and overcome challenges and see the point in effort.
These are the foundational skills they need to be able to reintegrate with education, make choices about their future and give them the platform to succeed.
Through interactive games, team-building activities and work based challenges, young people are guided through the programme by trusted and experienced youth workers. Each workshop focuses on key skills and step points (in line with Spiral's Theory of Change and Skills Builder steps). Each skill step is revisited and developed upon over the course of the programme, and clearly signposted to the young people.
Young people, whose skills are assessed by the teachers pre- and post-programme, learn these skills through doing, learning to reflect on, develop and communicate these skills using the language of Skills Builder.
By supporting them to do this, Spiral are helping young people develop the tools to act independently, to be able to interact with exciting professionals (who are not youth workers or teachers) and be the dynamic, driven and aspirational young people we know they can be.
The Essential Skills Academy is a series of ten workshops aimed at supporting groups of individuals to reflect on and develop their essential skills in the workplace. It provides in-depth insight into the eight essential skills and space for individuals to identify their existing strengths and areas for development. Participants complete a number of online self-assessments across the workshop series using Skills Builder Benchmark; the results of which are used to set and review skill targets which they focus on throughout their placement or in the workplace. The Universal Framework is embedded throughout the programme and Skills Builder Launchpad is an important tool used to help individuals build their knowledge in the skills alongside the workshops.
The overall aim is to support individuals to identify, demonstrate and articulate their skill set, ultimately making meaningful progress in the essential skills over the course of the Academy.
Hatch is an employability programme for motivated young people who are not in education, training or employment (NEET). The programme consists of 6 work-readiness modules, a work-experience placement, and a guaranteed interview with the programme funder, KFC, on completion of the programme.
Underpinned by the teaching of essential, transferrable skills that can equip young people to thrive at all stages of their lives, activities within the work-readiness modules include setting goals, continuous reflection, peer mentoring, workshops with corporate volunteers, social action, networking, and interactive games.
Through the safe space and trusting relationship youth workers provide, young people will be supported to overcome barriers to their participation. Youth workers will also receive bespoke training on the Universal Framework, supporting young people through work experience, and facilitating skills reflection.
KFC have also joined the Skills Builder Partnership, meaning the young people’s journey in the progression of sustained essential skills can continue right through to the workplace.
Deaf & Hearing Trailblazers is a Community Interest Company (CIC) who offer training courses to provide you with new skills and knowledge to improve your potential and enable you to progress further in your work or personal and social life.
Deaf & Hearing Trailblazers provide Kickstart Academy training to young people who are employed in six different organisations. They come together once a week to go through the Skills Builder Essential Skills Academy programme, reflecting on the core essential skills they have been developing through their placement roles.
The programme supports these young people to articulate the skills they have developed for themselves, using the language of the Universal Framework. This gives a structure to CV writing and interviews, allowing the Kickstarters to identify their own strengths and areas for development.
An employability programme offered to 16-24 year olds who are unemployed and on Universal Credit. It is a 6-month programme that aims to support them to find full-time employment at the end. The participants assess themselves against the Skills Builder Framework throughout the programme. Managers work with participants to create action plans to help them to develop those skills.
PwC's UK-wide ‘New World New Skills’ Social Mobility Work Experience takes place in August.
PwC works with partner organisations to invite Year 12 or equivalent students to apply to join their paid week long experience.
Students must meet their social mobility criteria of attending a state school and attending a school that is above the regional average in terms of the number of students eligible for free school meals or; are or have been eligible for free school meals or; would be the first member of their immediate family to attend university.
Skill sessions take place in PwC's offices and virtually, including:
Students are set a group project which leads up to a showcase of what they have learned and proposal presentation to the rest of their local students and PwC ‘Dragons’.
The programme focuses on four of the essential skills with specific steps of the Framework as success criteria, spanning the Getting Started and Intermediate stages:
Students benchmark themselves against the Framework at the start and end of the programme. In 2021, all skill scores improved, with the highest progress made in Listening and Speaking.
On 1 August 2017, Uxbridge and Harrow Colleges merged to become HCUC. The Colleges officially became part of the same organisation working together to provide the best opportunities to students, but retained their individual names and campuses.
The merger of the two Colleges into a single legal entity took place in order to maximise future opportunities for students, employers and local communities, through a combination of preserving current provision, and pooling resources and expertise to develop education and training. HCUC is ranked as the No.1 college in London for 16-18 year old achievement, based on DFE data for 16-18 provision in 2018/19, published March 2020.
In order to maximise future opportunities for students across the Colleges, tutorial sessions for some Level 1 and 2 courses have given students the chance to reflect upon their essential skills, look at opportunities to practise these and to capture their progression using the Skills Builder Benchmark self-assessment tool.
These Personal Development Tutorial Sessions also run alongside opportunities for other students to develop their essential skills alongside professionals through the Essential Skills Masterclass Workshops.
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Plan Bright Work Experience provides a unique cross-industry opportunity to join one of the world's largest Human Resources providers.
Plan Bright forms part of the Adecco Group's Creating Brighter Futures programme. As a global employer, the Adecco Group strives to work hand in hand to give young people access to information, advice and opportunities.
Students will practise and progress in the essential skills while taking on real work projects which address future global trends in employment.
Students will leave the programme with tangible examples of their skills and experiences of work, as well as a greater insight into a range of careers.
Its modular design allows flexibility to suit schools looking for work experience over a few days or up to two weeks.
To find out more about how your school or college can be involved, contact communityteam@adecco.com
Positive Pathways tackles the digital divide and supports young people to flourish in a post-COVID-19 world.
The brand-new Positive Pathways programme will see The Switch working with Inspire EBP (Hackney), 15 Billion EBP (Newham) and Southwark EBA (Southwark) over this academic year.
With support from JPMorgan Chase as part of the firm’s $350 million global commitment to the future of work, the project will work with 500 young people across the four boroughs to support them re-engage in their learning.
The programme seeks to increase motivation and confidence in their study skills and to raise awareness of education, training and employment pathways after compulsory level education. It will also provide each young person with a technology device and data to help address the digital divide issue affecting a large number of young people. This digital support will enable them to develop their digital skills, participate in project activities and engage in further learning outside of the classroom.
The programme activities will focus on four themes: academic support; personal development and wellbeing; employment, post-16 and 18 options; employability skills and career readiness, supporting our young people to achieve their very best as they participate in this programme!
Entrepreneurs Unlocked CIC's vision is to "Change Futures Through Entrepreneurship". It provides a range of in custody and community based programmes that enables people to explore their entrepreneurial talent and become self employed, either as a small business owner of as a self-employed subcontractor in the construction industry.
Enabling an individual to identify their strengths, and to gain an understanding of how to develop further the essential skills needed for self-employment, is a key part of the organisation's vision of Changing Futures Through Entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs Unlocked participants will now be able to assess and measure their progress on Listening, Speaking, Problem Solving, Creativity, Staying Positive, Aiming High, Leadership and Teamwork.
By becoming a member of the Partnership, Entrepreneurs Unlocked will be using the Skills Builder Universal Framework to support programme participants in building the skills to become their own boss and lead crime-free lives. This collaboration will bring an explicit focus on essential skill development into custody-based programmes, broadening the reach of the Partnership even further to support those furthest from employment.
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Digital Membership is a Skills Builder programme for schools and colleges which includes impact measurement and teaching tools for the eight essential skills. Through Digital Membership schools and colleges can embed a comprehensive approach to skills development across their setting and access premium resources.
Every Digital Membership includes:
In addition to everything above schools and colleges can choose resources for:
On Skills Builder Benchmark, learners can benchmark their own skills against the Skills Builder framework and download personalised skill reports. Staff can add and manage groups, set assessment periods and download data reports to support learners to build their essential skills.
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The Global Accelerator is our flagship programme for schools and colleges across the world. Our team of expert teachers work with your school or college to embed best practices to build essential skills. This includes supporting a Skills Leader, training teachers, and providing access to top quality teaching and assessment materials, as well as a network.
To find out more, please visit: https://www.skillsbuilder.org/global-accelerator
Skills Builder Hub is an assessment & resource platform for building students' essential skills.
Skills Builder Launchpad is an online resource platform for individuals aged 14+ to build their own essential skills. The platform can support with specific development needs or guide individuals through a choice of courses based on the essential skills. Each course contains interactive modules to build every step of the Universal Framework. Each module is structured in 3 simple steps: identifying key concepts, practising the skill step and articulating understanding and application of the skill step through independent reflection, written reflection or discussion with a peer or mentor.
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The Skills Builder Accelerator is our flagship programme for UK schools and colleges. Our team of expert teachers work with your school or college to embed best practices to build essential skills. This includes supporting a Skills Leader, training your teachers, and providing access to top quality teaching and assessment materials, as well as a network.
To find out more, please visit: https://www.skillsbuilder.org/uk-accelerator
Allen & Overy launched the Smart Start Experience in 2009 with the aim of giving young people from lower socio-economic backgrounds access to high-quality work experience in the world of business.
Since its launch, the Smart Start Experience has supported over 1,569 young people. As the recipient of many prestigious awards, the Smart Start Experience was the first work experience scheme in the legal sector to have its programme Assured by City & Guilds.
Through a timetable of interactive workshops and team challenges, Smart Start allows young people to develop the skills necessary to succeed in education and the world of work. They develop knowledge of the main City job sectors, potential career opportunities and the importance of commercial awareness. They learn how to apply the eight Skills Builder essential skills: Listening, Speaking, Problem Solving, Creativity, Staying Positive, Aiming High, Leadership and Teamwork.
Students will have the opportunity to practise these essential skills at the Getting started, Intermediate and Advanced Stages of the Skills Builder Universal Framework, and assess progress at the end of the week.
A few reflections from Smart Start's 2021 participants:
Allen & Overy has developed Smart Start over the years to include an e-mentoring programme, and on-going support through university, and they provide scholarships to some students to help with the costs of university.
In 2021 Allen & Overy partnered with Causeway Education to adapt the Smart Start Experience for online delivery. To find out more contact sue.wisbey@allenovery.com or smartstart@causeway.education
Street League is the UK’s leading sport for employment charity. We support young people who live in some of the most disadvantaged areas of the UK to learn the skills they need to overcome their practical and personal barriers and become economically active. Sport is at the heart of what we do and what makes us successful. We support young people holistically, recognising the inextricable links between wellbeing, health and employment.
We use the power of sport to help young people, aged 14 to 30, who face personal barriers to employment to improve their wellbeing, secure employment and have a brighter future. We work in schools, communities, and with employers to equip young people with the confidence, motivation, essential skills and qualifications needed to succeed in the world of work.
Our sports and employability academies for unemployed young people, is an exciting step in our journey to preventing – as well as ‘treating’ – youth unemployment and in-work poverty. Our programmes develop the life and workplace skills, self-worth and sense of belonging young people need to thrive and move into high quality employment, education or training.
Topical Talk is a school current affairs discussion programme, giving young people the skills to think and speak for themselves about current affairs. 9-14-year-olds learn to listen, be creative, solve problems and speak effectively about real-world matters, from inequality to climate change.
It provides training and news-based teaching resources, allowing teachers to facilitate inspiring current-affairs discussions in the classroom. It also provides an online platform for pupils, where they can join topical discussions with peers all over the world and leading topic experts.
This is an interactive virtual work experience placement, where students have the opportunity to demonstrate progression in key skills through working on a real-world project on behalf of Argent (Property Developers).
Students from local colleges can take part in a virtual work experience placement over a week, designed and run by King’s Cross Recruit and Argent. Throughout the week students learn about the property management industry and gain insight into a range of roles. They are set a real-world project to apply their key skills including Teamwork and Problem Solving. Students will be involved in a range of employability workshops; exploring career routes and preparation for the workplace, as well as the opportunity to have their CV reviewed.
The project, which is focused on supporting the launch of a “floating classroom” in King’s Cross, has been created to provide tailored challenges for students that focus on their areas of study. Skills Builder Benchmark self-assessments have also been built in at the start and end of the programme to review and measure impact.
The purpose of RDaSH NHS Foundation Trust's Vocational Service is to help people flourish beyond expectations, giving those who face the most disadvantage in the labour market the opportunity to succeed in learning and work. They achieve this by providing employment and training opportunities, with practical experience and skills-building being a key feature.
They offer practical placements and mentoring within our trading services, enabling people to build essential skills.
Learners are supported to reflect on their essential skills prior to starting a vocational placement, by completing a self-assessment. They have mapped the essential skills against the core competencies required for entry level jobs in specific sectors (based on apprenticeship standards), thus enabling learners to set skills-focused goals based on their career aspirations.
They have designed a reflective log using the Skills Builder framework, to support learners to engage in reflective practice throughout the duration of their placement. They have mapped the essential skills against practical competencies which would be required for an accredited level 2 diploma (sector specific) thus preparing learners for formal education/training in future.
At the end of the placement, the learner, mentor and supervisor will complete a formal review of learning, with a written summary of achievements structured using the essential skills framework.
SMBP is a volunteer-led charity which brings together over 170 professional services firms, commercial organisations and professional sports teams committed to supporting students from low income backgrounds in their pursuit of a career. SMBP programmes are currently run in various towns and cities across the UK as well as a National Online Week for students in more rural areas.
Students who take part in SMBP benefit from visiting four different businesses in a week, gaining an insight into each and developing their key skills through interactive business games. Students also spend a day at a professional sports club where they learn about the psychology of resilience, coping mechanisms and goal achievement models.
Following their application students are given access to the Student App where they can register, access everything they need for the SMBP week and additional career support. Following the week, students are given access to the SMBP Career Mentoring platform which supports them through their career journey.
Barclays LifeSkills is a free employability programme which gives people the skills, knowledge and confidence they need to succeed in work. Whether you are looking to develop your skills, educate young people, or are a parent or carer educating your children – their free lesson plans, learning modules, interactive content can be accessed through their digital platform. The programme has proven to be positive with learners, having supported over 13 million people. It has had registration from over 85% of schools and 85% of learners have a better understanding of skills needed for the workplace.
BiG Community Challenge aims to ignite social and entrepreneurial spirit through a city wide social action activity. Initial investment of £25 is provided to support BiG idea development around issues which are important to young people and their communities.
The BiG Community Challenge aims to encourage students to think about themselves, their peers, their ‘community’ and their surroundings while considering key employability skills and supporting key values within their school.
The BiG Community Challenge is an opportunity for young people to:
The programme aims to encourage ambition and aspiration alongside key skills development and social understanding of their own local community. Community can refer to the school community as much as to the wider community. This programme is very flexible and adaptable and is designed to be suitable for all students.
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Friends and Families are a non-profit organisation in Plymouth that creates bespoke training and educational environments, providing information, support and services to give families opportunities to network. Their mission is to work with families of disabled children and provide high quality services that make them feel valued, improve their wellbeing and experience the best quality of life possible.
Friends and Families offer individual family support and give advice on relevant issues, as well as running social and leisure events allowing ”time-out to have fun” away from the stresses and punishing regime of caring. This allows a vital ‘recharge of batteries’, relieving isolation and time for young carers to have fun.
Integrated activities enable children with disabilities opportunities to experience a huge diversity of sports, arts, crafts and music not available to them or their families elsewhere.
Friends and Families' Book Club is a series of sessions delivered by and for Neurodivergent young people, which give participants the opportunity to read and discuss books in groups. Sessions have been structured with a focus on two essential skills (Listening and Speaking), using reflective questions and activities to demonstrate meaningful targets and outcomes for participants.
My Employment Passport supports learners with additional needs in their journey towards paid employment.
The Building My Learning printed materials, part of the My Employment Passport offer, are available as a standalone resource. How you use them is entirely up to you; they’re ideal for learners (Year 8 and above) with additional learning needs.
The initiative uses 65 explanation cards as its main resource. These cards define a variety of different elements (qualities, skills and scenarios) that will be part of the journeys of young people towards paid employment. On the outside of each card is a different element, for example being reliable or showing initiative. On the inside is an explanation, linking to the world of employment and essential skills.
Learners build their understanding of each element by using response sheets and support cards supplied. Each response sheet has boxes matching the shape of the explanation cards and of the support cards.
There are a multitude of ways the resource can be used. One might be the learner picks a card, reads the explanation and sticks it in the first box on their response sheet, with the support card adjacent to it, and writes the level of support they need. Over time, the learner is supported in developing that area of learning and the response sheet is used to track their progression.
Created in collaboration with the Harlequins Foundation and a team of sports experts, the Coaching Handbook is a comprehensive guide to delivering skills-based sports activities in your existing programmes.
Choose a skill step and follow the two-page guide for teaching it, practising it, reinforcing it and assessing it.
The Coaching Handbook gathers best practice from a range of sports experts and is a brilliant starting point for targeted skills practice in physical activity settings.
The assessment section and reflection questions allow learners to reflect on their progress through guided questioning, coach observation and discussion.
To quantify learners' progress and impact digitally, the Coaching Handbook can be complemented by the Skills Builder Hub for group assessment or Skills Builder Benchmark for individual self assessment online.
Envision is a U.K. based charity that exists to build confidence and develop employability skills in young people, using social action as a vehicle to get them engaged in issues that affect their local community.
We work with schools with non-selective state schools in Birmingham, Bristol, and London to support underrepresented young people develop essential skills to access education, employment, and training.
We do this through our structured active citizenship programmes, that are designed to develop teamwork, communication, creativity, and determination in Key Stage 4 and 5 pupils, and build their self-efficacy and social confidence.
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The Digital Forensics Project has been designed by NDEC in collaboration with the Welsh Valleys Engineering Project (WVEP) to support this work.
Digital forensics pertains to the investigation of digitally-enabled crimes and is a growing area within cyber security that allows pupils to gain insight of the industry.
Through the project the NDEC aims to:
The NDEC is a joint initiative between the Welsh Government, technology company Thales and the University of South Wales. The project supports digitalisation across the region through its cyber security expertise.
