Introducing our revised suite of employability qualifications – building on our popular existing qualifications.

Following consultations with centres we have made some minor changes to ensure that they remain fit for purpose and support progression.  In particular we are keen to facilitate the embedding of units to make it easier to deliver holistic programmes of learning in different contexts.  We have also added new units that reflect employer requirements.

We have checked our set of units against wider employability skills, attitudes and behaviours expected in T levels, looked at recent CBI findings on employability skills and talked to providers who are working closely with employers to develop pre-employment packages.

This new suite will eventually replace the existing suite of Employability qualifications which are being withdrawn at the end of the 2019/20 academic year.

In refreshing these qualifications, we were particularly keen for them to focus on skills rather than underpinning knowledge and have added new units that reflect skills that are deemed essential by employers.

What has changed?

  • Units have been revised to give a stronger focus on skills.
  • Units now include guidance on coverage of underpinning knowledge in the teaching and learning of a unit.
  • Additional units included that reflect skills that are deemed essential and important by employers, for example, unit in Negotiation Skills.
  • Units have been Rationalised to avoid duplication.
  • Some units have been Merged to make them more compact, for example, there is now a single “Making the most of Work Placement” unit, combining the old Preparing for Work Experience and Learning from Work Experience units.
  • To make it easier to build a coherent programme of learning, units have been clustered into the following groups:
    • Group A: Skills, Attitudes and Behaviours that Support Employability.
    • Group B: Personal, Learning and Thinking Skills.
    • Group C: Basic Skills in a Work Context.
    • Group D: Exploring Career Options and Career Planning.

What has stayed the same?

Our Employability Skills are a very popular suite of qualifications so whilst we are keen to update and improve those elements that needed it, we were also mindful to retain those features that providers loved.

  • Within a qualification, learners can take units at different levels to accommodate spiky profiles.
  • There are no mandatory units – learners can choose any units.
  • Assessment is by portfolio of evidence.

The new suite in full

The new Employability Skills suite contains direct replacements for all our existing Employability Skills qualifications:

Qualification Specification – Employability Skills – E3-L2

Entry Level 3

Level 1

Level 2

Digital Skills for Work

The new Digital Skills for Work unit from within the new Employability Skills qualifications is also available as stand-alone qualification. The small, single unit, qualifications from Entry 1 to Level 2 are designed to support learners to develop digital skills within a work-related context. They will help learners develop the digital skills to handle information, create and edit digital content, use online communication modes, work safely and responsibly and to identify and solve technical problems.

Find out more about Digital Skills for Work

Watch our webinar

On-demand. Updates to Employability Qualifications. With Diana Muallem.Our recent webinar provided an introduction to our updated suite of employability skills qualifications. Including how they differ from the existing suite and the rationale for the changes. It also included suggestions of how units can be embedded to make it easier to deliver holistic programmes in a range of contexts, and how they can be used in project-based learning. You can watch the webinar on-demand at a time convenient to you.

 

Next steps

If you are interested in running our new Employability Skills qualifications, please speak to your usual contacts or complete the apply to run a qualification form.

If you are currently delivering Employability Skills with us, all you need to do is let us know you’re ready to start using the new versions and we’ll add them to your approved qualifications.