Employability Skills
Skills for Work courses will enable young people to develop attitudes and skills to help them into employment or self-employment. As students progress through National Qualifications Courses and Units, they also gain core skills such as problem solving and working with others, which will be useful in the workplace.
Skills and attitudes valued by employers
Research among employers indicates that they value the following generic skills and attitudes:
• understanding of the workplace and the employee’s responsibilities, for example time-keeping, appearance, customer care
• self-evaluation skills
• positive attitude to learning
• flexible approaches to solving problems
• adaptability and positive attitude to change
• confidence to set goals, reflect and learn from experience.
These generic employability skills may be developed in other ways: through work placements, links with employers and organisations such as Careers Scotland, and even through voluntary work or outdoor pursuits.
Practical resources are being developed and will be made available online when ready.
Links to organisations and resources
The following organisations work with students on employability skills. It is intended that these sites can give ideas on ways to develop employability skills.
Tailored to school leavers, this website from Standard Life covers areas crucial to the transition from school to work, such as applying for a job, interviews, problem solving and teamwork.
Standard Life supports local schools within a 13 mile radius of Edinburgh, providing courses on employability, general skills and 'world of work' areas. The material shown on the website (supported by Careers Scotland and Determined to Succeed) is due to be re-launched in Spring 2006.
Standard Life has made the material available to Careers Scotland for delivery to schools outwith the Edinburgh area. Careers Scotland may deliver the courses or they may be delivered by other, local businesses.
The BBC is supporting Northern Ireland’s initiative of Education for Employability. This site has several interactive resources for pupils to use.
BT Education - Communication Skills for Life
There are resources for secondary schools to assist both citizenship and communication skills. The DVD 'Moving On' provides interactive materials for use in lessons and covers topics such as getting the most from work experience, building an effective CV, expressing oneself clearly and dealing with application forms and interviews.
BT is also working with LT Scotland and other organisations to produce Virtual Work Experience, which is due to go online in the Summer 2006.
Career Box is a flexible teaching and learning career education resource. It offers teachers a suite of around 100 lessons to deliver to children and young people aged 3-18 years. Teachers may deliver it after in-service training organised by Careers Scotland.
International Development Education Association of Scotland (IDEAS)
This site includes many British charities and provides resources, some of which may be useful to teachers for developing basic skills.
This organisation helps young people achieve their potential through outdoor activities, exercises and residential courses. It will assist South Lanarkshire schools with developing pupils’ basic skills. These basic skills, for example team building, leadership and problem solving, are useful employability skills.
Scottish Business in the Community - Closing the Gap
This is an innovative programme of support run by SBC Glasgow for those schools which seem to be performing less well than others within the City of Glasgow. Eight schools are involved, with each school linked to specific companies. The partnership works together on a specific agenda, in particular employability skills.
SFEU: Focus on Learning 2: Steps to Employability
This initiative is the second major action research project supported by the Scottish Funding Council’s Strategic Fund. The project is to test further learning and teaching approaches, this time focusing on the development of employability skills. It involves the Scottish Further Education Unit and six partner colleges, each of which will test a number of interventions aimed at increasing the likelihood of students gaining and sustaining employment. The website gives a resource repository, information on what each college is doing and a notice board for peer support for the tutors involved in the project.
Related links
Futureskills Scotland
Find out more about the labour market in Scotland. See the Futureskills report on 'Scottish School Leavers' Understanding of Work'.
Curriculum for Excellence
Find details and timescales for the Scottish Executive's vision for transforming Scottish education for children and young people between the ages of 3 and 18.
Lifelong Partners - a guide from the Scottish Executive
See section 3.18 on partnerships between schools and colleges to deliver vocational skills to school students.
Working Together
See the HMIE report on cross-sectoral provision of vocational education for Scotland's young people.