Training Area - Skills Builder Hub

This Training and Support dashboard features a variety of content to help you to build your learners’ essential skills, including online training modules. Explore these modules below.

Helpful resources

Module 1 Skills Builder Award Guide 0:00:01

A guide for schools and colleges outlining the Skills Builder approach, principles and different levels of Award.

Module 2 Skills Builder Education Toolkit 0:00:01

A toolkit for building essential skills at all levels of education - including the Skills Builder Universal Framework and the Skills Builder Principles.

Module 3 Skills Builder Inclusion Toolkit 0:00:01

A comprehensive guide for Teachers and Facilitators, to building essential skills in learners with additional needs. Includes the Expanded Universal Framework, which breaks down each skill into teachable nuggets, and six Principles for robustly building skills.

Module 4 Inclusive Learning Resource Pack 0:00:01

This Resource Pack provides an overview of resources and activities to support learners, including those with additional needs. Alongside this overview, Best Practice Snapshots give examples of where these have been successfully applied in an inclusive learning setting.

Module 5 Parent and Carer Resource Pack for Schools 0:00:01

This resource pack has been designed for schools to use to support their communications with parent and carers and the wider school community to introduce Skills Builder and how to build the eight essential skills at home.

Module 6 Case Studies Showcase 0:00:01

Click here to view the educational settings who have achieved a Bronze, Silver or Gold award on the Accelerator programme.

Introduction These modules are a great introduction for those who are new to the Skills Builder Partnership. You’ll learn about the work of the Partnership. You'll also explore our digital products: Skills Builder Hub, Benchmark and Launchpad. Finally, you'll learn how to teach essential skills through remote and hybrid teaching and learning.

Module 1 An Introduction To The Skills Builder Partnership 0:05:00

In this lesson, you will be introduced to the Skills Builder Partnership. You will:

Explore who we are and why we exist
Understand our mission
Explore how we work

Module 2 An Introduction To Skills Builder Hub 0:10:00

In this lesson you will:

Explore the Skills Builder Hub and its key features
Understand how to find the best resources for your learners

Module 3 An Introduction to Skills Builder Benchmark and Launchpad 0:15:00

In this lesson you will:

Explore Skills Builder Benchmark and its key features
Explore Skills Builder Launchpad and its key features
Understand how to get the most impact from these tools

Module 4 Developing Essential Skills through Remote or Hybrid Learning 0:20:00

In this lesson you will:

Reflect on the relevance of essential skills post-pandemic
Explore the additional challenges in building essential skills when social distancing
Consider how to keep students thinking about their essential skills at home and in school
Explore other resources you could share with students

Principles To have a real impact, essential skills must be developed with consistency and focus. The six Skills Builder principles outline areas of best practice for delivering your essential skills curriculum.

Principle 1: Keep it simple A consistent focus on the same skills helps ensure everyone’s shared understanding and makes building these skills as tangible as possible. Using the same language all the time makes a big difference. In these module, you will learn what essential skills are, and how to talk about them using the Universal Framework. Then you’ll consider how to support your learners and the wider community to use the Framework too.

Module 1 What Are The Essential Skills? 0:10:00

An introduction to the essential skills.

Module 2 The Skills Builder Universal Framework 0:10:00

In this lesson, you will learn about the Skills Builder Universal Framework. You will:

Understand how the Universal Framework defines and measures essential skills
Reflect on how you can measure skills progress
Learn how to use the Universal Framework to define, measure, and teach the essential skills

Module 3 Learners: Fostering a Common Language 0:10:00

How the Universal Framework makes use of low abstraction, highly tangible descriptions to support learners.

Module 4 Educators: Fostering a Common Language 0:05:00

In this lesson you will:

Learn how the language of the Universal Framework aids metacognitive strategies
Practise using the language in a real-world scenario
Discover different approaches other schools and colleges are using to embed the language across their settings

Module 5 Recognising and Rewarding Effort 0:10:00

Efforts schools and colleges in the Skills Builder Partnership are making to celebrate learner achievement.

Module 6 Using Visual Cues 0:05:00

Easy ideas to enrich the learning environment to better support the language of essential skills.

Principle 2: Start early, keep going Mastering these essential skills isn’t simple and takes time and sustained effort. The skills are not just about employability, but about thriving in all aspects of life. These modules each focus on a specific phase of education. Choose the phase that best applies to your learners.

Module 1 Essential Skills For Learners Under 5 0:10:00

In this lesson on teaching essential skills to children under the age of 5, you will:

Learn how standard early years practice is highly compatible with essential skills teaching
Explore the Expanded Universal Framework
Think about when learners use the essential skills and what this could mean for your teaching

Module 2 Essential Skills With Learners Aged 5-11 0:10:00

In this lesson, Essential Skills with Learners aged 5-11, you will:

Consider the importance of building essential skills over time
Learn what other schools are doing with children this age

Module 3 Essential Skills With Learners Aged 11-16 0:10:00

In this lesson, Essential Skills for Learners aged 11-16. You will:

Consider the importance of building essential across the age range
Learn what other schools are doing with learners this age

Module 4 Essential Skills Post-16 0:05:00

Essential skills in Further Education

Principle 3: Measure it Take time to reflect on the skills of individuals – by observing or by self-assessment. This gives a balanced understanding of strengths and weaknesses, highlights progress and shows next steps. In these modules you will learn more about using the Skills Builder Universal Framework as a tool to assess and inform formative practice.

Principle 4: Focus tightly Building essential skills should be timely and focused appropriately. It should allow dedicated time just to explicitly build the skill. These modules go into more detail about the specific knowledge that needs to be taught for each step, and some of the ways Skills Builder has made it easier to practise the specific elements of each skill once they have been taught.

Principle 5: Keep practising To accelerate progress in the essential skills, they should be used and reinforced as often as possible – including opportunities for reflection. Through these modules, you will consider regular opportunities for learners to use and reflect on their essential skills, and how to highlight these opportunities to them.

Principle 6: Bring it to life Ensure individuals see how their essential skills can transfer between different settings and be applied to different problems. In these modules, you’ll learn how to support learners to make connections between what they learn in school or college, and what they will be doing in the outside world.

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The development of this Training Area was made possible thanks to the kind support of our fantastic partners: