We have been commissioned to undertake a literature review of employability skills; specifically to review the many sources and instances where employability skills are suggested and promoted from employers, researchers and youth programmes. Our aim will be to establish if a universal set of employability skills can be promoted cross sector to enable young people to engage with these skills.
The piece of work began with inviting Community Members, stakeholders and partners to share with us what work they have done in this space, any research that they have undertaken or use and what frameworks they model programmes on. The team reviewed 86 reports, frameworks and guides and also interviewed a range of experts and young people.
We then brought together organisations and Ambassadors to round-table workshops both in person and online to discuss the initial findings of the review and begin to unpick what has been learnt. After collating all submissions we were able to map more than 30 different “employability skills” which had been identified. We asked those involved in the round-tables to consider if these skills could/should be reduced to a core amount, we then asked each contributor to put forward the top 5 skills they would prioritise. There was a particular focus on the difficulty of the language used making it difficult for young people to identify and understand skills, stakeholders felt that a common and more simplified framework would be beneficial to young people.
The next stage of the project is to work with the stakeholders to agree a common set of skills and identifiers that could be put into a framework that young people can take ownership of. Youth Employment UK will be producing a report including recommendations to stakeholders looking to secure a common framework approach with a clear goal of supporting
more young people.
With thanks to our Ambassadors and those organisations that have contributed to this piece of work, including: Department for Education, Department for Work and Pensions, National Citizens Service, The Careers and Enterprise Company, CentrePoint, Ambition UK, Clarion Housing, Big Lottery, London Youth, World Skills, Ofqual, City & Guilds, The CDI, Pearson, ERSA, Costain, Youth Impact, AELP, London Councils, Santander, McDonald’s. Impetus PEF, Greater Manchester Talent Match, UK Youth, Princes Trust, Institute of Employability Professionals and Trafford College.
Interested in this project and what to be involved or have access to the final report? Please email the team at info@youthemployment.org.uk
