The Skills Builder Partnership - Education

We work with our partners to help everyone build the eight essential skills for success...

Skills Builder Partnership is a global movement of employers, educators, and impact organisations working together to ensure that one day, everyone builds the essential skills to succeed. The Universal Framework is utilised by more than 800 partners across 20 countries, enabling skill development learning at all stages of life.

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Overview

HundrED shortlisted this innovation

HundrED has shortlisted this innovation to one of its innovation collections. The information on this page has been checked by HundrED.

Web presence

2009

Established

2.37M

Children

31

Countries

Target group

Other

Updated

April 2023

It has never been more important to invest in building a set of essential skills in our young people: the ability to communicate effectively, to creatively solve problems, to manage oneself and to work well with others. We are committed to using the most cutting-edge techniques and innovation to create new, more rigorous ways to build essential skills for everyone, at every stage of their lives.

About the innovation

Why did you create this innovation?

The Skills Builder Partnership works to ensure that one day, everyone builds the essential skills to succeed: teamwork, leadership, problem-solving, creativity, listening, speaking, aiming high, and staying positive. These are the skills that underpin social and emotional learning. However, there is still a gap - affecting academic, life and employment outcomes.

What does your innovation look like in practice?

The Universal Framework underpins the education work of the Skills Builder Partnership. For educators, the Framework can be used to support learners to understand their existing skills, see what progress looks like, join the dots and capture success.

Tools like the Skills Builder Hub use the Framework to support educators to explicitly teach and assess the skills with learners of all ages. Programmes like our Global Accelerator support schools to embed the framework and principles through training and tools.

Membership for schools and colleges, non-profits and employers, brings multiple unique benefits; including the ability to structure skills development, initiate sustainable organisational change, access and contribute to best practice and create systemic change. To achieve our mission, we align skills-focused organisations, provide high-quality content and influence national and international policy, including in Kenya and Uganda.

How has it been spreading?

The Skills Builder Partnership unites over 800 education institutions, employers, and non-profits across 20 countries, providing 2.3 million opportunities to boost essential skills in 2022.

In 2022, the Partnership also launched the Global Networks team - focused on developing global best practice in essential skills with schools, colleges and impact-led organisations based outside the UK. The Global Accelerator for schools and Impact programme for organisations is now running with partners in 19 countries - showcasing best practice in the area in a global context. Both programmes are fully-funded for eligible insititutions.

From 2023, the Partnership will continue to focus on supporting new global education and NGO partners, and developing policy initiatives internationally.

If I want to try it, what should I do?

If you want to find out more, then visit our website for more details about our approach and programmes, as well as the full Universal Framework. You can also sign up for our free monthly newsletter for the latest news across the Partnership. If you want to join the partnership, you can see if your institution is eligible for a fully-funded programme by emailing info@skillsbuilder.org.

Media

Global Accelerator: The Surin Academy

The Surin Academy is an inclusive school in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia that champions hands-on and personalised learning for every child. The school supports learners in the Primary and Secondary phases. They have been working with the Skills Builder Partnership since 2019.Keep it Simple: Teachers in Primary and Secondary are focusing on consistently using the language of the skills with students during lessons, especially focusing on Listening and Staying Positive. Teachers are ensuring that the language of the skills is a present part of the learning process.Start Early: After a successful launch in the Secondary phase, the school are now focusing on ensuring that there are clear opportunities for students to learn, apply and reflect on the essential skills across both Primary and Secondary phases.Keep Practising: Students in the Secondary phase are using Skills Passports to support their reflections of using the essential skills. Teacher training has focused on simple ways to highlight how essential skills are being used in the classroom and help students to acknowledge this."The steps are simple, clear and organised. Each step comes with additional supportive activities that help teachers to further improve students' essential skills. The programme has made teaching essential skills a lot easier for teachers." Dr. Aliyah Baharuddin, Skills Leader

Accelerator: Hornsey School for Girls

Since 2018, Hornsey School for Girls has been working on a strategic approach to building essential skills. They recognise that in a rapidly changing world, equipping students with essential skills is the best way to empower them in any career. In 2020, Hornsey School for Girls achieved the Skills Builder Silver Award.Integrated curriculum: The school has a three-year plan for embedding skills and careers experiences, allowing them track progress. Essential skills have been integrated into tutor time, where staff deliver aspects of the PSHE curriculum. Department leads are also building essential skills teaching into their subject.Use of resources: All teaching staff have been introduced to the plan and resources, including what best practice looks like. Teachers use short activities from the Skills Builder Hub, which require minimal preparation and encourage reflection. Wall displays are prominent, and teachers highlight and reward students applying skills, like great Leadership and effective Problem Solving.Engaging experiences: A common language around skill development with students, teachers and external visitors. In conjunction with the school’s focus on STEM and meeting the Gatsby Benchmarks, they bring skills to life with Challenge Days, and inspiring Trips to local employers - as well as organising for professionals to speak to students about their journey and how they use essential skills every day."If you’re a teacher, you can see the benefit immediately… A name for each skill and a way of demonstrating and assessing its use makes all the difference."Chimene Peddie, Skills Leader & Assistant Headteacher

Accelerator: William Tyndale Primary School

William Tyndale Primary School has been working with us since 2013 to pioneer a deeply integrated, long-term approach to essential skills education. It's now the platform for all parts of the curriculum. In 2020, William Tyndale Primary School achieved the Skills Builder Gold Award.All-ages approach: It’s crucial to start young, so the school has structured a whole-school programme so that all students - from Nursery to Year 6 - develop the eight skills explicitly and measure progress year on year. This means that all students can articulate their strengths and focus tightly on what they need to learn.Integrated curriculum: The school has built the approach into various aspects of school life, making sure students see the relevance of essential skills across the curriculum. For example, the skills are incorporated into debating and oracy, and are referenced regularly in assemblies.Engaging experiences: The programme includes a range of experiences to bring skills to life, including Challenge Days, Trips to Employers and Projects. The school has even created its own classroom projects and developed connections with local employers as a way to further build and contextualise essential skills."We’re supported by a strong team of education professionals who understand how schools work… The programme is easy to follow, easy to implement, and, most importantly, easy to make sustainable." Tanya Watson, Headteacher

Implementation steps

Check out the Skills Builder Universal Framework

Click here to explore the Universal Framework

The Skills Builder Universal Framework breaks down each of the eight essential skills into teachable and measurable chunks. It provides a rigorous framework for building skills for any age.

The interactive framework tool gives advice on how to build the skills across different settings and for different stakeholders across the Skills Builder Partnership, including educators, employers, impact organisations, parents & carers and individuals.

Explore the Accelerator programme

The UK and Global Accelerator is the flagship programme of the Skills Builder Partnership. We work together to develop and implement a complete strategy for teaching skills in your institution. In 2022, the Skills Builder Accelerator included 500+ leading global schools, colleges, special schools and alternative settings. The programme includes training and support for the Skills Leader, tools and resources for your colleagues, and real impact for your students.

Read our research

The Skills Builder Universal Framework and the wide partnership of organisations adopting it provide a new opportunity: to focus and consolidate the evidence base around essential skills – both why they matter, and how they can be most effectively built.

Read our research into how essential skills can support and influence life, education and employment outcomes below:

How do essential skills influence life outcomes? An evidence review: LINK
Essential skills and their impact on education outcomes: a quantitative analysis of the British Cohort Study: LINK
Better prepared: Essential skills and employment outcomes for young people: LINK

If you would like to find out more, then please contact James at james.prideaux@skillsbuilder.org