Skills Summary

There is an increasing focus on the need to identify competencies for life that values people’s full range of skills, whether acquired through formal or non-formal learning. Real competencies are understood broadly as encompassing all competencies acquired through formal education, non-formal education and informal learning.

It is critically important that a young person can identify and articulate these skills both for themselves and potential employers so that when moving to a new job or to further learning, learners and workers should see their skills quickly and have them easily recognised.

This is essential to raise skill levels and increase employability.

Skills Summary is both a process and a product. As a process it aims to support young people’s learning, with a particular focus on those who may find traditional academic learning challenging, by helping them to map the learning acquired through their participation in youth work and other non-formal settings to a set of competences. As a product, Skills Summary will support young people to articulate the competencies they have acquired both for themselves and potential employers.