Impact Level 4:
Progressing in essential skills

What success looks like 

• The Skills Builder names for the skills being used consistently.

• The Skills Builder definitions of the skills being used consistently.

• Prompts, questions or reflections that effectively allow individuals to assess themselves (or to be assessed) against the Skills Builder Framework steps, and quantify this.

• The opportunity to reflect on the Skills Builder Framework steps before and after the programme to track and quantify whether progress has been made.

• Programme activity that has been designed so as to achieve progress in the Skills Builder Framework steps.

Why this matters

• This helps individuals to connect where they might have seen these skills elsewhere.

• This helps secure individuals’ consistent understanding of what the skills mean

• Making this process transparent helps ensure individuals’ sense of ownership of their essential skills whilst also giving a skills score to quantify their progress; this can be a pre-programme survey.

• This helps individuals to understand and quantify the progress they have made, and what is next; this can be a pre and post-programme survey.

• This focus on direct teaching has been shown to accelerate progress.

What success looks like 

• The Skills Builder icons for the skills being used.

• Links between the use of the essential skills and positive outcomes – for example, in education, employment, or wider life.

• Links and references to build those skills further beyond the programme.

Why this matters

• The visual reminder helps individuals to connect the skills in different settings 

• This helps individuals to understand how the essential skills support success in their broader lives. 

• This means that individuals can then act to boost their essential skills further.