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SecondaryAssessment

Review – Skills Builder Hub review

The Skills Builder Partnership
www.skillsbuilder.org
At a glance
  • A methodical and rigorous essential skills curriculum
  • Well-stocked mastery resources for every age and stage
  • Powerful online teacher assessment and student self-assessments
  • Features a range of multi-part lesson-time projects and whole-school Challenge Days
  • Builds critical links between school and the working world

A complete framework to help students develop the essential skills, experiences and aspirations they will need to succeed…

What would you consider are the ‘essential’ 21st-century skills that young people need to thrive?

Well, it turns out that a consensus has built that there are eight skills we can see as enablers of learning and future success, each with its own rich backdrop, and they line up as follows: Listening and Presenting; Problem Solving and Creativity; Staying Positive and Aiming High; and Leadership and Teamwork.

In fact, research by the Sutton Trust found an astonishing 97% of teachers think these essential skills are as or more important than academic qualifications – but are they teachable?

You bet they are, and especially now, as the Skills Builder Partnership has the resources to help it happen. The Skills Builder Framework breaks down each of the eight skills into 15 tangible, buildable and measurable chunks, accessed via a central hub. It’s quite something.

Within each area there are pithy and brilliantly planned 10-minute videos for systematic skills building, with clear instructions for teachers, who can easily add a group of learners and then focus on finding the best resources to help them master and progress through the skills step by step.

There are also comprehensive handbooks to guide teaching sequences. The activities are well thought through and often framed within a meaty ‘big’ question based on a real-life scenario.

Engaging project-based learning and superb challenge days are built into the programme, so students can apply their skills and show what they can do.

There are skills passports provided for students to keep a record of their progress; resources to support learners with additional needs; self-assessment tools; reward certificates and tokens; and posters for each skill showing a range of steps. Pretty much everything you need is there in one place, in fact.

To keep things manageable, the resources are all carefully linked to a fabulous framework, so it’s easy to filter by the skill and steps on which you want to focus.

There are resources for students with little or no experience right up to those who are highly skilled, and you can vary these by length and activity type.

Group level formative assessment is plaited throughout the hub so progress can be measured, and there is a handy group overview which shows the areas mastered, so you can confidently focus on what students need next.

Making essential skills a core pillar of learning has to be the priority for every school; the Skills Builder Hub is a truly magnificent way to promote, develop and track eight essential skills that will serve students well for a lifetime.

Verdict
  • Provides the ‘missing pieces’ schools need to unlock learning and give students the skills, experience and aspirations to succeed
  • Ensures skills development holds equal value to academic attainment
  • Bursting with practical advice and resources to feed development
  • A real-world resource backed by rigorous evidence
  • Perfect for understanding strengths and gaps, planning next steps, targeting interventions and reflecting on progress

Upgrade if...

You are looking to elevate essential skills, give them the high profile they deserve and resource an effective skills development programme with incredible insight. Find out more at skillsbuilder.org or by emailing info@skillsbuilder.org. You can also watch this short video on Skills Builder Hub and this one on how short video activities build essential skills.
The Skills Builder Partnership

The Skills Builder Partnership

www.skillsbuilder.org

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