Skills Builder partnership launched today

The Skills Builder framework provides not only a shared language for these skills but also a step-by-step approach that makes it easy for teachers, youth workers and employers to teach these skills explicitly.

At Business in the Community we believe that business and education need to come together to enable young people to build successful working lives. This is especially critical for those 3.7 million children, 30% of the total number of children in the UK, who live in poverty. Key to this success is an ability to enable young people to develop skills beyond qualifications. It is not right that where a child is born, or the wealth of their family should determine their success at school and beyond.

However, as this 2015 social mobility report indicates, lower achieving, young people from high income families are 35% more likely to become high earners than their higher achieving lower income peers. Therefore a young person’s education cannot just be focussed on academic attainment, it needs to ensure that our young people leave education ‘rounded and grounded.’

‘Destiny should not be determined by Demography,’ our 2015 research report demonstrated the role that business has to play in ensuring that young people understand the behaviours and competencies required to build successful working lives. Supporting young people to be better prepared for the labour market has a positive impact and reduces the likelihood of them Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET). The research concludes that pupils participating in Business Class (our flagship education programme) are 13% more likely to have alignment between their academic activities and their career aspirations. Which in turn improves the chances of these young people making a successful transition into the labour market.

It is only by working together across business, education and the third sector that we will be able to create real change. We look forward to embedding Skills Builder across our partnerships and encouraging employers to use it.