Guidance on the Skills Toolkit: submit a new course

Overview

The Department for Education (DfE) is asking for new course applications for The Skills Toolkit, which was launched on 28 April 2020 as a new online learning platform to help people boost their skills while staying at home.

We now want to add further courses to the 17 already on the platform. These will cover digital, numeracy and work readiness or employability, and add a wider range of materials available to participants. We are particularly interested in courses which are useful for apprentices, graduates and those recently unemployed, and provide useful skills for growing sectors and occupations.

Your application will be assessed in 2 stages.

1. To check that your course meets the course criteria.

2. Courses which meet the course criteria will be evaluated by DfE (who will be supported by a number of external experts) and the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE).

Courses will need to meet the criteria in both stages.

Stage 1: Course criteria

Providers whose applications do not meet the criteria in this section will not be considered.

1. Which areas courses must cover

Courses must cover digital, adult numeracy or work readiness or employability. These are skills that are a priority for employers and have a wide range of applications across different sectors of the economy.

Digital skills

This covers topics such as:

• SEO (search engine optimisation)
• advanced Excel
• practical courses in artificial intelligence, programming and coding

Numeracy skills and their application

This covers topics such as:

• fractions, decimals, and percentages
• statistics
• accounting and bookkeeping

Work readiness and employability skills

We are particularly interested in courses that cover the following topics:

• self-management, including:
  • time management
  • prioritisation
  • project management
  • resilience
• social intelligence, including:
  • communication (for example, negotiating and influencing; active listening; and presentation skills)
  • teamworking and collaboration
  • leadership (for example, inspiring and motivating others)
  • managing difficult situations and conflict
  • managing change
• innovation, including:
  • problem solving
  • critical thinking
  • analysis, use of evidence, evaluation and decision making

2. Levels of provision

We are looking for introductory, intermediate and advanced courses. Courses at levels 1 to 6 will be considered as The Skills Toolkit offers universal provision. Courses which do not fit within these levels will also be considered.

3. Delivery of courses and use of platforms

Courses must meet these criteria:

• courses must be offered entirely online
• courses must be offered on a regular basis – for example, they cannot be one-off courses or a series of weekly webinars
• platforms must be able to support up to 10,000 participants at any one time and be accessible 24 hours a day
• courses must not require any time-limited support, such as seminars or online lessons

4. Course suitability

Courses must:

• be suitable to workers from a large number of industries or sectors and not be sector-specific
• appeal to a wide range of participants – for example, furloughed workers, the unemployed, apprentices, graduates and school leavers

5. Duration

The Skills Toolkit is designed to provide introductory and taster courses, which take 75 hours or fewer to complete. Courses currently on The Skills Toolkit range in duration from 1 to 70 hours.

6. Cost

Courses must be offered free of charge to participants, and free to government.

7. Availability of provision

Providers’ course content must be submitted by Monday 17 August 2020. Due to time limits, only existing course content will be accepted. New courses or courses under development will not be accepted.

8. Record of completion

All courses must offer a free record of completion (such as a digital certificate or PDF) that shows the participant has reached the end of the course. This will help participants who are searching for employment or could be used as evidence with potential employers about the new skills participants have developed.

9. Data sharing

Providers must agree to share anonymised data about how users engage with the platform. We will be in touch with successful applicants to discuss the reporting requirements but metrics will include:

• weekly and total user numbers
• the total number of page views for each course
• the number of unique users visiting the page linked to from The Skills Toolkit for this course each week
• the number of unique users showing positive interest in a specific course within a time period
• the number of unique users completing a course within a time period
• the number of unique users starting a course within a time period
• the total number of starts of a course within a period of time

Providers must provide data:

• using the agreed delivery method (pre-populated spreadsheet format, usually uploaded using Google Docs)
• on a weekly basis and on a day agreed with The Skills Toolkit team

Providing this data will help DfE ensure that The Skills Toolkit attracts people who sign up and complete the courses. All data provided by providers will be handled in a manner consistent with GDPR 2018.

Stage 2: evaluation process

Courses must meet all 9 course criteria to be considered for the platform. Courses which meet the course criteria will then be evaluated by DfE (who will be supported by a number of external experts) and IfATE.

DfE will assess courses to ensure that they are suitable for a wide variety of participants, and are at the appropriate level. This will include assessing whether courses:

• contain content that allow participants to acquire the relevant knowledge and skills
• the courses provide skills that meet employer and economic need
• are easy to navigate and have materials which are easy to use
• are written so that all materials are clear and use appropriate tone or language
• contain activities which are appropriate to the desired learning outcomes
• have learning that is appropriately sequenced
• reinforce learning through assessment or self-assessment so participants can get feedback on what they have learned and what they still need to learn – this is particularly encouraged for longer courses

As part of the course evaluation process, we will also assess accessibility of courses, including whether:

• courses can be accessed on a variety of devices including smartphones, tablets, laptops or desktop computers
• course content is accessible to participants with disabilities and other learning needs
• whether your platform is compatible with assistive technologies

Contact

If you have any questions about the course criteria or evaluation processes, email skills.toolkit@education.gov.uk.