Following the UK government’s “Skills for Jobs” whitepaper, the FE sector is gearing up for a significant overhaul with the objective of bridging the gap between education services and employer expectations.
Our challenge is to ensure students are equipped not just with technical skills, but also the soft skills that will help them:
(1) get the jobs they deserve;
(2) unleash their full potential in the workplace;
(3) become valuable and respected members of their teams.
We’ve partnered with 6 Further Education colleges and academies to pilot a revolution in the way students develop their soft skills. Supported by a grant received from Ufi VocTech Trust, we have developed a bespoke immersive learning module, Career Mindset Development, tailored to FE students as well as a Performance Feedback app to allow teachers and advisors to provide valuable feedback throughout students’ development.
This novel approach, using immersive technologies to offer autonomous practice and automated behavioural feedback, is designed to boost every student’s chances of succeeding in the early stages of their career.
We are piloting the solution with over 300 students and 20 teachers in 6 colleges throughout March-April 2021.
Our aim is to measure the students’ engagement with the solution as well as confidence levels to apply learned skills in the workplace. Please find the highlights of the findings in this infographic.