Skills for life planner

Learners who have completed skills for life programmes are often motivated to seek out further development opportunities. The school will benefit from having better qualified staff who take responsibility for their own personal development.

Achieving national qualifications in literacy and/or numeracy at levels 1 and 2 will strengthen learners’ CVs and open up opportunities. For example, level 2 qualifications in literacy and numeracy are a prerequisite for achieving higher level teaching assistant (HLTA) status. 

Improving skills for life will also encourage staff to take a more flexible approach to taking on additional or different roles within the school. Widening the scope and variety of specific roles leads to increased job satisfaction. With feedback and support from the school, staff can gradually take on more responsibility.

Depending on the number of potential learners and the resources available within your school, you may want to support members of staff to achieve relevant skills for life qualifications so they can support their colleagues and/or run programmes in-house. The Department for Education and Skills’ skills for life teaching qualifications framework is designed to support teachers who go on to work with their colleagues, either as skills for life champions or as trainers.