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Qualifications and skills
Qualifications
Qualifications are needed for many jobs, careers and courses. They indicate how well you can do something and the study involved can broaden your horizons and deepen your knowledge.
You can gain qualifications through full-time or part-time study at school, college, work or in your own time. This can be at virtually any stage of your life.
There are different levels of qualification - level 1, 2, 3, etc. This means you can start at the right level and make progress to a higher level.
There are several different types of qualification each fulfilling a different purpose. Some may suit you better at different stages of your education, career or personal life. These are the main types:
| |  | non-vocational qualifications involve study of a subject in depth and lead to GCSEs, AS levels, A levels, the International Baccalaureate and similar awards. These are useful for your career and keep options open. | | | | general vocational qualifications are based on the skills and knowledge needed for broad areas of work. These include Diplomas, applied GCSEs, applied A levels and BTECs. | | | | work-related qualifications - sometimes called Vocationally Related Qualifications (VRQs) - are based on the skills needed for a particular job and are often developed with the help of employers. NVQ is the most common example of this type of qualification. | | | | recreational qualifications are usually done in your spare time for personal reasons or to develop a hobby. |
For more go to the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority at www.qca.org.uk
To see the different levels of qualifications look at the Qualifications Ladder at this link.
Skills
Each job needs particular skills. Some skills are needed in virtually every job:
| | | problem solving | | | | communication | | | | literacy and numeracy | | | | team work | | | | organisational ability | | | | IT skills | | | | people skills |
Other skills vary according to the job. For instance the some of the skills you need to be a hairdresser are different to those needed by a physiotherapist (but others are similar).
You can make yourself more employable by gaining those skills that are common to nearly all jobs as well as those required by the career you have in mind.
Sector Skills Councils
Sector Skils Councils (SSCs) have the job of developing the skills needed for each industry.
Skills for Business - www.sectorcareersinfo.co.uk - has lots of careers information and includes links to all the SSCs.
There are SSCs in the industries listed below. Their websites usually contain information about careers, skills, qualifications, training, labour market issues and the industry in general.
Arts, museums & galleries, heritage, crafts & design (Creative and Cultural Skills) www.ccskills.org.uk
Broadcast, film, video, interactive media, photo imaging (Skillset) www.skillset.org
Building services engineering: electro-technical, heating, ventilating, air conditioning, refrigeration, plumbing (SummitSkills) www.summitskills.org.uk
Chemicals, nuclear, oil & gas, petroleum, polymers (Cogent) www.cogent-ssc.com
Construction (ConstructionSkills) www.constructionskills.net
Custodial care, community justice, police (Skills for Justice) www.skillsforjustice.com
Electricity, gas, waste management, water (Energy & Utility Skills) www.euskills.co.uk
Environmental & land based industries (Lantra) www.lantra.co.uk
Financial Services (Financial Services Skills Council) www.fssc.org.uk
Food & drink manufacturing and processing (Improve) www.improveltd.co.uk
Footwear, textiles, apparel (Skillfast-UK) www.skillfast-uk.org
Freight logistics (Skills for Logistics) www.skillsforlogistics.org
Government work (Government Skills) www.government-skills.gov.uk
Health (Skills for Health) www.skillsforhealth.org.uk
Hospitality, leisure, travel & tourism (People 1st) www.people1st.co.uk
ICT, telecommunications, contact centres (e-skills UK) www.e-skills.com
Learning (community & FE), libraries and information (Lifelong Learning UK) www.lifelonglearninguk.org
Motor industry (Institute of the Motor Industry) www.motor.org.uk
Passenger transport (GoSkills) www.goskills.org
Process and manufacturing (Proskills) www.proskills.co.uk
Property, housing, cleaning, facilities management (Asset Skills) www.assetskills.org
Retail (Skillsmart) www.skillsmartretail.com
Science, engineering, manufacturing technologies (SEMTA) www.semta.org.uk
Social care, children and young people (Skills for Care and Development) www.skillsforcareanddevelopment.org.uk (includes Children’s Workforce Development Council www.cwdcouncil.org.uk and Skills for Care www.skillsforcare.org.uk)
Sport & recreation, health & fitness, playwork, outdoor activities (SkillsActive) www.skillsactive.com
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