In This Webinar:

This webinar provided another opportunity to ‘Learn from Each Other,’ featuring insights from speakers across the Skills Builder Partnership on how to effectively embed essential skills into the curriculum.

Laura Jones, Skills Builder's Education Programmes Manager, shared research-backed strategies for embedding essential skills into everyday learning.
Daniel Langford, Skills Builder Education Associate, highlighted resources such as the Skills Builder Impact Directory and T Level essential skills guides to deepen impact.
Matthew Goodwin, from Blythe Bridge High School, shared his school's approach to integrating essential skills across subject areas and wider school life, offering practical tips and easy wins for success.

The key takeaway? Essential skills should be a natural and integral part of curriculum learning, supporting both academic achievement and personal development.

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Top Tips for Embedding Essential Skills Within the Curriculum:

Make it visual:

Display Skills Posters in classrooms and learning spaces to make essential skills a visible and consistent element of school culture. This also provides teachers with a point of reference from which to connect curriculum learning with essential skills.

Keep it simple:

Identify existing opportunities to embed essential skills into teaching in a way that is simple and sustainable. As staff and learners become confident using essential skills language, Skills Icons can be incorporated into lesson delivery, gradually progressing to referencing specific skill steps. This approach can also extend to extracurricular activities, such as after-school clubs and pupil leadership roles.

Map it out:

If mapping essential skills to the curriculum, this should also be straightforward. Encourage key staff, including Skill Champions (see below), to identify where essential skills naturally align with subject content. Skills Icons can be used to highlight these opportunities within curriculum plans. Again, a similar approach can be used for mapping essential skills to the extracurricular offer.

Champion the cause:

Appoint or encourage staff to take on the role of Skill Champions to support the integration of essential skills within their subject areas. This could involve creating and sharing skills-based lesson materials and organising career and skill-based events throughout the year. Student Skill Champions can also play a role in promoting and highlighting essential skills in lessons and school events.

Assess and reflect:

Essential skills can be integrated into reflection tasks and targeted feedback on skill development, alongside academic progress. This could also include structured self -assessment. Skill Champions can also aid your own reflections on your programme by providing feedback on their progress in embedding essential skills in their subject area.

Share and celebrate success:

Showcase examples of how essential skills have been integrated into curriculum and extra curricular learning through social media and parent communications. This reinforces the development of a shared language within the school community and helps parents support skill development at home.

Deepen impact:

The Skills Builder Impact Directory offers access to organisations and programmes that help learners build essential skills in practical and engaging ways, including STEM and sports resources. A Curriculum Support filter is available to refine searches. The Universal Framework has also been mapped to a number of T Level specifications, in collaboration with Technical Education Networks, to support course delivery.

Embedding essential skills in the curriculum is not about increasing workload but about leveraging existing learning opportunities. By taking a structured approach, schools can create a culture where essential skills are valued and consistently developed.

Find more tips and examples on how to achieve this in the webinar recording below.

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