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Welcome to Week 2

Watch Susan introduce the learning goals for Week 2.
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Hello, and welcome to week two of Teaching and Assessing Core Skills. Last week, you explored the idea of breaking down the core skills into smaller component parts or steps. This week, you look at how to do that in more detail using the Skills Builder framework. You’ll learn more about what the Skills Builder framework is, where it comes from, and how it can be practically applied to teach smaller steps of the core skills. The Skills Builder framework was designed following four years of research and developed with the help of 200,000 learners in 500 different organisations. The framework focuses on four of the six core skills, because digital literacy and citizenship are not part of the Skills Builder framework.
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The Skills Builder approach is to take the skills and break them down into a series of teachable chunks, called steps. Each of these steps can be taught and assessed, allowing for effective identification of development areas and a closer understanding of progress over time. The skills in the Skills Builder framework have different names from the British Council Core skills as identified in week one. However, it’s easy to see how they line up with the Skills Builder framework under the headings Listening, Speaking, Problem Solving, Creativity, Leadership, and Teamwork. Now over to you. How much can you remember about the British Council Core Skills from last week?
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How are the British Council Core Skills and the Skills Builder framework different, and how are they similar? Why is the Skills Builder framework useful or important? Post your comments below, and let us know what you think.

Welcome to Week 2 of Teaching and Assessing Core Skills.

Watch Susan introduce the learning goals for the week ahead.

Last week, we introduced the core skills and started exploring how these skills can be broken down into steps. This week, you’ll look at how to do this in more detail using the Skills Builder framework.

You’ll learn more about what the Skills Builder framework is, where it comes from and how it can be practically applied to teach smaller steps of the core skills.

Ahead of next week, you’ll also be introduced to the six principles of teaching core skills.

Over to you

To get this week started, let’s recap what we learned about the core skills and the Skills Builder framework last week:

  • How much can you remember about the British Council core skills from last week?
  • How are the British Council core skills and the Skills Builder framework different?
  • How are they similar?
  • Why is the Skills Builder framework useful/important?

Use the comments section to read what others have said, then post a short comment of your own.

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Teaching and Assessing Core Skills

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FutureLearn - Learning For Life

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