ACTION
Digital badging – a digital record of a learner’s skills or accomplishments – is transforming how employability skills, experiences and qualifications are recognised and recorded.
At Region of Learning, we have used digital badging to implement a connected approach to tackling the skills gaps and employability challenges for young people in Cambridgeshire.
The place-based initiative was launched in 2021, in response to the Cities of Learning movement led by the Royal Society of Art (RSA), with the aim to validate, connect and measure all learning across the region with digital badges. This mission supports a regenerative economy and improves social mobility.
Cambridge city is a place of marked inequality where demand for skills development has never been more critical. Despite its world-leading universities and innovation and research parks, in 2019, a report by the children’s commissioner for England found that Cambridge was the fourth worst performing area in the country for young people on free school meals, with half of all eligible 19-year-olds not having a Level 2 qualification.
Those who are not in education, employment or training (Neet) are often facing complex challenges at home, meaning that they have fewer opportunities to develop strong transferable skills such as adaptability, creativity, resilience, communication and interpersonal skills which are highly valued by employers. One of our primary objectives for Region of Learning is to facilitate more opportunities for this skill development and provide a more transparent view of local employer needs.
Region of Learning is encouraging the adoption of digital badging to validate all learning. Digital badges are a smart credential which represent a skill or competency which has been gained through an activity around formal education, such as volunteering, informal learning or skills-based workshops.
Both inside and outside of school, young people develop valuable skills and experiences that can help prepare them for their future career. By providing a simple, modern way of recording these skills, young people build a digital portfolio of their practical skills, experience and knowledge which they can use to inform their career aspirations, bring with them into employment and prepare them for the workplace. Through digital badging, badge earners can share their badges online, showcasing to future employers the relevant accomplishments and capabilities they have gained which would otherwise go unrecognised in formal education.
We have partnered with a variety of organisations across the region, including sixth form colleges, universities, awarding bodies, museums, housing services, performance venues, youth charities and careers services. Through these partnerships, Region of Learning has been able to offer free work placements, employability workshops, entrepreneurial courses, one-to-one career guidance, and volunteering opportunities, all of which help to grow young peoples’ personal skillset and help them to feel prepared for the workplace.
IMPACT
Since the launch of Region of Learning in 2021, we have seen more than 800 individuals across Cambridgeshire actively engage in the badged learning activities offered through the programme. Prior to engaging with the initiative, only 20 per cent of participants said that they felt confident in their employability skills or had been successful in job interviews.
One of our partners, Form the Future CIC, delivers tailored career guidance support to participating individuals. Form the Future has issued nearly 1,000 digital badges to the young people it has supported into the workplace.
One such young person, Sarah, was interested in gardening and horticulture but didn’t have any work experience and was disadvantaged in the job market due to poor transport connections. With the support of Form the Future, Sarah earned two digital badges and was offered a part-time paid role looking after outdoor spaces in her local town, which will support her application to an apprenticeship course with Suffolk New College.
