VELS and Employability Skills
Introduction
In 2002, the Department of Education, Science and Training, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Business Council of Australia published an Employability Skills Framework in recognition of the changing nature of work and skills required by enterprises to ensure long term economic growth.
Employability skills are in effect, generic skills that have a broader application and are as important to effective participation in the community as they are to effective participation in paid employment.
These skills have been identified as:
- Communication
- Problem solving
- Team work
- Learning
- Self-management
- Planning and organising
- Technology
- Initiative and enterprise.
Particular facets of the employability skills are appropriate for students in a school context and there is a close relationship between these and the VELS at Level 6 in the Interdisciplinary and Physical, Personal and Social learning strands.
This chart will help teachers identify ways in which the VELS standards will support students in developing employability skills.
For the full set of Employability skills see Employability skills for the future (www.dest.gov.au/sectors/training_skills/
publications_resources/other_publications/employability_skills_for_the_future.htm)
Sample Units
Sample units have been developed in The Arts, Design, Creativity and Technology, English, Economics, Geography, History, Mathematics and Science that incorporate elements of Level 6 standards in domains from the Physical, Personal and Social and Interdisciplinary Learning strands − Interpersonal Development, Personal Learning, Communication, Design, Creativity and Technology, Information and Communications Technology and Thinking Processes.
Each element of the standard in these domains is linked to a facet of an employability skill appropriate to a school setting. The units include teaching and learning activities, a strong assessment component including tasks, criteria and rubrics and a range of suggested resources.
This resource of 8 multi-domain units has been developed to support teaching and learning and assessment approaches for VELS Level 6 and facets of employability skills. Five units have been published, Channel Deepening, The Ins and Outs of Waste, Australians - Yesterday and today, New for old and Designing for a client which are available at Sample Units Level 6. Other units will be added progressively.
Downloads
- VELS and Employability skills chart (Doc - 72KB)
- VELS and Employability skills chart (PDF - 42KB)
