The government has announced a new e-learning platform aimed at helping people to build their skills during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown and beyond. Here’s what you need to know about The Skills Toolkit.

What is The Skills Toolkit?

The Skills Toolkit is a new e-learning platform which is made up of free online courses, tools and resources to help you improve your digital and numeracy skills.

The courses are designed to give people either an introduction to digital skills or to advance current skillsets for use in the workplace. All the short courses are free and can be completed at home, in your own time, at your own pace.

What courses are covered in The Skills Toolkit?

Each course in The Skills Toolkit is categorised as ‘introductory’, ‘intermediate’ or ‘advanced’. Courses on offer cover a range of levels, from everyday maths and tools for using email and social media more effectively to more advanced training.

Courses on the platform include:

• Learn My Way (introductory) – ‘find topics from getting to grips with your computer, tablet or mobile phone to how to use office programs like Excel, Word and PowerPoint’
• Everyday Maths (introductory) – ‘refresh your maths skills such as using a calculator, learning to convert fractions to decimals and understanding percentages, to measuring objects, distances and weights’
• How to Create Great Online Content (intermediate) – ‘find out about different types of online content and what makes them effective in different situations’
• Digital Skills: Social Media (for business) (intermediate) – ‘learn how to use social media to establish and improve your brand, set campaign objectives and identify your target audience’
• Learn to Code for Data Analysis (advanced) – ‘learn how to write your own computer programs, one line of code at a time’
• Introduction to Cyber Security: Stay Safe Online (advanced) – ‘the course will help you to recognise cyber threats and the steps to take to reduce your risks online’

Why has the government set up The Skills Toolkit?

The Skills Toolkit is designed to help people gain new skills while they are staying at home and boost their confidence. According to GOV.UK, 82 per cent of all job vacancies require digital skills. The courses have been selected on the advice of experts and leading employers to make sure they meet the needs of business, not just for today but in the future.

With more people expected to be working and studying remotely in the coming months, the platform offers a great opportunity to learn new skills to help to get ahead online and gain the knowledge needed for the future. The platform also offers employees who have been furloughed an opportunity to keep up their skills development while they are at home.

See also

Working from home: how to protect your employees

What does it mean to be furloughed?

Find out more

The Skills Toolkit (GOV.UK)

Image: Getty Images

Publication date: 29 April 2020