UNE Partnerships: The Education and Training Company of the University of New England - Improving individual performance and organisational capability through education and training.

Employability Skills

The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) has introduced the concept of ‘employability skills’ which are progressively being embedded into industry training packages.

Employability skills are the skills required to gain employment or establish an enterprise, to progress within an organisation or to expand employment capability, with the aim of achieving individual potential and contributing successfully to organisational strategic directions. The skills are:

• Communication that contributes to productive and harmonious relations across employees and customers
  
• Teamwork that contributes to productive working relationships and outcomes
  
• Problem solving that contributes to productive outcomes
  
• Initiative and enterprise that contribute to innovative outcomes
• Planning and organising that contribute to long- and short-term strategic planning
• Self-management that contributes to employee satisfaction and growth
  
• Learning that contributes to ongoing improvement and expansion in employee and company operations and outcomes
  
• Technology that contributes to the effective carrying out of tasks.

Employability skills are incorporated into individual units of competency as part of the performance requirements. They are specifically expressed in the context of the work outcomes described in units of competency and appear in elements, performance criteria, range statements and evidence guides.

An integrated assessment approach allows employability skills to be assessed alongside technical skills within a qualification and the corresponding units of competency.