18/10/2011 – Online Employability Toolkit Launched
Thousands of people across the UK are set to benefit from a new product designed to help digitally excluded people gain new skills for employment.
As part of the European Commission co-financed ‘Key Competencies for All' project, Lasa is announcing the launch of the Online Employability Toolkit, developed in partnership with four other European organisations in Spain, Latvia, Belgium, and Romania. Lasa has finalised the English version of the toolkit which is now freely available online to all those interested at www.keycompetences.eu. The toolkit supports online centre networks and helps develop their visitors' skills, from CV building to online job hunting.
Online centres are public facilities such as libraries or community centres where people can access computers and the internet, undertake basic training courses and gain skills certification. Based at the heart of communities, online centres (or ‘telecentres') across Europe are especially effective in reaching those who don't use formal education routes, contributing to personal development, active citizenship and social inclusion. During the economic downturn, they are increasingly playing a key role in supporting employability. ‘Key Competencies for All' has brought some of that European-wide best practice together into a toolkit for online centre practitioners.
An estimated 290 million people in Europe[1] still lack basic IT skills. In the UK an estimated 9.4 million adults are still not using computers and the internet[2]. With the labour market progressively favouring those with computer skills and internet experience, the digital divide is increasingly excluding people from job opportunities and economic stability. A recent study by the European Commission identified a clear skills deficit between the current level of qualification for European workers, and the level required for economic success in the coming years[3].
Pedro Aguilera Cortez, Project Manager from Fundacion Esplai in Spain argued: "We believe this is a vital resource at this difficult time and we will make sure that the thousands of online centres across Europe are equipped to deal with their customers' employability needs over the coming years."
For more information contact cashcroft@lasa.org.uk. The Toolkit is available at www.keycompetences.eu
[1] Telecentre-Europe, 2008
[2] UK Online Centres, 2010
[3] DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, 2008, ‘New Skills for New Jobs' Communication, available online at http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:52008DC0868:EN:NOT