About

Agenda

09:00 - 09:30 - Coffee and networking

09:30 - 09:45 - Introduction to focus group - Bella and Louise

09:45 - 10:00 - Icebreaker activity

10:00 - 10:30 - Workshop 1

10:30 - 10:45 - Comfort break and refreshments

10:45 - 11:15 - Workshop 2

11:15 - 11:30 - Wrap-up and closing thoughts

Do you find the skills landscape complicated? Often encounter language you don’t understand?

The Local Skills Improvement Plan team is researching how businesses, local government, and education providers talk about skills and opportunities and whether the language used is accessible to everybody.

From our research, we want to create a simple, easy-to-understand guide for people who support businesses and work within skills development.

If you've engaged with skills in any way — through job descriptions, policies, career advice, or training — we’d love to hear your thoughts on how clear and understandable the language was, as part of our research.

Join us on Thursday 21st August at Leigh Court to help us identify where the language is too complicated and provide plain language alternatives which will create a guide to help those talking about skills.

The focus group itself will consist of two workshops, which will split you into groups, and focus on activities exploring the way skills is communicated. You will:

• Talk about the language you have frequently encountered in skills

• Discuss experiences engaging with the skills system

• Share any suggestions for improvement

• Highlight where people might be unengaged with skills

• Debate how we can make it more accessible to everyone

We'll also provide our own examples of where we think the language could be simplified.

Your voice is valuable and we want to hear from you.