Digital badges: Markers of success

Tackling the skills shortage can be revolutionised with digital data-driven badges to help employers find the right talent.

Cambridge is one local authority that has taken a new approach to tackling skills gaps by investing in a digital badge scheme. It has joined forces with local employers and training providers to offer digital badge pathways that create upskilling and reskilling opportunities, while also connecting local people to local jobs at the same time.

The badges are data-driven, using up-to-date labour market information that enables employers to link local learning initiatives with live jobs.

It’s the first time that a local authority has taken this approach. According to Lucy Laing, senior programme manager for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough region for skills and learning at Cambridge City Council, the scheme was inspired by the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) pioneering model of Cities of Learning. That model was also designed to create a place-based learning system to improve outcomes for individuals and local economies. “We are looking at the use of badges to recognise all informal learning and experiences to improve social mobility,” says Laing. “And we are trying to diversify talent pipelines so that employers are thinking outside of the box in terms of how they recruit. It’s about place-based learning to support economic growth regionally.”

In particular, Laing hopes the badges will help disadvantaged groups such as young people living in rural areas, equipping them with skills that make them more employable, while also providing visible routes into entry level roles. Several organisations are working in partnership with the councils on the scheme, including the RSA, Badge Nation and two organisations that focus specifically on helping young people launch their careers – Form the Future and Shift Momentum.

The initiative taps into 10 growth areas, including digital, legal, finance, creative industries and manufacturing. For example, the digital marketing agency Sookio, a local employer based in Cambridge, has signed up to the scheme as a digital badge trailblazer. Creativity has been identified as a key skill for current and future employability, and Sookio has created a work experience pathway to raise the visibility of opportunities in the sector.

We are working alongside employers to work out what their skills gaps are. Using that information, we can map the skills needed with our learning provision, to create the different pathways”

Typically, young people from low income or diverse backgrounds struggle to gain entry into this sector and are far less likely to develop creative skills than people from more advantaged backgrounds. Working alongside Form the Future, Sookio hopes to attract a more diverse talent pool into the sector through reaching out to disadvantaged groups of young people.


Skills badge

Digital badges are web-enabled versions of a credential, certification or learning outcome. They originated in gaming but are increasingly used by educators, professional institutes and employers as a way of recognising and showcasing the acquisition of skills. Every digital badge is constructed using meta-data outlining a person's skills and achievements.


Another digital badge trailblazer is Marshall Skills Academy, part of the Marshall Group, which is headquartered in Cambridge. With almost 50% of construction sectors jobs going unfilled in the area, Marshall Skills Academy has created an engineering operative apprenticeship Level 2 pathway in the engineering, construction, aviation and land systems sectors. The Academy plans to reach out to young people in deprived areas to recruit these hard to fill roles.

As well as helping disadvantaged groups access new skills and job opportunities, the scheme is also hugely beneficial to local employers.

It enables them to build up a local talent pipeline by equipping future job applicants with the skills they need.

More than 40 learning providers have signed up to the badging scheme so far and it provides them with a new way to validate the learning they deliver. Laing says that this partnership approach, with the councils working with employers and training providers, is critical to the success of the scheme. “We are working alongside employers to work out what their skills gaps are. Using that information, we can map the skills needed with our learning provision, to create the different pathways.”

Navigatr is the technology company behind the digital badging platform powering the scheme.

The company recently launched its Skills Tag Suggestion Tool, the new feature that identifies skills for badges, pathways and activities. These badges are designed to bridge the gap between how employers define skills and how people understand and evidence them.

Tim Riches is executive director at Navigatr, and he thinks badging is part of a general move towards a skills-based hiring approach, prompted by the ongoing skills crisis. According to the Business Barometer 2022, an annual piece of research conducted by the Open University in conjunction with the British Chambers of Commerce, 68% of SMEs in England reported skills shortages last year, rising to 86% in large organisations.

“So, employers are looking at new ways to attract talent,” says Riches. “The jobs market moves so quickly and it’s hard to keep pace with all the skills required. Learning happens everywhere, but it’s often hidden and not recognised. Badging helps get learning recognised.”

The badges validate skills that individuals achieve, including those outside of formally accredited qualifications, with each badge listing the skills developed during a particular activity. Those badges can be shared on all major platforms used by employers and educators, such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, and they can be highlighted on CVs, websites and blogs.

Joanne Hodgson, also a senior programme manager for the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough region for learning, skills and opportunity, agrees with Riches that organisations are changing their recruitment approach due to ongoing skills shortages. “Skills-based is the way forward. With these digital badges, we can identify gaps very quickly and make collaborative efforts to fill those gaps quickly and cheaply. It’s about joining the dots really.”

Image credit | Shutterstock

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