Employers

33-hours of short online units for adults (19+) and young people (16-18), leading to a Level 3 Award in Essential Work Skills.

The programme teaches knowledge, skills and behaviours valued by employers. Behaviours like enthusiasm, work ethic, humility and integrity are harder to teach, than skills that are specific to particular roles. 

"Hire for attitude. Train for Skills."

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Herb Kelleher, Co-founder, Southwest Airlines

Relevant to employers

Our Essential Work Skills programme provides meaningful work-related learning, designed to help learners gain job-related skills and develop confidence, character and resilience. Essential Work Skills are frequently mentioned by employers in Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs), including: 
  • Positive attitudes and behaviours 
  • Good communication skills 
  • Commercially aware
  • A portable skill the employer needs 

The 'hard' version of soft skills

Our Essential Work Skills programme is based on a set of 'hard' criteria so employers can understand the value potential employees bring to the table. The Level 3 Award allows learners to demonstrate these attributes to potential employers: 

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8 Portable Skills needed in every industry

Portable Skills

Learners identify their strongest Portable Skill from:

  • Sales
  • Marketing
  • Customer Support
  • Finance
  • Negotiation
  • IT
  • Project Manger

Video CVs

Learners upload a Video CV as part of their award submission, which can be shown to prospective employers.
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Mohamed Sulaiman

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Orfa Zaman

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Raian Haque

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Rayan Kabondo

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Usman Tariq

NCFE Certificates

On completion of the Level 3 Award, learners will receive a certificate of achievement, which has been accredited by NCFE under the Customised Qualification. This is an unregulated qualification and is not a nationally recognised qualification. It therefore fits within the tailored learning envelope.

Units available

Essential Work Skills are taught through five online courses: an introduction unit and four extension units. Learners receive an NCFE-endorsed certificate for every unit completed. Learners who complete all four extension units can enter for a Level 3 Award in Essential Work Skills. 

Partners

T-Level Digital Production, Design and Development learners at South Essex College

"The most important things I have learned from NTA are the transferable skills. These allow me to feel confident when going into the job sector as I believe I will be able to do my tasks comfortably."
Casey H - 17 years old
"The most important thing(s) I have learnt are being able to negotiate and to take constructive criticism when feedback is given to me. I think I'd rate the National Talent course positively as it has provided meaningful certifications."
Amber H - 20 years old
"The most important thing I have learned on NTA is the importance of good public speaking and how my words and actions when delivering important speeches affect the audience including using body language to tell a story. Overall, I enjoyed the experience of completing the courses"
Anastasia A - 17 years old
"The most important thing I have learnt on national talent are the portable skills, such as marketing, sales, project manager The courses teach you valuable life skills for the future"
Reece B - 17 years old
"The most important things I have learned on NTA are the number of portable skills I have understood and gained from this course. It has allowed me to be more aware of things and give me a wider range of knowledge surrounding these portable skills.  I have also learnt other skills that I wouldn't think I would understand. It has given me the opportunity for better knowledge not just surrounding IT but skills that are quite useful in the future".
Ethan L - 17 years old
"The most important thing that I have learned through the National Talent Academy Course is how to use spreadsheets to budget my money and also improve my public speaking skills. I would say the course is beneficial as this course gives the students an opportunity to explore different career options"
Divyamary S- 18 years old
"The most important things I have learned from NTA are the transferable skills. These allow me to feel confident when going into the job sector as I believe I will be able to do my tasks comfortably"
Casey H - 17 years old
"The most important things I've learned on NTA are , portable skills , making good financial decisions, public speaking, finding a futureproof career and also how to give a speech. Effective lessons and good mentors"
Dumitru C - 18 years old

"The most important things I have learned is how to become financially free in 2 steps (save money & buy an income producing assets) and how having a strong character helps you stand out from the crowd. I have learnt that your expenses should be less than your income and that 10-15% of your income should be saved every month. I found this course very beneficial and know it will help me in the future in any industry I choose to work in "
Kezban Y - 19 years old
"The most important thing(s) I have learned on National Talent Academy are that I was able to develop skills such as speaking skills and knowledge skills and ensuring that I am getting the correct number of skills that I need for the future of my career. Especially the portable skills as I have developed a basic understanding of critical skills that I can use in real world scenarios. This course has improved my knowledge and IT skills for my career and I'm looking forward to seeing what they add in the future to their courses"
Aaron L - 17 years old

"The most important things that I have learned on NTA are that I can learn new skills that I will be able to carry over to any job I have, this will allow me to become more of a valuable asset to the company I work for. It's very good that I am able to get a qualification online from my room!"
Bradley D - 19 years old

"The Most Important things that I have learned on national talent are: How to better prepare and carry myself when it comes to Interviews and Speeches. Also national talent was very helpful to help me better understand how to stand out more and be noticed by peers and higher ups. National Talent has wonderful courses that can help any individual better prepare themselves for the future and it helped me a lot. Now when I think of the future I don't feel as anxious and scared as I used to"
Daron C - 17 years old

"The most important things I have learned on National Talent are learning to speak confidently. I think national talent is a great website, and I think that learning like this with videos and worksheets is great. I really do think this is proactive."
Samuel C - 17 years old

"The most important thing that I have learnt on NTA is the ability to conduct public speaking to large audiences. I believe that the videos were best suited for me because I prefer learning through someone giving me the information, which I can then use for later learning. This helps me be more proactive during learning sessions"
Joshua C - 17 years old

"Insightful - makes you think about investing in more detail"
Callum

"Insightful - makes you think about investing in more detail"
Callum

South Essex College - Video Testimonials

16-19 learners took National Talent Academy within their T Level Digital Production, Design and Development study programme.

Level 3 Award

This qualification has been accredited as a Customised Qualification and we have benchmarked the qualification’s learning outcomes and assessment criteria at Level 3 (using a national framework’s level descriptors) to allow you to demonstrate the difficulty and depth of study. 

Customised Qualification

The Level 3 qualification has been developed to meet the specific needs of our learners and has been accredited by NCFE demonstrating the quality and rigor. NCFE is an awarding organisation recognised by the qualification regulators for England (Ofqual), Wales (Qualifications Wales) and Northern Ireland (CCEA Regulation). This is an unregulated qualification and is not a nationally recognised qualification. 

Futureproof Careers Framework

National Talent Academy units are based on our Futureproof Careers Framework, which is designed to help learners thrive in environment of rapid change. 

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About Us

National Talent Academy provides endorsed online courses for Essential Work Skills. The courses are the result of many years of R&D including partnerships with Manchester University and Morgan Stanley leading to a Futureproof Careers Framework. 

National Talent Academy was founded in 2020 by Cambridge graduate David Jaffa, who previously founded SAM Learning, an online learning tool for GCSE and KS3 used in hundreds of English secondary schools, and Penda Learning, an online Science and Math tool for US schools. David received the BETT Outstanding Achievement Award for his lifetime achievements in EdTech.