The Digital Upskilling 4 Work project empowers people with low literacy skills in The Netherlands by digitally upskilling them to improve their chances of finding and retaining work. This initiative reaches low-literate people who lack digital skills and who have work-limiting disabilities in collaboration with social and sheltered employment companies. In these employment companies, people with a distance from the labour market are supported to find suitable work.
Therefore, Digital Upskilling 4 Work helps the students get the basic digital skills needed to accomplish their tasks inside the shelter companies and aims to provide the knowledge and confidence needed to have further opportunities in the labour market.
Digital Upskilling 4 Work is offered in-house to easily monitor progress:
- First, workers’ digital skills levels are screened through an online screening tool called Digimeter. This is accompanied by a dialogue between the employee and the team managers, supervisor or HR.
- Second, the employee is suggested tailored learning pathways which match his or her skills level and needs, through a Menu Card. It provides 3 to 4 learning tracks, with a mixture of classical, online and blended learning.
On average, a learning track takes 10 weeks to finish. Employees start at a very low level, and they are trained to progress to DigComp proficiency level 1.
The program ran from September 2022 to July 2023.
Impact of training:
- 244 upskilled employees
- Tailored lessons:
Participants experience an increase in their digital skills:
56% feel more confident in using digital tools
75% of participants are interested in further learning opportunities
71% of participants feel good and gained more self-confidence
80% of participants are satisfied with the training
- Improvement of digital competencies:
Before training, they rated themselves with a grade of 5.9, after training 7.1
BEST PRACTICES:
This project is an excellent example of best practices for training digital skills in the workplace. Dialogue, sensitisation to the importance of digital skills, and trust building with company managers are critical success factors. Through listening to the needs of the participants, it has been possible to better organise and tailor the training to specific learning goals. Digital Upskilling 4 Work has also created suitable lessons and tailor-made activities for each individual, leading to an increase in participants’ motivation and, ultimately, in their digital skills. Moreover, cooperation with partner companies has been key to maintaining a coherent approach to training deliveries and to raising awareness of the importance of basic digital skills.
If you want to know more about the project, you can visit their website or contact the Project Lead Michiel Sträter at michielstrater@lezenenschrijven.nl.
Organisation:
Our partner Stichting Lezen en Schrijven (Reading & Writing Foundation) is a Dutch non-profit organisation committed to ensuring that everyone in The Netherlands can read, write, calculate and use a computer or smartphone. They aim to reduce and prevent low literacy in the country while conducting and sharing research, knowledge and good practices on this topic. Since their establishment, they have been closely cooperating with the Dutch government to enhance a comprehensive approach to tackling low literacy in The Netherlands.