The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations is the membership organisation for Scotland's charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprises. Charity registered in Scotland SC003558. Registered office Mansfield Traquair Centre, 15 Mansfield Place, Edinburgh EH3 6BB.
Supporting your digital colleagues: Essential Digital Skills explained
In Scotland, 43% of the workforce are lacking in Essential Digital Skills. Although this is slightly ahead of the UK average (53%) we still need to improve. People who don’t have these skills are more likely to be older, female, be a part-time worker, have a disability or be living in low income households. As 90% of jobs currently require these skills to some degree, it means people can be doubly disadvantaged, which contributes directly to the ‘poverty premium’.
We are on a mission: to give everyone in Scotland the Essential Digital Skills they need to do their jobs, live their lives and confidently use digital services. As Digital Participation Officer, a large part of my role is to support organisations on their digital inclusion journey and to improve the essential digital skills of their workforce, volunteers and/or service users.
The Essential Digital Skills framework is key to the work we do and underpins the Essential Digital Skills Toolkit, which is the first of its’ kind in Scotland. It was created to help people make practical use of the Framework. It’s designed to be used, modified and adapted to fit users’ needs and is freely available via the digital participation section of our website.
Since the launch of the Toolkit in September 2018 we have been pleased to report a good uptake amongst the public and voluntary sectors and have received invaluable feedback and learning from organisations using it with service users, colleagues and/or volunteers.
The Toolkit includes key information and relevant statistics regarding digital inclusion in Scotland and also signposts to relevant reports, resources and learning aids which are available for public use. It can be used to identify a skills gap, to benchmark, to establish a baseline, to evidence a need or to measure the success of an intervention. The main focal points are the Foundation and Essential Digital Skills checklists, which can be adapted, shared and completed by individuals or organisations to meet your specific needs.
On the day we will be lucky to be joined by a fantastic guest speaker who will tell you more about their organisation’s digital journey and how they are using the Toolkit to support their colleagues.
In addition to this, the workshop will also include:
- The opportunity to complete the checklist, to measure your own Essential Digital Skills
- Practical advice and information around how to adapt the Toolkit to meet your needs
- An explanation of how it can be used to support yourself and your workforce
- Information on useful resources
This is an interactive and informal session, so questions and audience participation are encouraged. You will have the opportunity to ask both us and our guest for guidance on how you could use the Toolkit within your own organisation. If you’re already using it, we hope you’ll share your experiences with us and each other during the session.
If this sounds like something you’d like to learn more about please confirm your attendance by booking via this link.
