The canonical NEO content on getting work, doing work, and understanding work as part of an adult life. Held as canonical content in its own right — not a watered-down version of academic study, not a vocational add-on, but a substantial body of learning that NEO commits to teaching every learner because it is what they will need.
This strand sits at the densest cross-roads in the vault. Incoming wikilinks come from:
- Girls in Green Futures — every module touches employability via the project-controls-as-careers framing
- ASDAN Workright (workplace scenarios)
- ASDAN Lifeskills Challenge (employability module)
- ASDAN Employability qualification (Ofqual-regulated, portfolio-moderated)
- KS4 English — Transactional and functional writing (CVs, cover letters, applications)
- KS4 Maths (numerical reasoning at work; payslips and percentages)
- Preparing for Adulthood — Employment pathway directly
Strands
- Self-knowledge for work — knowing your own strengths, interests, energy patterns, what kind of work suits which person
- Application and interview — CVs, cover letters, application forms, interviews, follow-up
- Pathways and progression — apprenticeships, FE, HE, direct employment, self-employment, the sequencing of life choices
- Workplace skills and conduct — being a colleague, professional communication, meetings, email, the digital workplace
- Rights, responsibilities, and pay — contracts, payslips, tax basics, pension auto-enrolment, statutory rights, what to do when things go wrong
- Work and life — meaning, balance, mental health at work, the relationship between work and self
Cornerstone framing
Employability connects to Connection (work is fundamentally relational — a workplace is people in coordinated relation to each other and to the work itself), Reflection (self-knowledge for work, evaluation of options, decision-making about pathways), and Movement (work is also embodied — many learners’ employability questions are about whether their bodies can do the work they want to do).
Tested by
This canonical strand is tested by multiple overlays:
- ASDAN Programmes (Workright, Lifeskills, PDP)
- ASDAN Qualifications (Employability — Ofqual-regulated)
- Pearson Edexcel FS English / Maths Level 2 (functional skills are explicitly framed for adult-life and workplace use)
- Edexcel IGCSE English Language A — AO4 (transactional writing covers application letters, formal emails)
For a learner whose primary qualification goal is recognised employability evidence rather than academic GCSE, the ASDAN Employability Ofqual-regulated qualification is the most directly aligned overlay.
PfA alignment
Strongly aligned with Preparing for Adulthood — Employment. Also touches Independent Living (work and pay underpin housing and self-organisation) and Community (work is a community, often the first formal community a young person enters as an adult).
Why this branch matters
For NEO’s EBSNA cohort, employability is often what families and commissioners care about most when they place a learner — the question behind the placement is “will this young person be able to live a life when they leave?” The vault’s commitment to canonical Employability content (rather than treating it as the residue of academic study) is NEO’s structural answer to that question. Yes — and we teach it deliberately, with the same care and rigour as we teach English Literature.