15 Oct Digital badges: an inclusive route to creative jobs

Digital badges are quietly tackling one of the UK’s biggest challenges: youth exclusion from opportunities in the creative industries. In the context of high levels of economic inactivity, much has been made of the UK’s inefficient skills system where employers can’t find the talent they need and young people can’t demonstrate the skills they already possess. Offering digital badges as a solution, these issues are central to the recent report from the Digital Badging Commission “From skills to growth: A plan for Digital Badging in the UK”.

At Shared Intelligence, we’ve been working with Coastal Catalyst to respond to this challenge in a practical, place-based way. Together, we’ve helped to develop a system of digital badges to help young people across Brighton and Hove, East Sussex and West Sussex to explore and develop creative and cultural interests, skills and pathways.

Digital badges offer an inclusive way to recognise engagement and transferable skills. Coastal Catalyst aims to create a system where young people, organisations and employers recognise the value of badges not just as certificates but as an opportunity to improve talent pathways, internal training and growth.

In the longer term, the work is designed to foster an increased use of digital badges across the local economy. The aim is for the Coastal Corridor to offer a replicable model for other areas of the country with a high proportion of SMEs, and where young people may face barriers to creative opportunities.

Image: Creative Art Session by StockCake, Creative Commons