Meta-skills

Introducing Meta-skills

The Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) strategy was introduced by the Scottish Government in 2014 to prepare learners for future employment pathways and opportunities as they transition from schooling into the world of work. Building on foundations embedded in the Curriculum for Excellence, DYW engages pupils from early years through Senior Phase and beyond. 

At Alford, we value responsibility and therefore have taken time to consider and share potential future career pathways with our young learners.  We have also decided as a school to focus on Meta-skills.  These are skills which will impact learners positively and encourage the development of transferable skills which will serve them as they grow into the workforce of the future. 

What are Meta-skills?

Meta-skills are innate, timeless, higher-order skills that create adaptive learners and promote success in whatever context the future brings. From birth, children use their meta-skills as they test and explore the world around them, and it is these meta-skills that act as a key to unlock the development of other transferable and technical skills. Therefore, it is important that as children and young people progress through their education, practitioners make meta-skills explicitly visible and create opportunities for learners to recognise, understand and explore their metaskills development. 

Making Meta-skills explicit...

Here at Alford, we have decided to dedicate a portion of each week to the explicit teaching, development and nurturing of meta-skills in our young people.  Teachers have planned a range of exciting opportunities which aim to develop these skills.  Our teaching team are drawing on their own strengths and expertise to ensure that our meta-skills sessions are engaging and exciting as well as beneficial.  See below for some examples of what children will experience in our weekly meta-skills sessions.