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Advice for teachers - Bridging English as an Additional Language (EAL)

Employability skills

The VCE Bridging English as an Additional Language study provides students with the opportunity to engage in a range of learning activities. In addition to demonstrating their understanding and mastery of the content and skills specific to the study, students may also develop employability skills through their learning activities.

The nationally agreed employability skills* are: Communication; Planning and organising; Teamwork; Problem solving; Self-management; Initiative and enterprise; Technology; and Learning.

The table links those facets that may be understood and applied in a school or non-employment related setting, to the types of assessment commonly undertaken within the VCE study.

Learning activity
Employability skills selected facets

Written responses

Communication (writing for a specific purpose and audience)
Technology (learning and utilising a range of IT skills and digital platforms, selecting the most appropriate for a given situation)
Planning and organising (developing a plan, managing time, drafting and editing written responses)

Role plays and group discussion

Team work (learning and implementing strategies for working productively with others; negotiating and developing ways of collaborating effectively; working in groups with diverse socio-economic, cultural, gender, religious and language backgrounds; allocating resources and tasks)
Problem solving (identifying problems to be solved and prepared and improvising solutions as appropriate)

Oral presentations

Communication (developing and refining spoken communication skills and confidence)
Self-management (preparing, rehearsing and presenting to a group including managing time and resources appropriately)

Accessing, reading and listening to a range of texts in English

Communication (identification and application of strategies used to communicate in a range of contexts)
Problem solving (using a range of techniques to maximise understanding of unfamiliar texts)
Learning (using information and skills gleaned from other texts to more effectively access new texts produced in similar contexts or on similar topics)

*The employability skills are derived from the Employability Skills Framework (Employability Skills for the Future, 2002), developed by the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Business Council of Australia, and published by the (former) Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training.