Future Amp launches soft skills courses to help students manage their lives, learning + work.
The data speaks for itself. After 18 months of living with the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re now seeing the devastating impacts lockdowns, remote working and learning and wide-scale uncertainty have had on young people’s mental health and wellbeing.
A recent survey of Headspace service users showed that 74% experienced worsened mental health since the onset of the pandemic, and 86% reported negative effects on their wellbeing, mood, motivation and sleeping habits.
If there was ever a time we needed to provide young people with more support and resources to manage themselves in a complex world, it is now.
In response to this shift, Future Amp has recently launched a suite of self-paced, interactive, expert-backed Australian-Curriculum-mapped courses to enable students to engage in learning about themselves and others, and to develop skills in managing their relationships, lives, work and learning.
Human Skills, Independent Learner and Employability courses now available in the Future Amp national careers and skills learning platform include: Building Resilience, Conflict and Negotiation, Elevating Empathy, Emotional Intelligence, Feedback and Self-Improvement, Finding Your Why, Growth Mindset, Mastering Motivation, Overcoming Procrastination, Self-Awareness and Relationships, Self-Care, S.M.A.R.T Goal Setting, Stress Management, and many more. Other platform learning areas include Job Ready, Industry Pathways, Startups & Entrepreneurship, Virtual Work Experience, and an extensive video library of industry experts sharing their career stories, skills and advice for preparing for the future workforce.
All Future Amp courses have been designed for students, and align to the Australian Curriculum Personal and Social Capability competencies, which involve students in a range of practices including: recognising and regulating emotions; developing empathy for others; understanding, establishing and building positive relationships; making responsible decisions; working effectively in remote teams; handling challenging situations constructively and developing workplace and leadership skills.
Personal and social capability learning in the Future Amp platform also supports students in becoming creative, confident and engaged individuals who, as stated in the 2008 Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians, ‘have a sense of self-worth, self-awareness and personal identity that enables them to manage their emotional, mental, spiritual and physical wellbeing’, with a sense of hope and ‘optimism about their lives and the future’. On a social level, it also helps students to ‘form and maintain healthy relationships’ and prepares them for their future roles as family, community and workforce members.
In fact, research shows that students with well-developed social and emotional skills find it much easier to manage themselves, relate to others, develop resilience and a sense of self-worth, resolve conflict, engage in teamwork and feel positive about themselves and the world around them.
Indeed, the development of personal and social capability is a foundation for lifelong learning, contributing to greater pathway and workforce outcomes, higher personal satisfaction, and more engaged citizens.
Additionally, when students develop their Human and Independent Learner skills, it leads to greater awareness and understanding of overall personal and social capabilities, and why they are required for the modern workforce. In particular, the more students learn about the range of human skills used in learning and working, the more they are able to recognise and manage their own emotions and behaviours, develop and understand their own values, strengths and capabilities, and establish and maintain more positive relationships.
This element involves students developing the metacognitive skill of learning when and how to use particular strategies to manage themselves in a range of situations.
If students can more effectively regulate, manage and monitor their own emotional responses, they will persist in completing tasks, develop the skills to learn and work independently and show initiative and persevere in the face of setbacks and frustrations, leading to more engaged learning, more active career decision-making and better overall pathway outcomes. In developing personal and social capability, in short students will learn to:
express emotions more appropriately
develop greater self-discipline and the ability to set goals
learn and work independently and show more initiative
become confident, resilient and adaptable to the changing world around them.
While the impact of COVID-19 will continue to disrupt the way we all live, learn and work, coupled with whatever challenges await on the global horizon for us all, Future Amp will continue to work with students and educators across the country to provide on-demand, real-world, relevant and evidence-based learning experiences to equip students for whatever comes next.
Learn more about Future Amp’s national careers and skills learning platform.
Reach out to our team at hello@futureamp.co to schedule a demo or discuss your education institution and student’s learning needs.