Build Partnerships Between Education and Industry to Validate and Demonstrate Competencies

As employers increasingly seek reliable signals of job-relevant skills, they will need to work in partnership with educators to create industry-validated signals of the knowledge and skills learners acquire and help learners translate these competencies into future job prospects. In recent years, interest has grown in using learning and employment records (LERs) as tools for documenting individuals’ skills, competencies, and educational experiences across formal and informal settings.1 This shift reflects broader changes in the labor market, including increased demand for demonstrable skills, evolving career pathways, and the expansion of alternative education and training opportunities.

In Massachusetts, Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC) has launched eleven skill badges that certify the competencies learners develop in existing course sequences.2 The BHCC Skills Badge program addresses a challenging reality: community college liberal arts majors have historically had a difficult time finishing their associate degrees and translating coursework into positive career outcomes. For this reason, while BHCC faculty identified skills developed in their existing courses, employer partners were invited to shape and attend related workplace scenario workshops to validate learners’ skills and build employer trust in the skill badges as a valuable credential.

Experiential, project-based, applied learning opportunities are considered a high-impact practice for engaging learners’ lifetime knowledge and skills and for assessing their mastery of a particular learning outcome and are a ripe opportunity for partnerships between educators, employers, local leaders, service-year programs, and workforce development programs. Capstone courses and projects can be a valuable opportunity to apply and assess learning and skills that are relevant to certain industries and valued for employment.3 Effective capstone courses may include the application of knowledge and skills to a problem-based learning project, which could be a solitary venture or include a project with a community-based organization, or a research project like a written thesis.4 If a capstone course is designed in partnership with local employers, it can provide additional value by allowing learners to demonstrate competencies that align with the career they plan to pursue.