Taqaddam, Arabic for ‘moving forward’, is a life skills programme that supports young people to build confidence in themselves and their future and develop the strengths and skills to flourish in life, work, and society.
Taqaddam is offered by the Centre for International Learning and Leadership (CILL) in partnership with the British Council. The programme has been designed by the British Council and successfully delivered in many countries. It is now available in the UK for the first time. Delivery of the programme is tailored to learner needs.
What are life skills?
Life skills – also known as 21st Century skills, soft skills or transferable skills – are a combination of attitudes and abilities that enable you to develop, adapt and thrive personally, socially, and professionally. Understanding these skills will help you to direct your own course through life, whatever path you choose. In short - these are the skills you need to make the most of life.
Who is it for?
Young people aged 15-17, maximum group size is 30 participants.
What will I get?
You will get to know other people and work with them on personal development and team projects that you will design and deliver. This process will help you feel more in control of your life and your future by developing your awareness of self and others, your creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration, and your capacity for social leadership and action.
Upon completion, you will receive a certificate of participation, and online recognition through digital badges that you can continue to build on. You will also make new friends as part of a unique group working on shared projects, and you'll join a vibrant alumni network.
What will I do?
The core programme is designed to take you through the ‘learning journey’ of 4 modules.
You will complete this journey by:
• Attending interactive group sessions
• Developing a team social action project, putting your skills into action
• Completing self-directed, personal development ‘missions’
Participants are expected to attend all sessions in order to complete the programme.
This module is about young people exploring what’s going on for them in their lives and in their world. We aim to support young people to become more self-aware, think more about what is important to them and what they want out of life. By starting the life skills journey here, we are grounding the learning into the real-life experience and talking about life skills in a way that is directly meaningful to their lives.
We believe that the more young people understand themselves and the world around them, the more they can take control of their own learning and development, and the more they can feel confident about the future.
Module Outcomes:
Increased self-awareness
• Curiosity about themselves and their personal development
• More aware of their own feelings
• Deeper understanding of personal needs for wellbeing
• Greater understanding of their own strengths and skills
• Increased sense of purpose
Greater sense of confidence in themselves
• Deeper understanding of confidence
• More awareness about how they learn and grow
• Greater interpersonal and public communication skills
• Increased resilience in relevant areas of their life
Now we have got young people thinking about their lives and their world, this module now has fertile ground in which to explore and develop their life skills. Life skills are simply the skills we need to make the most of life. We use life skills every single day, in work, in our relationships, in the things we love to do, and in the things we don’t! Life skills are social skills like public speaking, collaboration, and listening, thinking skills like critical thinking and problem solving, and emotional skills like empathy and resilience. They’re what help us to connect, explore and navigate our world.
We support young people to explore the full range of their strengths and skills and think about how they are applied in their life and future, before going deeper into creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration, which we call the 3Cs.
Module Outcomes:
Understanding and valuing Life Skills
• Greater awareness and regular practice of noticing and naming their life skills
• Ability to confidently describe personal strengths and skills, and areas for development
• Understanding how life skills are interconnected, and that by growing one you are growing others
• Understand the value of life skills for life, work and society
Increased capacity for creativity
• Awareness of their own creativity and where they find creative inspiration
• Increased desire to create new things and express ideas in different ways
• Confidence and ability to generate ideas and try new things, including prototyping
• Creative presentation and communications skills and tools
Increased capacity for critical thinking
• Awareness of own assumptions and biases
• Skills and tools for good decision-making and problem solving
• Greater curiosity and questioning skills
• Ability to applying critical thinking tools and approaches to personal and real world issues
• Digital literacy
Increased capacity for collaboration
• Greater value for diversity and an understanding of the value of difference
• Understanding what makes effective teams
• Recognising own strengths as part of a team, and areas for development
• Greater empathy
• Better able to build relationships with diverse individuals and groups
The Make it Happen module is about putting life skills into action. We explore how we can make a positive change in our communities and what we care about and want to make change about. It is also the module through which young people take part in team projects.
Module Outcomes:
Greater confidence and capacity for social leadership and action
•Greater understanding of how change happens
•A greater sense of belonging and feeling of connection with peers and communities
•Motivation to be engaged and active on issues and in their communities, with the belief that they can make a positive difference
•Skills and tools for project planning and social action
•Understanding different ideas about leadership, particularly values-based leadership and how that can be expressed in their everyday lives
This module is about taking the learning from Taqaddam into their future. We explore different approaches to leadership, including self-leadership, and ways of dealing with tough times. We also look at how young people can gain more ownership of their personal development.
Whatever the future holds, ultimately, we want young people to move forward with the skills, confidence and tools to continue to learn and grow.
Module Outcomes:
Greater sense of confidence in their future
• Better understanding of what makes them confident about the future
• Better able to understand and communicate their strengths and skills
• Greater awareness of how to help themselves through difficult times
• Increased capacity for decision-making and planning
Greater ownership, tools and skills for ongoing personal development
• Strengthened belief that they can learn and grow
• Understanding of and approaches to support self-management
• Increased capacity for reflection, including developing reflective habits
• Confidence and motivation to try new things, without a fear of failure
Programme delivery options
We offer four different models for running the programme, varying in terms of the number of sessions and overall duration. Any of these can be further adapted to suit your requirements.
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Model 1: 12 x 90 minute sessions
12-week programme or a 6-week programme delivered twice a week
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Model 2: 8 x 2-hour sessions
8-week or 4-week programme
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Model 3: 6 x 3-hour sessions
a total of 18 hours delivered over 6 weeks
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Model 4: 4 x 4.5-hour sessions
can be delivered on a weekly basis and also during a half-term break, or as day-long sessions
Reflection and recognition of learning
What are digital credentials?
Have you ever learned a new skill and wanted to instantly share it with the rest of the world? Now you can, and with digital credentials available to you with Taqaddam it will be easy, rewarding and fun. Over the past decade digital credentials aka digital badges have entered into the mainstream with large organizations such as NASA or Microsoft adapting badge systems for their workforce. This system puts YOU - the learner in control and helps you track your progress. You will be able to demonstrate your skillset to future employers, networks and communities.
A session on digital badges is covered in the introduction to Taqaddam. Badges are awarded at different stages of your learner journey and can be added to badge wallets, email signatures or shared on social media profiles and pages.
Taqaddam - Moving Forward awards
In addition to digital badges, Taqaddam adds a competitive element where teams can win bronze, silver, or gold awards linked to their social action projects. These awards are announced at the graduation ceremony and come with additional certificates of recognition.
Taqaddam - Moving Forward online
In some cases, we can run Taqaddam as an online or hybrid programme. This is particularly suitable when combining several smaller groups from schools in different locations, internationally mixed groups, home educated students or those whose physical attendance is restricted by educational, social or cultural factors. It is also possible when the programme cannot be accommodated during normal school hours. The online version includes all the same modules as the physical version, but additional time may need to be set aside for review and support sessions. A teacher or other adult needs to be available to provide ongoing motivation and guidance.
Added value for schools
Taqaddam provides an affordable, ready-made process for delivering wider learning outcomes around soft skills, leadership, career readiness and community. It supports the PSHE education curriculum. For schools offering the International Baccalaureate, it integrates with the Creativity, Activity, Service element.
Taqaddam is an example of how non-formal learning can increase the engagement of less academic students. The activities are enjoyable and motivating for all, regardless of ability. With certain adaptations, we can also run the programme for groups with special educational needs.
The programme is an effective way to build partnerships between private and state schools, by bringing together mixed groups of students in a set of activities where they participate as equals. Similarly, it can add value to international links between schools.
What young people say about the programme
85% of all young people felt they had more control over their lives
94% of all young people rated the workshops good or amazing
94% enjoy personal development and learning more
87% more creative and better critical thinkers
94% are more confident about themselves
97% better able to work towards goals
