Mordaunt’s ‘National Service’ already exists in the NCS Skills4Life Programme

Amidst the growing focus on life and career skills development to better equip young people for success in a digital world of constant change, a more holistic approach to education of our future generations is increasingly centred around development of what are known as the Four C’s of 21^st Century skills – creativity, communication, collaboration and critical thinking, and enabling young people to tune in to personal attributes such as curiosity, emotional intelligence, resilience, imagination, broad-mindedness and lateral thinking.

Enhancing traditional classroom cognitive learning and knowledge acquisition, well-constructed Outdoor Adventure Education (OAE) Programmes provide environments that are conducive to teamwork and self-expression and are set up for unlocking individual’s potential for better verbal communication with peers and group leaders, sharper decision-making, and greater aspiration for personal goals.

Shaping the future of education further, the Government-funded National Citizen Service Skills4Life programme is an OAE Residential Programme for 16-17 years olds, who may be experiencing challenges to their mental health and well-being, exacerbated by the uncertainty of a post-covid world. The Winter 2022/2023 and Summer 2023 Programmes have been designed, delivered and evaluated by evidence-based contemporary adventure education providers, Inspiring Learning, and Sheffield Hallam University. With the overall programme aim to hone the Four C’s 21^st Century skills, the ‘Your Voice Matters’ module focuses on helping young people to define a stronger self-identity through increased self-confidence achieved by participation in debate and dialogue on issues that matter to them and their local communities.

Honing abilities to listen, perceive and present contribute to the positive adaptive functioning of young people’s resilience and higher levels of psychological wellbeing. The course also aims to use the outdoors as a vehicle for learning and personal development, with essential life skills at the core of the programme alongside confidence in trusting oneself and others, and building resilience through exposure to failures.

An evaluation of the Winter 2002/2023 Skills4Life programme, incorporating baseline (pre-programme), post-programme, and one month follow-up, utilising a combination of quantitative measures and qualitative data capture, revealed the impact of the programme with significant increases in resilience, 36%, and psychological wellbeing, 23%.

For more detail on the impact evaluation report of the NCS Skills4Life OAE Residential Programmes, please see the attached.

For more information about the structure and timings of the NCS Skills4Life OAE Residential Programmes, please visit here.