Skills for life and work

Looking for that perfect present? Treat someone to the gift of learning with a course at City Lit. Available from £10, our gift vouchers can be used to book a place on any of our courses, from London walks and food tasting to museum visits, poetry and much more. Simply purchase your voucher and the recipient can choose from thousands of courses, at a time which suits them.

Data is all around us. From Covid to football matches, cost of living crises to sales reports, from the workplace to home, we are hugely affected by it. Understanding data, producing it and making decisions based on it are now essential skills for everyone. This course will focus on what data is, why it is important, and how to use it You will learn how to ask the right questions about data, how to make different types of calculations using it, such as percentages and averages, how to identify and present different data patterns, and how to use different types of graphs and charts. By the end of the course you will have developed the key mathematical, numerical and analytical skills you need to use and interpret important data at work, in the news and in your daily life.



You need to do a pre-course assessment. Contact universal.skills@citylit.ac.uk / 020 8078 0489 for a face-to-face assessment or click the Start Assessment button on this page. Log on with your email address (not name).

Free course: This is a Multiply course. Multiply is a new government programme to help adults improve their numeracy skills. This course is free for Londoners aged 19 or over. For more information Click here

Do you sometimes feel you cannot speak in meetings? Are you shy with customers? In your daily life, do you find it difficult to give your opinions? This course will give you the confidence and skills to express yourself in different situations.







Our experienced skills tutor, also a trained actor, will help you learn how to stay calm and focused. You will work on increasing your vocabulary, developing your listening skills and expressing your thoughts and opinions clearly in a positive manner.







You need to do a pre-course assessment. Contact universal.skills@citylit.ac.uk / 020 8078 0489 for a face-to-face assessment or click the Start Assessment button on this page. Log on with your email address (not name).

This course is FREE if you are employed and on a low wage or you are claiming benefits. For more information Click here

Are you quite confident about your everyday English? Can you have some short conversations and read and write simple emails? Can you go shopping, talk about simple subjects, and write a letter? But do you make quite a lot mistakes? Is it difficult to speak, read or write about more complicated topics? This course will help you learn more vocabulary and grammar so you can talk, read and write about more interesting everyday things and make fewer mistakes. Your will practise your speaking, listening, reading and writing so you can understand people better, talk about most daily topics, read a simple news story, and write a long email or letter. You will also improve your maths and the English you need to do maths such as for simple calculations with money and using percentages.



You need to do a pre-course assessment. Contact universal.skills@citylit.ac.uk / 020 8078 0489 for a face-to-face assessment or click the Start Assessment button on this page. Log on with your email address (not name).

Free course: This is a Multiply course. Multiply is a new government programme to help adults improve their numeracy skills. This course is free for Londoners aged 19 or over. For more information Click here

You can have the most amazing business ideas, but if you cannot communicate them, they will be of very little use. Join this course and explore how clear writing leads to clear thinking. You will develop the key skills needed to share information and ideas effectively inside and outside your company whether writing internal memos, emails to line managers, communications to customers, business proposals or reports, By the end of the course, you will be able to organise your business writings to suit the reader, convey ideas clearly, concisely and coherently and be confident you can express complex matters simply and effectively.



Do you manage a team? Are you taking part in work meetings feeling your voice isn't heard? Do you need to give presentations, make sales pitches, or persuade others to follow your proposals? If so, then this course will help you. You will learn different techniques used in drama to enable you to create an effect. You will practise how respond to others so that they engage with you. You will focus on how to manipulate your voice, how to project and how to focus on the emphasising the meaning of what you want to say.



You need to do a pre-course assessment activity to make sure this is the right course for you. Contact universal.skills@citylit.ac.uk / 020 8078 0489 to book a face-to-face appointment. Or click the Start Assessment button on this page.

This course is FREE if you are employed and on a low wage or you are claiming benefits. For more information Click here

This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.

Your CV is usually the best chance you have to make a good impression on a potential employer. Too many CVs are badly written and fail to address what the employer is looking for. Don't let yours be one of these!







On this course you will gain the skills and confidence you need to apply for work successfully. You will focus on where to look for work, the different ways of applying for work, the best language to use on CVs and applications as well as how to prepare for interviews.







By the of the course you will confident you can find the work you are looking for.



You need to do a pre-course activity to make sure this is the right course for you. Contact universal.skills@citylit.ac.uk / 020 8078 0489 for information and to book a pre-course assessment. Or you can click the Start Assessment button on this page.

This course is FREE if you are employed and on a low wage or you are claiming benefits. For more information Click here

This course will help you get become confident in your everyday communication including reading and writing. We will focus on topics that interest you and use these to help you improve the key elements of reading and writing as well as communication skills to enable you to express your thoughts and feelings including in difficult situations. You will learn to how write whole sentences and paragraphs, use adjectives effectively, organise your writing, make notes and complete drafts, spell important common words, use punctuation correctly and develop reading and writing strategies most suited to you. And you will learn some digital skills including reading and finding information from websites.

This course is free for learners who have not achieved a GCSE grade C (4) and higher in English. For more information Click here

This course is suitable if you are looking for or already are in employment. The aim of the course is to help you to acquire English skills necessary for communication at work via e-mails, memos, reports etc. This course has no exams.

This course is free for learners who have not achieved a GCSE grade C (4) and higher in English. For more information Click here

During the course you will develop skills in learning independently, communicating with your tutor and other students. You will develop your ability to use your own initiative, carry out research and complete tasks either independently or in collaboration with others. The course is practical and the skills you learn can be used in everyday life situations. There are no exams to this course.

This course is free for learners who have not achieved a GCSE grade C (4) and higher in Maths. For more information Click here

Do you want to improve your communication skills and become more confident speaking, listening, reading and writing English? This course will help you develop all your English language skills so you can act confidently in the most important everyday situations inside and outside work. You will become a skilled communicator when writing, using digital resources and in face-to-face interactions. You will develop your active listening skills so you can understand and empathise better. You will work on how to express yourself when speaking in different situations. You will practise your reading so you can see the whole picture and find details, make effective decisions about what you read, and prioritise matters. By the end of this three-term programme, you will be a competent speaker, listener, reader and writer both at work and home and ready to do exams such as Functional Skills Level 2.



You need to do a pre-course assessment. Contact universal.skills@citylit.ac.uk / 020 8078 0489 for a face-to-face assessment or click the Start Assessment button on this page. Log on with your email address (not name).

This course is FREE if you are employed and on a low wage or you are claiming benefits. For more information Click here

This complete course for beginners will help to become a confident user of your computer from setting it up to understanding and using basic digital skills functions.

This course is free for learners who have digital skills assessed as below level 1. For more information Click here

Free course: This is a Multiply course. Multiply is a new government programme to help adults improve their numeracy skills. This course is free for Londoners aged 19 or over. For more information Click here