Skills for Life - Free Employability & Skills Courses
Develop the skills you need to participate fully in modern life, make progress at work and express yourself with confidence.
Whether you are a cleaner or a junior manager, office or construction worker, beginner or advanced level, our courses will help you develop the most in-demand workplace skills and at same time improve your general communication, English, ESOL, Data Literacy, Maths and Digital Skills. Our courses will also improve your skills and competences for life outside work from going to the doctors and filling out forms to talking about politics and discussing art.
Inside and outside work, in all types of jobs, at all levels, adults need to be problem-solvers, analysers, decision-makers, team-players, to see the bigger picture and be detail-oriented. Join our courses, online or face-to-face, and develop these universal essentials skills with our motivating, innovative and professional tutors.
Which course is right for me?
To make sure you book onto the right course, we'll ask you to do a pre-course assessment. A face to face assessment is best and we advise you to do this. If you can’t do a face to face assessment you can do it online.
- Online assessment - Choose a course from the list below and on the next page, click on ‘Start Assessment’.
- Or book a face-to-face assessment - call 020 8078 0482 or contact us by email at universal.skills@citylit.ac.uk for an appointment.
For English, Maths and ESOL, face-to-face assessments take place every Wednesday evening between 6pm and 8pm and every Friday (from 21st April onwards) between 11am and 1pm.
For Digital skills (Computing) courses, face-to-face assessments take place every Friday (from 21st April onwards) between 11am and 1pm.
Most of our courses are FREE if you are on a low income or claiming benefits. You will also usually need to do a pre-course assessment. For more details contact universal.skills@citylit.ac.uk or click the links below.
Filters
- English communication for life and work - with maths and digital skills (entry 3)Course start date: Wed 20 Sep 2023 (and 2 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Do you want to improve your English reading, writing, speaking and listening so that you can express yourself confidently and do the most important and common everyday tasks at home and at work? Do you also want to develop your digital skills and maths so you can use be confident online and also handle money and budget successfully?
Join this course and develop your communication skills for work and personal life. You will visit places of interest such as museums, cafes and market so you develop your skills in a real life settings. You will learn how to read and write paragraphs and short texts about topics that interest you and important events. You will practise filling in forms, writing formal and informal letters and emails and you will improve your spelling, vocabulary and use of punctuation. You will also become more confident in expressing your thoughts and feelings and dealing with difficult situations, for example, at work or in your personal life. You will practise talking about your own life events and key issues such as news stories, public figures, health and culture. Your digital skills and maths will improve so you can manage your money, research important topics and use social media.
Before this course, you need to do a pre-course assessment. Contact universal.skills@citylit.ac.uk / (telephone temporarily unavailable) or click the Start Assessment button on this page. Log on with your email address (not name). Use Chrome if possible.
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 if you don’t have a GCSE in maths at grade 4/C or equivalent.Full fee £0.00 Senior fee £0.00 Concession £0.00 - English, maths and digital skills for life (entry 1-entry 2)
Course start date: Wed 20 Sep 2023 (and 3 other dates)Location on this date: Keeley Street
Do you want to improve your reading and writing of English and your spoken communication skills? Would you like to practise your computer and digital skills at the same time? Do you need to work on your maths? You can do all of this in this class. On this course you will improve your writing, reading, speaking, listening, your maths and digital skill by discussing important topics,completing creative tasks and visiting places such as the National Portrait Gallery, the Transport Museum, cafes, libraries, and markets. You will learn how to express yourself confidently when talking, writing and using the computer, read and write full sentences in English, fill in forms on paper and on the computer, understand and write important letters and emails land make appointments. You will become confident in your spelling, vocabulary, using capital letters, full stops and expressing your thoughts and feelings. You will practise searching for information on the Internet. And you will learn the maths you need for everyday life such as adding up your shopping costs and calculating your weekly budget. This course will help you learn all the most important skills you need in life.
Before this course, you need to do a pre-course assessment. Contact universal.skills@citylit.ac.uk / (telephone temporarily unavailable) or click the Start Assessment button on this page. Log on with your email address (not name). Use Chrome if possible.
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 if you don’t have a GCSE in maths at grade 4/C or equivalent.Full fee £0.00 Senior fee £0.00 Concession £0.00 - Develop your confidence in English: how to express yourself in speaking and writing inside and outside work (entry 3-level 1)Course start date: Wed 1 Nov 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Do you feel nervous at work? 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? Does it take you a long time to write about your ideas? If so, then this course will help you. You will develop your confidence to speak and express yourself in different situations such as with your line-manager or with a GP through role-playing and other methods. You will practise how to produce ideas and organise your thoughts before writing. And you will increase your vocabulary so you can express yourself more accurately and more detail.
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 a) you are on a Low Wage or b) you are either on Jobseekers' Allowance (JSA) or Employment & Support Allowance(ESA) or c) you want to get a job or progress into a better job and you receive other state benefits (including Universal Credit). For more information click hereFull fee £39.00 Senior fee £31.00 Concession £20.00 - English Functional Skills (Level 1)Course start date: Wed 31 Jan 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Do you want to develop your English skills to be confident at work and in daily life, as well as gain a qualification? Level 1 functional skills exam is the first step in showing employers and others you have a good level of English reading and writing and that you can speak well in a variety of situations.
Please note: you MUST pass the first 6 weeks of the course. You must attend every class and do the necessary homework. If you do not, you will not be able to continue the course.
Contact universal.skills@citylit.ac.uk / 020 8078 0489 for information and to book a face-to-face pre-course assessment. You can also click the Start Assessment button on this page.Full fee £0.00 Senior fee £0.00 Concession £0.00 - Maths for life and work (foundation)
Course start date: Wed 26 Apr 2023 (and 1 other date)Location on this date: Keeley Street
Do you need to improve your everyday maths so you become more confident when making calculations with money, understanding figures, charts and graphs in newspapers or measuring rooms? Do you want to achieve a functional skills qualification but are not yet ready? This course will help you with the essential maths you need to participate, fully in society, make progress at work and solve everyday problems. You will learn about whole numbers, decimals and fractions and how to use maths to solve problems involving time, money and measurement. You will learn about the properties of shapes, both 2D and 3D and how to read, interpret and comment on information in tables and charts. By the end of the course, you will be much more aware of how much maths there is in everyday life and how maths can help you.
You need to do a pre-course assessment face-to-face or online. Contact universal.skills@citylit.ac.uk / (telephone temporarily unavailable) 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 if you don’t have a GCSE in maths at grade 4/C or equivalent.Full fee £0.00 Senior fee £0.00 Concession £0.00 - Grammar in practice: pre-intermediate (entry 2 - entry 3)Course start date: Wed 3 May 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Do you need help with your grammar? Do you want to know more about verb tenses? Do you want to ask questions with good pronunciation and correct grammar? On this course, you will learn all the essential grammar to help you speak and write well. You will focus on when to use present simple, present continuous, past simple and other tenses. You will practise when to use 'do', 'does', 'is', 'are' and 'did' in questions and how to say these words. By the end of the course you will have a strong foundation for your English learning.
You need to do a pre-course assessment face-to-face or online. Contact universal.skills@citylit.ac.uk / (telephone temporarily unavailable) or click the Start Assessment button on this page. Log on with your email address (not name).
This course is FREE if a) you are on a Low Wage or b) you are either on Jobseekers' Allowance (JSA) or Employment & Support Allowance(ESA) or c) you want to get a job or progress into a better job and you receive other state benefits (including Universal Credit). For more information click hereFull fee £79.00 Senior fee £63.00 Concession £40.00
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