VSkills means volunteering-based learning. Volunteering affords many opportunities to learn and acquire new skills.
VSkills for Employability is a new, volunteering-based, approach to acquiring the general work skills everyone needs.
Employability skills are a set of attributes, skills and knowledge that everyone needs to be more employable and more effective at work. They include self-management, team working, problem-solving, communication and numeracy. These are sometimes described as ‘soft skills’. The VSkills for Employability approach supports volunteers to demonstrate these skills and achieve the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) Employability Award - a recognised national qualification.
A volunteer undertaking VSkills for Employability will need support from their manager or co-ordinator. Guidance for people working with volunteers on how to provide that support, is available for download.
Click here to download PDF. 
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Volunteers can also use an online resource, provided exclusively by Volunteer Development Scotland through its Learning Community, to reflect on their experiences of volunteering and to collect evidence for assessment. To access the resource, contact LCeditor@vds.org.uk. (Organisations wishing to use the resource to support multiple volunteers may obtain a licence agreement from Volunteer Development Scotland.)
The evidence collected by volunteers then needs to be assessed by a college or other SQA Approved Centre. A guidance leaflet for centres is available for download.
Click here to download PDF. | Click here to view Digital Format
If you would like further information please contact vds@vds.org.uk
Information for Jobcentre Plus advisors is available here. Click here to download information PDF.
If you are an employer and would like to know more. Click here to download information PDF.
To obtain a licence agreement from VDS, contact vds@vds.org.uk.