Choosing a list of skills tags

Find out more about choosing a list of skills tags for your badge, including available tools to help you decide.

Using skills as tags is a great way to show earners the knowledge and transferable skills, attitudes, and values they have gained or demonstrated as part of an activity to earn a badge. You will be asked to enter a list of skills in Section 4 of our badge writing form.

For more information on tags and how they work, please see Tags explained.

How should I decide what skills tags to choose?

Consider the following:

What is the activity about?
For activities related to specific sectors, industries, topics, or curriculum areas, the tags you choose can be tailored to this. You might like to include any tools (digital or physical), materials, or industry-specific knowledge.

What does taking part in the activity say about the earner?
They are likely showing Curiosity, Willingness to Learn, Initiative, Commitment, etc.

What happens during the activity?
Considering what earners do to earn this badge will help with identifying related skills. For example:

If earners participate in group work or interactive activities with others, they might be showing skills in Communication, Teamwork, Active Listening, etc.
If the activity is relating to a volunteer or employment role, they might be demonstrating Professionalism, Time Management, Problem Solving, Resilience, etc.
If the activity is for delivering a pitch or presentation, related skills could be Confidence, Verbal Communication, Public Speaking, etc.

What is the change you want to see in the world?
Think about the purpose of your activity, what skills it nurtures in earners, and how they develop or show these skills as part of the activity. If you have specific values that matter to your organisation, including these in your badges can help you show your impact.

Top Tips

✅ Ensure that each skill you choose to add is mentioned in your earning criteria bullet points to clearly explain how earners develop / demonstrate them. Please see Referencing skills tags in earning criteria for more information.

✅ Think about keywords - are there any essential terms or buzzwords covered in your activity that would benefit the earner to have a record of?

✅ Consider what skills are transferrable – while it is always appropriate to add skills that are specific for your activity, including skills that are transferrable will provide the best value for your earners.

✅ Keep tags short and specific, as they are more likely to link to quality data such as labour market information or other badges and activities, providing a better experience for your earners when using the badge.

❌ Avoid using sentences – very long tags that read as a sentence are less likely to link to quality data and have reduced accessibility when being read by your earners or other viewers online.

❌ Avoid 'nothing tags' – some tags do not increase the value of the badge as they are not related to a skill, or do not describe a specific skill. For example, "Understanding", "Participation", "Transferrable Skills" or "Knowledge"

Tools to help

Thinking of a list of skills can be daunting at first, but there are plenty of tools available to support you:

Navigatr Skills Scanner
Powered by Lightcast (formerly EMSI), this tool enables you to paste and scan the earning criteria from your badge, including any additional written material (such as an event description or session plan) to produce a list suggested skills tags which you can copy into your badge.
Skills Search
Located with the Scanner above, you can also search for tag suggestions using keywords.
Skills Tags List
The Useful Documents section of the Badge Zone contains a downloadable spreadsheet of skills aligned to the Skills Builder and Lightcast skills frameworks.