CORE SKILLS FOR WORK
DEVELOPMENTAL FRAMEWORK
WHAT ARE CORE SKILLS FOR WORK?
It’s not just technical skills and knowledge that make someone good at their work.
To be effective in any work situation, people need a combination of technical skills,
language, literacy and numeracy (LLN) skills and a variety of non-technical skills sometimes called ‘employability’ skills, but referred to here as Core Skills for Work. Three
types of skills needed for performance in any work environment
A plumber laying pipes, for example, needs the technical skills necessary for this, as well as
the appropriate language, literacy and numeracy skills to read plans, take measurements,
make calculations, etc. In order to complete the task, he or she also needs non-technical
skills such as planning and organising and identifying and solving problems, and skills for
working effectively with others.
The Core Skills for Work Developmental Framework (or CSfW) paints a detailed picture of
performance in ten non-technical Skill Areas that Australian employers have identified
as critical to work performance in the 21st Century.
Core Skills for Work enable people to be more productive. They include the skills people need
to understand their work environment, so that they can apply their technical skills more
effectively. They include the skills needed to get on with people from a diverse range of
backgrounds and to make use of digital technology, as well as planning, decision-making and
problem-solving processes that help to get the work done. They also include skills for selfreflecting, self-regulating, making use of different perspectives, innovating and learning – all
of which help people to adapt and respond flexibly and creatively to changes in the work
environment.
Adapted from: September 2013 | core skills for work developmental framework: a guide for employers,
Australian Government, Department of Industry
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WHICH SKILLS DOES IT COVER?
The CSfW organises the ten Skill Areas into three clusters:
Cluster
Navigate
the world of
work
Interact
with others
Get the
work done
Skill Area
What does it cover?
Manage career
and work life
These skills that help us to make decisions
throughout life about how, when and where to work,
and the skills (and willingness) to learn what a person
needs to know to undertake work tasks.
Work with roles,
rights and
protocols
These skills that help us to understand our work roles
and rights and the skills to undertake our work in a
way that meets workplace expectations and ethical
and legal responsibilities.
Communicate
for work
The communication skills we need to get work done,
including listening, understanding and getting our
messages across to others.
Connect and work
with others
The skills we need to cooperate and collaborate with
others in order to get work done, including those skills
we need to manage our own behaviour, to be
sensitive to the needs of others and to work as a
member of a team.
Recognise and
utilise diverse
perspectives
The skills that help us to recognise, respect and build
on the different perspectives and behaviours that
people bring to work situations, including skills to
avoid or manage conflict.
Plan and organise
The skills we need to organise ourselves, our
activities and our workloads.
Make decisions
The skills we need to help us choose between
different options and reflect on the process and
outcomes of decisions once they have been made.
Identify and solve
problems
The skills we use to anticipate and avoid potential
problems, take steps to solve them and reflect on,
and learn from, each experience.
Create and
innovate
The skills we need to identify new ideas ourselves
(and to recognise the value of ideas developed by
others), and apply them to improving or creating new
processes, products or strategies.
Work in a digital
world
The skills we need to use technology to get our work
done, including our capacity to understand and use
accepted conventions and appropriate safeguards in
online environments.
Adapted from: September 2013 | core skills for work developmental framework: a guide for employers,
Australian Government, Department of Industry
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WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THESE SKILLS?
Individuals develop these skills over time
We develop the knowledge, skills and understandings associated with each Skill Area
throughout our lives. Research has identified recognisable stages that we move through as
we develop our skills. To progress, we need practical hands-on experience, opportunities to
try things out and time to reflect on, and learn from, what happens.
Performance at any time is influenced by a range of factors
Our ability to use our skills or to develop them further depends on many factors. For example:




Do we have opportunities to learn and practice in real work situations?
Do we reflect on our performance to learn from successes and mistakes?
Do we have the right kinds of supports (such as mentors, supervisors or
professional networks) to help us learn from our experience?
Are there cultural or attitudinal factors that are encouraging or undermining skills
development and work performance?
The CSfW describes a number of Influencing Factors that may affect an individual’s ability to
develop and apply their skills in a specific work situation. These include:



Individual factors, such as a person’s motivation, self-belief, resilience and
familiarity with the work context, and the values and attitudes that affect their
behaviour at work
Work factors, such as the complexity of tasks, level of autonomy, the nature and
degree of support available, and workplace values and culture
External factors, such as an individual’s health, access to transport, housing
arrangements, family responsibilities and other personal circumstances.
HOW DOES THE CSFW SUPPORT SKILL DEVELOPMENT?
The CSfW takes the non-technical capabilities that employers have identified and breaks
them into elements that can be more easily and explicitly taught and learned.
For example, employers told us they valued punctuality. But how does someone learn to be
punctual?
Firstly, they need to understand that workplaces usually have expectations of when
you need to be there and what to do if you can’t be there.....
Then they need the skills to find out what the specific expectations of a particular
workplace are....
They need planning and organising skills to make sure they can meet those
expectations....
...and they may need to address external factors, such as transport or care
arrangements.
While these things may seem obvious to us, a novice in navigating the world of work may
benefit from explicit help in each of these areas.
The knowledge, understandings and skills required for arriving on time are explicitly described
by the CSfW under:



Work with roles, rights and protocols
Communicate for work
Plan and organise, and
Adapted from: September 2013 | core skills for work developmental framework: a guide for employers,
Australian Government, Department of Industry
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
Influencing Factors.
The ability to work in a team is another commonly valued capability. Teamwork is however
not a single skill, but the result of a combination of several skills, all of which are covered
within the CSfW Skill Areas.1
Adapted from: September 2013 | core skills for work developmental framework: a guide for employers,
Australian Government, Department of Industry
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