Identifying and developing skills

The workshop on ‘Skills Assessment and Skills Development’, held during the annual networking meeting in November 2025, highlighted that assessment is a key component in the development of basic education pathways. As participants from the regional partnership projects expressed a strong interest in continuing to work on these issues, a specialist and development group was established.

At the annual networking meeting of the joint projects and the Competence Centre for the ‘Basic Education Pathways’ funding scheme, held in Berlin in November 2025, four parallel workshops on different key topics took place. The workshop “Competencies and Competency Development – Tools and Strategies” highlighted that supporting participants’ competency development is an important and challenging aspect of the funding programmes.

During the workshop, three experts from the joint projects Zukunftswege, AoG-plus-TQ and GriPS shared their approaches and research questions from their respective pathways to stimulate discussion. The discussion with participants highlighted just how varied the approaches and prerequisites are across the pathways, including with regard to the usability of existing tools. In the collaborative work during the workshop, a systematic review and overview of existing skills assessment procedures was therefore initiated.

The workshop made it clear that all Basic Education Pathways projects focus on which skills of the target groups they support should be developed and what tools can be used to measure them. A fundamental challenge is that, depending on the pathway, different – and often multiple – areas of competence are required, necessitating a variety of tools. These may include spoken and written language, mathematical skills, or future and soft skills such as self-efficacy, motivation and teamwork. Although testing procedures and instruments already exist for the development of basic skills, particularly in the areas of written language and spoken language, these must always be made practically applicable to the pathways. Practical application can also be challenging. For example, because diagnostic assessments should be perceived by participants as beneficial and because they must be adapted to the structural circumstances of the users – for instance, in the classroom or during counselling.

Overall, the discussion revealed that the projects generally draw on existing tools, but that they need to integrate these into their support frameworks and, in some cases, adapt them. How this can be achieved and which tools are suitable forms part of the joint effort. Another issue will be the recognition and transferability of skills assessment procedures beyond the basic education sector. The aim is to identify potential gaps in order to strengthen the pathways for learners on basic education programmes.

The specialist and development group comprises participants from all regional Pfade projects and is organised and facilitated by the Bundesverband Alphabetisierung und Grundbildung e.V. At the group’s first independent meeting, it was agreed to hold regular online meetings (every two months) and key priorities for the joint work were defined. The first objectives and priorities set were the systematisation of instruments and tools and the exchange of experiences. Secondly, practical questions regarding the introduction and application of competence assessment procedures among learning support staff, counsellors and teachers are to be discussed. In principle, theoretical questions such as those concerning the objectives – that is, the function, necessity and purpose of diagnostics – are also part of the work.

The specialist and development group provides a framework within which regional joint projects, supported by the Competence Centre, can benefit from each other’s knowledge and experience regarding competence assessment and development.