Durable Skills Competency Framework
Durable skills — often called human or “soft” skills — span a wide variety of cognitive, emotional, and social capabilities that are critical for success in any job.
They include skills such as collaboration, critical thinking, and empathy. Within these competencies is a complex network of interconnected sub-competencies, from active listening to identifying patterns.
The Lab’s Durable Skills Competency Framework has been developed over more than a decade of research and on-the-ground work with academia, students, employers, and assessment providers.
Our framework of nine core durable skills and digital micro-credentials is used by over 800 higher education institutions and 125 K-12 districts. Durable skills are also a defining feature of the Lab’s micro-pathways, which include two or more stackable credentials that can be completed in less than a year and lead to an in-demand job.
The 9 Core Durable Skills
Critical Thinking
Generating novel approaches to complex challenges.
Collaboration
Working effectively with diverse teams toward shared goals.
Resilience
Adapting and bouncing back from setbacks or changes.
Empathy
Understanding and sharing the perspectives and feelings of others.
Initiative
Acting independently and resourcefully.
Creative Problem Solving
Generating novel approaches to complex challenges.
Oral Communication
Expressing ideas clearly when speaking and understanding nonverbal cues.
Self-Directed Learning
Managing one’s own educational and professional growth.
Intercultural Fluency
Navigating and respecting diverse cultural dynamics.
The Lab’s Durable Skills Sub-competency Map
Democratizing Durable Skills
Recent data show that 76% of job postings request at least one durable skill. Yet many institutions lack the infrastructure to teach and validate these skills, leaving many learners with no clear way to demonstrate the skills they’ve developed through school, work, and lived experience.
To increase access to validated durable skills, Education Design Lab has partnered with Axim Collaborative to launch the Democratizing Durable Skills Initiative, bringing employer-validated curriculum and assessments to the Open edX Community platform.
By moving the curriculum to the Open edX platform as open educational resources, colleges and workforce providers can incorporate durable skills into their programs. Institutions can include the curriculum as part of existing degree programs, non-degree credentials, or employer upskilling efforts, making durable skill development a more integrated part of the learner experience.
The initiative is launching with with 3,700 learners across nine partners – including Maricopa Community College, Northern Virginia Community College, Arkansas’s statewide workforce system, and veteran-serving nonprofits – and aims to reach nearly 60,000 learners across 120 institutions within five years.