Skill Areas API Group Guide
Skill Areas API Group helps you navigate Pearson’s Skills Ontology by organizing skills into logical categories and subcategories.
This allows you to easily explore, structure, and map your workforce data to broader skill areas — ideal for building competency frameworks, learning journeys, or strategy reports.
It supports people analytics, workforce planning, and learning teams in understanding how specific capabilities connect to broader domains of knowledge and practice.
Who are these API for?
This API group is best suited for:
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People Strategist – Aligning roles and workforce capabilities to Pearson’s skill ontology
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Learning Manager – Organizing skill content into structured categories for program development
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People Analyst – Mapping workforce data to broader skill families for analytics and reporting
Goals this API helps you achieve
Use the Skill Areas API Group to:
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Map internal skill data to Pearson’s skill categories
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Build and visualize structured skill frameworks
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Group similar skills to guide capability design, gap analysis, or curriculum planning
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Navigate complex skill lists by category, level, and sub-domain
What’s included in this API Group?
This group includes two related APIs that help you explore and retrieve details from Pearson’s skill hierarchy:
| API Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Skill Area List | Retrieves a list of high-level skill areas based on ontology levels. Ideal for organizing skills into categories for planning and design. |
| Skill Area Details | Returns detailed info for a specific skill area, including its name, level, sub-areas, and all related skills. |
Both APIs are powered by Pearson’s underlying Skills Ontology.
Input and Output
Input required:
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No input required for Skill Area List (optional: filter by ontology level)
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Skill Area ID for retrieving details via Skill Area Details
Output includes:
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Skill area name and unique ID
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Ontology level (e.g., Level 1, 2, 3)
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Nested subcategories (child skill areas)
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List of included skills within that area
Real-world applications
Here’s how teams use the Skill Areas API Group:
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People Strategy: Organize workforce skill data into higher-order groupings for clearer insights.
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L&D Strategy: Structure learning pathways by skill categories or families.
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Ontology Mapping: Align proprietary or third-party skills to Pearson’s universal categories.
API Bundle
This API Group is available in:
Skill Analysis & Development – Ideal for L&D, workforce strategy, and capability mapping initiatives.