Key Areas for Action: Industry & Education
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A Clear Message On Responsibility, Attitude And Commitment
By building long-term connections between schools, colleges and local businesses, stakeholders can begin to promote collectively some of the valued qualities for employees. This will demonstrate to young people how far they can get if they approach work in the right way.
Building Transferable Qualities Into The Curriculum
While there is evidence that suggests many of these qualities are developed prior to primary school, they should also be nurtured throughout an individual's educational life. The chances of building a job-ready workforce will increase significantly if we can embed this learning into primary and secondary education, with fine-tuning during higher or further education.
Apprenticeships And Internships Should Be Revived And Incentivised
Apprenticeships represent a highly successful model for involving business and industry in education, and results are almost universally positive. Many countries are beginning to see the value in this approach, but more can be done - in particular, incentivising business involvement and supporting investment.
Teachers Should Gain More Exposure To The Business Environment
The content and methodology of teaching will better reflect economic and workforce demand if we can develop a greater interaction between all levels of teaching staff and industry.
A Redefined Language Around 'skills'
If we consider basic skills as 'the skills everybody needs', the definition should include some fundamental transferable qualities such as communication and team work, and basic attitudinal and behavioural attributes.
We Need To Rebrand 'vocational Education' As 'professional Education'.
The word 'vocational' does not translate well into every language and has largely negative connotations where it is understood. Also, in many countries vocational study is seen as a separate and distinct branch of education. By talking about professional education - as we have done in this report - we are trying to remove the boundaries within which professional education operates. Over time, professional education will become associated with quality, opportunity and achievement.
