Meeting the needs of employers

To what extent should the education of our children be geared to satisfy the needs of industry and commerce? Should the business world play a larger role in the selection of the school curriculum, the teaching methods and training of the teachers themselves?

We believe that there is more to education than preparation for a job. Children must be prepared for all aspects of their adult life – work, leisure, personal relationships, creative activities, coping with money matters, independence, parenthood.

Nevertheless, it would be unrealistic to provide an education which took no account of the needs of employers.

What type of training does the business world regard as important?

The results of a recent survey conducted by the Institute of Public Affairs are illuminating and at times surprising. More than 260 leading employers were questioned about the quality of young people coming into the workforce. The main criticisms related to literacy and numeracy. Expertise in English was seen to be of paramount importance.

Many young people applying for jobs were, in the employers’ opinions, very weak in the basic skills of handwriting, grammar and spelling. Though additional education at university level improved the students’ general ability, the report states: “In basic skills the standards remained stubbornly low.”

It is debatable whether standards have declined in recent years. What is certain is that employers do not believe the standard is now high enough. Do technological changes make greater demands upon the students’ abilities?

We should also remember that the job expectations of young people have increased. The girls who would have once become shop assistants or hair-dressers now want to be secretaries. Boys who sought an apprenticeship 20 years ago now aspire to an engineering degree. But it is still the same girls and boys with the same degree of ability. No wonder there are problems in reaching the necessary standards of the business world.

On the question of numeracy the report was even more severe. Students, the report claimed, lacked a basic understanding of simple maths.

They could not do arithmetical calculations such as converting a fraction to a decimal. The employers felt that children should be taught to regard maths as a tool of trade, part of their equipment for life.

There was an over-reliance on calculators. “Without a calculator the average school-leaver is hopeless,” says the report.

One surprising but pleasing feature was the employers’ attitude to the study of foreign languages. Many of the firms stated that they had a need for foreign language speakers in their business. There was general agreement that languages should be taught to all students who had the aptitude. Though French and German were the most frequently mentioned, Japanese, Indonesian, Italian and Chinese also received support.

Employers were asked about the way in which applicants presented themselves when applying for a position. There was considerable criticism of young people’s job applications.

“A letter of application appears to overtax their abilities,” wrote one employer.

“Most applicants are inarticulate. They do not realise interviews are a two-way process,” complained another.

In the opinion of many employers, girls wrote better letters of application and were more competent at handling an interview than boys. They dressed more appropriately and were more com­posed when answering questions.

It was suggested that schools should do far more to prepare students for interviews.

The survey raised several questions about teachers and their training. Many employers believed that it was important for teachers to have experience outside the world of college and school. They should work for a while at some other kind of job to see how the world of business and commerce differs from their own. The teaching profession and society in general needed a greater understanding of manpower needs and therefore of the desired direction of the education system. Employers agreed that they themselves should make more contacts in all areas of education.

Jane Lockwood. Let’s Discuss it. 1998

Functional vocabulary

 

abolish v	отменять, упразднять
abolish a subject	исключить предмет из школьной программы
apply v	обращаться за (работой, помощью, разрешением и т.п.)
applicant n	проситель, претендент, кандидат
application form	заявление поступающего на работу
apprentice n	ученик, подмастерье
apprenticeship n	учение, срок ученичества
decline n	склон, падение, упадок, снижение (цен), ухудшение (здоровья и т.п.)
on the decline	в состоянии упадка
decline v	отклонять, приходить в упадок, ухудшаться
gear n	механизм, приспособление, снаряжение, перен. рабочий ритм
in gear	включенный, действующий
out of gear	не включенный, неработающий, перен. дезорганизованный, не в порядке
gear up to v	приспособиться
to be geared to	быть поставленным в зависимость от чего-л., быть приспособленным к чему-л.
inarticulate adj	нечленораздельный, невнятный
literacy and numeracy	умение читать и писать

 

mediocre adj	посредственный
mediocrity n	посредственность
overtax v	слишком напрягать силы
survey n	обзор, осмотр, инспектирование, опрос
conduct (carry out) a survey	проводить опрос, исследование
survey course	обзорный курс лекций
workforce n	рабочая сила
come into workforce	пополнять рабочую силу

 

Language focus

 

⇐ Предыдущая27282930313233343536Следующая ⇒

Поделиться: