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Subject: [NIFL-FAMILY:3228] Re: New ERIC/ACVE Digests
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Employability Skills: An Update
ERIC Digest No. 220
by Christine Overtoom
ERIC Clearinghouse on Adult, Career, and Vocational Education,
2000
What skills do employers want? How do these skills match those
that youth and adults are developing through their school and
work experiences? How can education and training programs prepare
individuals to enter a rapidly changing workplace? These and
other questions are examined in this Digest that explores skills
currently needed for employment.
Since 1986 the authors of no fewer than six ERIC Digests and one
Trends and Issues Alert have sifted through an increasingly
prolific literature base to investigate the evolving topic of
employability skills. The dual challenges of competing in a world
market and rapid technological advancements have necessitated a
redesign of the workplace into an innovative work environment
known as the high-performance workplace. This environment
requires a behavior and orientation toward work that go beyond
step-by-step task performance. It expects workers at all levels
to solve problems, create ways to improve the methods they use,
and engage effectively with their coworkers (Bailey 1997; Packer
1998).
Knowledge workers who demonstrate this highly skilled, adaptive
blend of technical and human relations ability are recognized by
employers as their primary competitive edge. Job-specific
technical skills in a given field are no longer sufficient as
employers scramble to fill an increasing number of interdependent
jobs (Askov and Gordon 1999; Murnane and Levy 1996). Many U.S.
and international authors point out the importance of
continuously developing skills beyond those required for a
specific job, and they identify employability skills that enable
individuals to prove their value to an organization as the key to
job survival. The volume of major studies undertaken in the past
2 decades to identify and describe employability skills
underscores their criticality. (For a listing of some of these
authors, organizations, and studies, see the references.)
There are many definitions of the phrase employability skills.
The following updated definition is representative of a synthesis
of definitions as they have evolved over time:
Employability skills are transferable core skill groups that
represent essential functional and enabling knowledge,
skills, and attitudes required by the 21st century
workplace. They are necessary for career success at all
levels of employment and for all levels of education.
Two national studies one by ASTD, the American Society for
Training and Development (Carnevale, Gainer, and Meltzer 1990)
and one by the Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary
Skills (SCANS 1991) are foundational works in identifying
employability skills, often used as benchmarks or beginning
points for other international, national, state, regional, and
local studies. ASTD emphasized 16 skill groups across all job
families: (1) Basic Competency Skills reading, writing,
computation; (2) Communication Skills speaking, listening; (3)
Adaptability Skills problem solving, thinking creatively; (4)
Developmental Skills self-esteem, motivation and goal-setting,
career planning; (5) Group Effectiveness Skills interpersonal
skills, teamwork, negotiation; and (6) Influencing
Skills understanding organizational culture, sharing leadership.
The U.S. Department of Labor, which supported the ASTD study
through a grant, then established the Secretary's Commission on
Achieving Necessary Skills. The commission's task was to
investigate not only what is required in the workplace of today
and tomorrow, but to determine the extent to which high school
students are able to meet the requirements (O'Neil et al. 1997).
The findings highlight 36 skills, including the ability to use 5
competencies efficiently (resources, interpersonal skills,
information, systems, and technology) based on a 3-part
foundation of basic skills, thinking skills, and personal
qualities.
Implications for Learning
SCANS' mission was to define the necessary functional and enbling
skills that society must provide to every child by the age of 16
(SCANS 1991). SCANS staff conducted studies of cognitive science
research literature related to the importance of learning in
context, met with cognitive scientists, and subsequently
advocated the teaching of skills within the functional context of
the workplace. This represented what the commission termed the
most radical change in educational content since the beginning of
the 20th century (ibid.). By late 1998 education's challenge was
still not being met (Packer 1998). Arnold Packer, former
executive director of SCANS and current chairman of the Johns
Hopkins University SCANS/2000 Center, identified three
misconceptions about SCANS:
1. The assumption that SCANS relates primarily to entry-level
employment, when the competencies are needed at all rungs of
the career ladder and all levels of education.
2. Thinking that SCANS refers only to "soft skills" such as
teamwork and interpersonal skills, when they are only one of
five broad competency groups including using technology
skills or interpreting information skills.
3. The most controversial misconception that SCANS appears to
conflict with rigorous academic work, when the skills are needed
as far as the Ph.D. level of the education continuum (Packer
1998). Part of this misconception may have to do with the term
"employability skills" itself. Perhaps "career success skills"
would more aptly capture the five SCANS competencies' broad scope
in the problem-solving domains (Packer 2000).
Despite the misconceptions, recent studies in Nevada and Canada
have been successful in validating, updating, and regionalizing
generic employability skills and competencies over time
("Employability Skills Toolkit" 2000; Richens 1999).
The Forgotten Half Revisited (Halperin 1998) revealed that a
majority of high school students leave school without a solid
base of academic and SCANS skills that will enable them to
succeed in postsecondary occupational or academic education.
Employability skills have not traditionally been "directly
taught" in schools (Grubb et al. 1992; Halperin 1998). Teaching
and learning these skills are not only consistent with the
emerging needs of a world economy in a high-performance work
environment. Teaching and learning employability skills
contribute to optimal learning because such a workplace is
characterized by five principles that correspond to five
principles of effective learning (Bailey 1997, pp. 39-40):
1. Tasks and jobs are integrated through broad job definitions
or cross-functional teams. (Knowledge and curriculum are
integrated: head and hand, knowing and doing.)
2. Workers are given more initiative and take more
responsibility. (Learning is active or engaged, a process of
discovery rather than a dissemination of information.)
3. Employees solve problems in nonroutine situations. (Deeper
understanding is encouraged. This allows responses to
stimuli the learner has not already encountered.)
4. There is an emphasis on continuous improvement. (New
approaches to learning focus onthought processes that generate
learning rather than the "right answer" and provide multiple
opportunities for collaborative learning.)
5. Workers are expected to understand their functions within
the context of the broader purposes of the organization. (New
strategies are grounded in solid research that calls for learning
in context.)
Educational Responses
Contextual integration of employability skills into curriculum
has been a slow process, but recent trends are encouraging. The
North Central Association on Schools has initiated an optional
Transitions Endorsement credentialing model to address one
section of its four-part mission: "Provides standards and
evaluation services for schools that ensure successful schooling
transitions for its students" (www.nca.asu.edu/transitions/). The
Transitions Endorsement provides professional development for
administrators and teachers to document the performance of every
elementary and secondary student in five areas of curricular
integration: reading, writing, mathematics, science,
employability skills, and career awareness and exploration. A
total of 142 pilot schools in 13 states of a 19-state region are
working toward developing individual student rubrics for
instructor evaluation of progress in each of the 5 areas. The
ultimate goal of credentialing is assuring students,
parents/guardians, and the community that students are prepared
with the knowledge and skills to be successful as they move from
school to school and to their chosen career.
In a similar vein, the Conference Board of Canada revised an
earlier list of essential competencies (McLaughlin 1995) and
named them Employability Skills 2000+. An interactive Internet
version of an Employability Skills Toolkit has been released on
the SchoolNet website in September 2000
(www.schoolnet.ca/EmployabilitySkills/). This toolkit will also
be released in a series of CD-ROMs targeted for different age
groups-K-12, postsecondary, and adult learners ("Employability
Skills Toolkit" 2000).
The Johns Hopkins University SCANS/2000 Center is currently
implementing a Career Transcript System that uses SCANS research
as its foundation in four areas: high school students, community
college learners (associate degree/technical institutions),
entry-level workers, and incumbent workers in union training
programs. A diagnostic assessment of individuals' employability
skills establishes a baseline at entry; a second assessment is
task based, using observed behavior in the workplace or in the
classroom. These results are entered into an online Career
Transcript, and an individual development plan for each student
is created to close gaps between current and desired skill levels
(Siberts 2000).
O*NET, the Occupational Information Network (www.onet
center.org), is the Department of Labor's comprehensive database
of worker attributes and job characteristics. Its database, which
is the replacement for the Dictionary of Occupational Titles,
contains information about employability skills for each job
title. Because O*NET data and structure also link related
occupational, educational, and labor market information databases
to the system, it may be used to align educational and job
training curriculum with current workplace needs (Occupational
Information Network 2000).
In higher education, Alverno College in Wisconsin and nine
universities in the United Kingdom have formed the Ability Based
Curriculum Network (www.brookes.ac.uk/services/ocsd/abc
int.html). Essential abilities are integrated, developmental, and
transferable (Alverno College Faculty 1994). Although learning
takes place within a context, what is learned about the
underlying ability is transferable to other situations or roles
the student encounters (Brown 1999).
Considerably more research is needed on creating and assessing
curriculum that integrates the learning of employability skills
contextually. Valid and reliable links must be forged between
such curriculum and improved learner performance/competency
attainment. Equally important, open and free-flowing systems of
communication between research outcomes, educational
institutions, employers, and communities must be consciously and
carefully crafted.
References
Alverno College Faculty. Student Assessment-as-Learning at
Alverno College. 3d ed. Milwaukee, WI: Alverno College, 1994.
Askov, E. N., and Gordon, E. E. "The Brave New World of
Workforce Education." New Directions for Adult and Continuing
Education no. 83 (Fall 1999): 59-68.
Bailey, T. "Changes in the Nature of Work: Implications for
Skills and Assessment." In Workforce Readiness: Competencies and
Assessment, edited by H. F. O'Neil, Jr. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence
Erlbaum Associates, 1997.
Brown, C. "Examples of Essential Abilities." Victoria, BC:
Centre for Curriculum, Transfer and Technology, 1999.
(www.ctt.bc.ca/lo/IDEA/symposium99/Abmodels.html)
Carnevale, A. P.; Gainer, L. J.; and Meltzer, A. S.
Workplace Basics: The Essential Skills Employers Want. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1990.
"Employability Skills Toolkit for the Self-Managing
Learner." Ottawa, Ontario: Conference Board of Canada, 2000.
(www2. conferenceboard.ca/nbec/toolkit.htm)
Grubb, W. N.; Dickinson, T.; Giordano, L.; and Kaplan, G.
Betwixt and Between: Education, Skills, and Employment in
Sub-baccalaureate Labor Markets. Berkeley: National Center for
Research in Vocational Education, University of California, 1992.
(ED 353 412)
Halperin, S., ed. The Forgotten Half Revisited. Washington,
DC: American Youth Policy Forum, 1998. (ED 425 275)
McLaughlin, M. A. Employability Skills Profile: What Are
Employers Looking For? Greensboro: ERIC Clearinghouse on
Counseling and Student Services, University of North Carolina,
1995. (ED 399 484)
Murnane, R. J., and Levy, F. Teaching the New Basic Skills,
Principles for Educating Children to Thrive in a Changing
Economy. New York: Free Press, 1996.
Occupational Information Network. "What Is O*NET?" 2000.
(www.onetcenter.org/overview/index.html)
O'Neil, H. F., Jr.; Allred, K.; and Baker, E. L. "Review of
Workforce Readiness Theoretical Frameworks." In Workforce
Readiness: Competencies and Assessment, edited by H. F. O'Neil,
Jr. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1997.
Packer, A. "The End of Routine Work and the Need for a
Career Transcript." Paper presented at the Hudson Institute's
Workforce 2020 Conference, Indianapolis, Indiana, October 1998.
Packer, A. Chairman, Johns Hopkins University SCANS/2000
Center. Personal Electronic Mail Correspondence, October 2000.
Richens, G. "Perceptions of Southern Nevada Employers
Regarding the Importance of SCANS Workplace Basic Skills." Ph.D.
diss., University of Nevada-Las Vegas, 1999.
Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills. What
Work Requires of Schools: A SCANS Report for America 2000.
Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Labor, 1991. (ED 332 054)
Siberts, M. Project Manager, Career Transcript System.
Personal Electronic Mail Correspondence, March 2000.
This project has been funded at least in part with Federal funds
from the U.S. Department of Education under Contract No. ED-99-
CO-0013. The content of this publication does not necessarily
reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Department of Education
nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or
organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. Digests
may be freely reproduced and are available at
<http://ericacve.org/fulltext.asp>.
Judy Wagner / wagner.6@osu.edu / ericacve.org/
ERIC Clearinghouse on Adult, Career, and Vocational Education
1900 Kenny Road / Columbus OH 43210-1090 USA
614/292-8625; 800/848-4815 (ext 2-8625); FAX: 614/292-1260
TTY/TDD: 614/688-8734
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