faty
Get Complete Project Material File(s) Now! »
The needs of employers
A Report published in 1990 by the Department of Education and Culture on the evaluation and promotion of career education (known as the Walters Report 1990:78-1 04), made a number of observations with regard to the requirements employers had of school leavers. Those sections of the Report which showed some agreement with the findings of inter alia Lund, Kedian & Thurlow, van Aardt and McDonald (See pp.43-54), all of whom are concerned with requirements employers have of graduates, have been reproduced below. The observations of all these people would indicate that successful life skills training is not taking place either at school or at university level. Cognizance is taken of the fact that Provincial Departments of Education are attempting to address the problem of life skills training. For example, the Transvaal Education Department introduced a new Guidance syllabus in 1993 entitled « Guidance for Living », which focuses on life skills. However, it would appear that, at this stage, universities cannot simply presume students are in possession of necessary life skills and thus ignore any training in them if they wish to assist their graduates to become more employable. According to the above-mentioned Report (Walters 1990:80-81 ), the following aspects may be singled out with regard to employers’ requirements:
1. General work ability, attitudes towards work, personal characteristics, ability to think, social skills, language skills, bilingualism and arithmetical skills. Although considered important, employers tended to exempt school leavers from having an understanding of business concepts,
2. According to employers, the most important lack in terms of abilities of school leavers lies in the areas of work attitudes (work ethic) and thinking skills. Employers from the public sector also indicated serious shortcomings in terms of the language ability of school leavers,
3. Somewhat better levels of ability were found with regard to personal characteristics, language skills, bilingualism and arithmetical skills. The most acceptable level of ability was found in the area of social skills (Walters 1990:80-81 ).
Councils
Question 56: Do you believe it would benefit graduates in terms of future employment if any or all of the above skills were to be included in their (professional) training? Of the respondents, 100% agreed with 42,84% qualifying to the effect that, as the academic curricula were already so full, time would be a problem. Question 57: Which skills, if any, do you believe should be added to the above list? 70,14% found the list adequate and 28,56% added the following qualifiers: knowledge of how to market oneself within the (ethical/professional) codes of the appropriate Council; inclusion of the full (« commercial and financial ») range of business skills; business management, community development, networking skills and practice management. Question 58: Given a university’s resources in terms of manpower and knowledge … do you believe it would be feasible for the University of Pretoria to consider offering elective and/or extra-mural certificated courses in some or all of the above skills? There was 92,82% agreement with 1 failure to respond. 28,56% added to or qualified their answers. One respondent qualified by saying that life skills courses should only be offered extra-murally as the academic curricula were already so full that no extra time could be allowed for anything else. Another respondent felt that skills training should rather be built into academic curricula as extra-mural courses might fail to stress the importance of such training to the world of work . Still another suggested that MBA part or full time modules should be looked at with the recommendation that they be included in (academic) curricula: while one respondent felt that life skills courses should form part of both the professional development and the continuing education of graduates. (See Chapter Four 4.5.2 pp.115-128). Other additions included: skills of learning how to learn, communication skills, skills pertaining to how to interact with other race groups, the fostering of multicultural awareness and the suggestion that courses should be inter-disciplinary in nature with students being offered the option to include « skill content based courses » (presumably in their general training). Question 59: Do you think that competence with reference to the above skills would increase both the employability and productivity levels of graduates? Of the respondents, 85,68% agreed, 7,14% disagreed and 7,14% were uncertain. 31,33% qualified their agreement. Two respondents stated that skills must relate to the world of work i.e. be market related, and one respondent felt that the answer depended on whether or not graduates were to be employed by the formal (state) or private sector. In his opinion, skills such as the ability to take initiative and critical thinking would not be valued by state employers of graduates registered in his profession. One respondent felt that productivity would be improved but was uncertain as to whether or not the same would apply to employability.
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION TO THE RESEARCH PROJECT
1. 1 Introduction
1.2 Title and concept elucidation
1.3 Methodological justification
1.4 Problem formulation
1.5 Research hypothesis
1.6 Aim of the study
1. 7 Programme outline, review and chapter planning
CHAPTER 2 LIFE SKILLS QUESTIONNAIRE
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Definition and construction of a questionnaire
2.3 Questionnaire on Life Competencies and Skills
2.4 Processing of the questionnaire
2.5 Results of the questionnaire
2.6 Conclusion
CHAPTER 3 SURVEY OF THE SITUATION WITH REGARD TO GRADUATES
3. 1 Introduction
3.2 Overview of the needs of employers and private practitioners
3.3 Survey of the deans and of Councils
3.4 Processing of the questionnaire
3.5 Results of the questionnaire
3.6 Survey of courses offered by Human Resources Development departments and training companies
3.7 Conclusion
CHAPTER 4 GUIDANCE SUPPORT FOR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
4. 1 Introduction
4.2 The traditional role of universities
4.3 Current perspectives
4.4 Alternative approaches in the United Kingdom
4.5 Guidance support for undergraduate students
4.6 Conclusion
CHAPTER 5 SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5. 1 Introduction
5. 2 Summary with a view to recommendations
5.3 Report on hypothesis verification
5.4 Recommendations
5.5 Research
5.6 Conclusion
