Employability- Career Development In Schools

Employability- Career Development in Schools- A Research Author: Carla George

(March 2018)

Abstract The paper reflects on my investigation into employability in schools. Overall young students are not fully aware of the opportunities that will allow them to make the right decisions towards making the right decisions to support their choice of career and education. Ensuring that students are well equipped will allow for them to enter the world of work.

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Introduction

The charity I currently work with are supporting secondary schools by providing an opportunity towards young people allowing them to participate within projects that will allow them to develop their employability skills and ease transition from school into the world of work. The current group I am overseeing are creating live businesses and marketing products of their choice to their existing target market.

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My Research

Study took place within a school where I had the opportunity towards being a mentor I also organised the group of students in focus groups where they had the opportunity towards discussing their career opportunities as well as developing their employability skills. The main areas of topic were future aspirations, job skills, interview techniques and legislation. In the exact same manner as within my first investigation I ensured that the whole process were more a conversational style rather than set questions as I also wanted to gain an insight into their experiences structured interviews are very limited to the questions set whilst semi structured interview you have flexibility towards setting the scene that is suitable.

We advertise newsletters and stories of success from our learners to reflect the results of our practice and including social media. The organisation overall adopts most Wenger’s approach as she expresses individuals as brokers where they are fully engaged with the process developing models and they have different approaches in developing new practices whether they are drifters, developing personal relationships or thrive on additional information and feedback to others. This is truly positive this shows that everyone has a sense of togetherness to ensure success and achievement within the organisation.

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M Eraut 2007 explained in accordance to Kirsch and Guthrie's research that workers can develop their skills towards meeting a personal or organisational need. He also refers to Sticht (1982) that people can develop their skills further through reading work materials or enrol into a job related program that will support this.

Resnick 1987 Workplace learning is difficult to define this can take place either through formal, informal and incidental. It is task orientated and is based on culture, socialism and practice.

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How is employability addressed in schools

In accordance with British Chamber of Commerce they have been trying to address the situation their findings are based on 89% of school leavers leave without preparation for the world of work. This mainly down to costs, lack of resources, time consummation. To prepare young people for the world of work is to address this within secondary schools and working with other educational establishments to promote opportunities towards apprenticeships and work related experience.

Haase Claudia M explained that the transition from school to work through recent studies has imposed risks of socialism due to lack of preparation of long term career development. Young people struggle with the transition if they are not fully aware of their future opportunities in the labour market and addressing their skills gap to be successful in employment. Haase Claudia M suggests that there is a need to engage learners in career development goals activities to increase their confidence and motivation with school to work transition. He explains further that it is important motivational and personal goals are relevant to an individual’s wellbeing.

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Embedding Functional Skills

Functional skills are a combination of English, Maths and ICT that will enable the learners to be productive and to deal with all challenges within their working life.

The learning approaches below are used today that will incorporate aspects of functional skills within a delivered session. There are a variety of methods to include functional skills such as a set task, assignment or carried out as a formal or informal discussion. This will determine learner’s levels of strategies, techniques used to assess their understanding of the subject.

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Summary School establishments need to develop a robust career development programs to encourage motivation from young people to ease school transition into work and chosen career field overall these programmes should allow young people to draw on their own knowledge with guidance to make the right choices for their future. The government are still addressing this situation that employability programs should be delivered in secondary schools to ensure they are equipped with the necessary tools if they decide to pursue employment as their choice instead of college or university.

During the observations, I spoke with 20 candidates that participated within the project and oversee the activities. They found it challenging as they have never had experienced of developing a business but overall, they could develop communication, team working and financial skills. They also could develop confidence with marketing and problem solving. The programme are encouraging self-directed approach as they are interested how the learners are using the tools provided towards developing their own skills that will prepare them the life learning skills needed to succeed if they decide to pursue transition into work.

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References

Morgan M Gray D (2001) Modern Apprenticeships: Filling the skills gap Alison Fuller & Lorna Unwin- Reconceptualising apprenticeship: exploring the relationship between work and learning (2001) Expansive Learning at Work: Toward an activity theoretical reconceptualization- Yrjö Engeström (2008) Hager P- Workplace Learning (2000) Taylor A- Expansive Learning through High School Apprenticeships (2000) Experienced Based Learning Lee Andresen, David Boud and Ruth Cohen (2001) Information Technology (IT) Knowledge Management system stage model: A proposal for today’s workplace Ezekiel U. Okike1 and Zablon A. Mbero2 (2015) Learning with New Technologies: Help Seeking and Information Searching Revisited Minna Puustinen1,2 and Jean-François Rouet1 (2009) England’s Apprenticeships- Assessing the New System Charlynne Pullen and Jonathan Clifton (2016)

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