Editorial: the importance of skills – but which skills?

There has recently been a plethora of reports highlighting the transformational changes affecting the ways we work and live. They analyse how the nature of work is being changed through a variety of national factors and global trends. A recent notification about research commissioned by Pearson and conducted by Oxford University and innovation foundation, Nesta, identifies seven major trends that will continue to impact on future job opportunities, interacting to create new jobs and render others obsolete: globalization, demographic change, environmental sustainability, technological change, urbanization, increasing inequality and political uncertainty. Certainly, the nature and types of jobs and careers that people will have are likely to be significantly different. In fact, the World Economic Forum estimates that 65% entering primary school today will end up working in completely new job types that do not yet exist (Business Council of Australia, 2017).

The Workforce Development Needs Survey 2018 (Australian Industry Group, 2018) furnishes significant data about the workforce development and skills needs of employers. Undertaken every two years since 2012, this survey enables a time series comparison. The 2018 survey attracted responses from 298 companies employing a total of 111,209 employees. Among other findings, it states that employers are increasingly concerned about the suitability of applicants and low levels of literacy and numeracy are affecting their businesses. Relevant work experience is identified as the most important factor in recruiting, and enterprise and employability skills have increased in importance as a recruiting factor. There is an urgent need for workers with transferable skills to navigate the changes they face in uncertain job roles and job markets. The Foundation for Youth Australia (2018) has found that, in particular, young people at 25 years are increasingly reporting they feel like they can not get anywhere and are struggling to navigate a career path in a rapidly changing world of work. Labelled as ‘the quarter-life crisis’, its prevalence is reported to be increasing.

These changes call into question the types of skills required to get into and remain in the world of work. What skills are sought by employers? What skills are applicants for jobs wanting to develop? What skills are the focus of training providers? Despite the need for generic skill development and employers stating their preference for such skills in applicants they recruit, there remain a number of significant issues relating to what are now commonly called employability skills, and in other countries and international organizations come under a number of different labels. Such issues include: what are they, how are they defined and made operational, who is responsible for developing them, how are they developed, assessed and reported, how well do vocational teachers (and students) understand them, and what national and institutional policies might be the most appropriate?

Despite some writers focusing on what they perceive as the major assumption underpinning them – namely that they can represent a deficit model of young people, as ‘attitudinally deficient and inadequately prepared to meet the needs of the contemporary economy’ (Taylor, 2005, p. 201), the literature in general leaves little doubt about their significance. As one example, a review by Manufacturing Skills Australia (2015) of the results from the OECD’s Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) revealed that Australian manufacturing is facing a potential skills crisis if action is not taken to address foundation (including employability) skills at all levels of the workforce.

Industry expects students to possess and/or develop generic skills that enable employees to work as part of the organization, and in fact, some studies have found that these skills are more sought after in new entrants than technical skills (e.g. ACCI 2003; DoE 2016; McLeish, 2002). However, there remains a lack of understanding of these generic skills among some VET teachers (Wibrow, 2011) and until such issues are addressed, the VET sector is likely to fall short in providing learners with the skills they need to succeed in their vocations. It may even be that VET systems need to shift more towards a focus on the teaching, assessing and recording of generic skills than on task-oriented, technical skills. Many employers are reporting that their priority in applicants is personality, drive and passion and that they can address any technical deficiencies they may exhibit post recruitment.

In this issue, there are papers from Switzerland, USA, Indonesia, Germany and Australia. They all focus directly or indirectly on this theme of skills, though they exemplify a variety of perspectives which serves only to highlight the diversity of views on this topic. Paul Comyn discusses the inclusion of skills in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and analyses the main changes likely to impact on VET and skill systems through to 2030. VET and skills development have assumed a greater policy priority in recent years for many national governments. The shift has been driven by high and persistent levels of youth unemployment, growing evidence of skills mismatch, the changing nature of employment, increased skilled migration and new skill demands arising from continued globalization and the introduction of new technologies. The author concludes that skills development, employability and lifelong learning can be expected to receive greater attention during the period of the 2030 Agenda and through the achievement of the SDGs. Yet while the inclusion of lifelong learning as a priority within the SDGs presents new opportunities in global development frameworks, fragmented approaches and limited funding will continue to constrict the potential of the sector to play a more meaningful role in the future training markets unless there is displayed more adequate political and financial will.

More specifically, Susanne Wisshak and Sabine Hochholdinger investigate the professional knowledge and skills of trainers. Their study involved online questionnaires to 200 trainers, 253 trainees and 93 human resource development practitioners, and covered 41 facets of trainer knowledge extracted from the empirical research literature. The results indicate that subject-matter knowledge and communication techniques are considered vital for trainers, along with content-specific instructional knowledge such as specific training methods. Additionally, trainers are expected to provide clarity and structure, build relationships with trainees and create a constructive learning environment. The authors discuss the implications for future research and training practice. Some of these include developing instruments for measuring particular knowledge facets, undertaking longitudinal studies and/or intervention studies to gauge the effects of trainers’ professional knowledge and skills on their performance, on the transfer success of trainees and on organizational benefit, increasing accessibility of research findings for practitioners to address the ‘research-to-practice gap’, and training societies and organizations contributing to the professionalization of training personnel.

Some of the papers in this issue focus on intervention strategies with regard to skills. In another empirical study in the USA, Donald Hillman and Courtney Knill examine what impact employment skills interventions have upon the job search self-confidence of participants in a one-week employability skills training program over a period of one year. The subjects were 49 unemployed people, taught in groups of four or five by two professional instructors. A Job Search Self-Confidence Survey utilizing a pre-test/post-test format was administered to the group. The statistical analysis infers that the instructors’ employment skills interventions were significant in increasing job search self-confidence in the program subjects within a week’s time period, and the authors conclude that a positive relationship exists between the instructors’ interventions and the subjects’ job search self-confidence.

In another skills intervention study, Manihar Situmorang, Syawal Gultom, Abdul Hamid K, Abil Mansyur Panjaitan and Winsyahputra Ritonga researched the effectiveness of a training program specifically designed to improve the competence of school teachers in the Province of North Sumatra, Indonesia, through collaboration between the Universitas Negeri Medan and local governments. The program embraced 33 regencies and cities, and involved 3,633 teachers from different school levels. The teachers received training on the teaching profession, curriculum, advanced subject-matter, preparation of teaching and learning packages, teaching and learning organization, and school-based action research. The study found that 711 teachers (19.6%) met the required competence for obtaining a professional teacher certificate, though in general teachers’ overall competence increased significantly throughout the program. These teachers are now expected to act as role models both during their teaching and learning activities in class as well as in their participation in school services.

An important factor that can distort learning can be misconceptions arising from non-academic sources of information. In a fascinating study of misconceptions, defined as persistent beliefs that contradict the accepted scientific view, Daniel Jolley, Melissa Davis and Andrew P. Lavender examined lecturers’ observations of misconceptions in students and exercise professionals, potential sources and teaching strategies used to overcome them. Eight higher education exercise science lecturers and four VET fitness trainers participated in semi-structured interviews. Misconceptions resulted from a range of sources, including exposure to exercise environments and subcultures, the media and marketing claims. Participants believed misconceptions formed within courses due to either an incomplete understanding of content or a poor understanding of the context of information, and the interaction between different physiological systems. Similarly, a range of strategies was employed for correction, direct instruction being the most popular technique. VET trainers tended to rely on weaker evidence, such as case studies and anecdotes, and highly simplified visual representations of complex systems. Active learning techniques were also reported, such as guided class discussions, or practical activities designed to demonstrate key concepts. Both VET trainers and HE lecturers emphasized the importance of critical thinking skills in reducing misconceptions, either taught explicitly or embedded in course content and assessments. The authors highlight the importance of educators having a thorough understanding of theoretical knowledge. They state that critical thinking skills should be taught as part of VET courses, and trainers should model appropriate critical thinking skills and use rigorous evidence to support their teaching.

There has been recent research into tradeswomen in male-dominated industries, the barriers they experience in gaining their skills and the reasons why they leave their industries. Stacey Jenkins, Larissa Bamberry, Donna Bridges and Branka Krivokapic-Skoko claim there has been less study on those who actually complete training in male-dominated sectors and continue to work in these sectors within regional Australia. Recruitment of apprentices, training and retention are key issues to avoid national future skills shortages. In a preliminary qualitative study, these authors examined the attraction and retention issues of women entering male-dominated trades within regional NSW. Their paper reports on initial industry consultation sessions with 35 participants, including government, educational providers, employers, employees and respective associations (including unions). The results identify barriers to attracting women into male-dominated trade areas. They emphasize that the issue is escalated when seeking to retain these women due to workplace cultures, spotlighting, expecting women to fit into dysfunctional cultures and lack of career pathways. Suggestions offered to address these concerns include recognition that the VET sector is crucial for skills development and the economic wellbeing of regions. Only through targeted actions are sustainable social and cultural changes for women in the trades likely to be achieved, changes that not only benefit women and men but build skilled communities and a global future for regional Australia.

All of these articles raise important questions about the skills needed to navigate the present and future world of work. Despite the endorsement of employability skills by industry and government, and their embedding in Training Packages, Newton (2015, p. 5) has concluded that many of the commonly held beliefs surrounding these skills have been questioned in the literature, including the transfer of skills across work contexts, the ability to compartmentalize skills that are used holistically and the adoption of an instrumentalist approach to education. Williams, too, has concerns about the focus on codifying personal attributes to include them in training programs (2005, p. 33). These important concerns appear not to have been addressed by industry or policy-makers, and there remain many issues in the conceptualization and implementation of employability skills.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.