Quantitative and Academic Skills - Essay Example

Quantitative and Academic Skills Human beings have different interests, motivations, skills, and talents. They can use the memory of their past experiences to make judgments about new situations. Many skills can be practiced until they become automatic. From the very beginning of childhood till the fag end of life human beings continue to accrue new knowledge and skills. Transferable Skills are skills learned in one context that are useful in another. In other words they are skills that are acquired during any activity in a person’s life such as academic life, classes, projects, parenting, hobbies, sports, jobs etc. that are transferable and applicable to a current job/profession. In general, these skills are non-job specific skills which can be used in different occupations. By communicating the transferable skills effectively, one can enhance marketability and open themselves up to a larger sector of the job market. In very simple terms, transferable skills are skills which can be used in more than one setting. They can be “moved” or “transferred” from one setting to another. Transferable skills are not only gained in the workplace. They are also acquired by volunteering; by life experiences; by study or training or perhaps by being involved in an interest or hobby. In recent times however, rapid changes taking place in industry and the economy have dictated the need for a more adaptable and flexible workforce. These days, up-skilling and lifelong learning are the norm, and the ability to transfer this knowledge and these skills from one situation to another has become paramount. There is no doubt that much transferable skills development is already naturally taking place while in the schools and colleges. However, these tend to be the more “invisible” learning outcomes of academic life as transferable skills are still rarely explicitly taught or assessed (Curry, et al. 2003). The transferable skills that employers identify tend to be those that support organizational performance. They may be identified as follows: Interpersonal skills; Communication skills; Self-management skills; Intellectual skills. It is easy to identify occupationally relevant skills acquired through training and education but much more difficult to pinpoint transferable skills. For example, if we examine the Law Discipline, how law schools can assist their students to develop such skills as communication, problem solving, autonomy, teamwork, information technology, numeracy, and general intellectual skills, and to be able to present their achievements to a variety of different kinds of potential employer (UK Centre for Legal Education, 2006). Everyone has transferable skills– even young school leavers. Transferable skills can be gained from a variety of settings therefore everyone has the opportunity to acquire them. A person will have gained transferable skills from school, from casual or jobs and from their life to date. They may also have skills from their hobbies or sport they play. Very useful social skills can be gained from friendships and social activities. For instance a person involved in a business could possess skills such as budgeting; negotiating; time management and organizing. Today, there are several educational institutions that offer a range of academic disciplines including Psychology, Sociology, Economics, Community and Informal Education, Management, Business Studies, Social Psychology, Health Management, Social Policy, Counselling and Continuing Education. These enables student to develop professionally with a range of opportunities to practise their skills and acquire new knowledge, ‘Hands on’ experience in a variety of fieldwork settings and good quality learning experience for students. Students are assisted in the development of their own personal philosophy in relation to professional youth and community development. There are several ways in which transferable skills can impact once life. The explicit development of transferable skills in higher education is a valuable pursuit as it can contribute to increasing students’ self-confidence. It is essential that the student identifies their personal skills. However it does appear that the more explicit the skills are made, the more likely that students will be aware of their skills and their related value. The integration of transferable skills into an academic course appears to be suited to classes which involve discussion, and where there is a greater level of interaction between the students and the lecturer. A reflection or measurement process as a part of skills integration is an important factor in developing students’ awareness of their skills. A balanced approach to skills development should be adopted in higher education programmes. This could involve adopting a just-in-time approach to the development of skills i.e. developing skills as and when they are most needed, and preferably through all years of an academic programme, whilst also recognizing the value of add-on training opportunities for developing certain skills which may require expert training. Transferable skills is a label used to describe attributes of graduates that are not specific to the subject studied, but are abilities which they can use in a wider range of activities, both in employment and outside. These are among the qualities which liberal higher education claims to foster. Yet in the current practice of higher education student learning activities and assessments are very often not explicit in the way they promote the development of these skills or help students to recognize and articulate their achievements. The importance for students of developing transferable skills, and the contribution such skills make to the development of a successful workforce, have been highlighted in a number of recent studies (NCIHE, 1997; Forfás, 2003; IDA, 2004). Employers are seeking a broad skill-set from their employees, beyond technical expertise or specialist knowledge. The recruitment campaigns of many graduate employers highlight the kinds of skills (particularly transferable skills) and qualities they look for when recruiting graduates of any discipline. Research carried out by the Transferable Skills Project identified transferable skills as being third only in importance, behind personal qualities and enthusiasm for the position, for graduates when seeking employment. This increases the necessity for graduates to be aware of the skills they develop during their time in higher education and to be given as many opportunities as possible to develop such skills. "The basic skills which society requires education and training to deliver are those which give an individual a secure foundation for life and work. They thus cover vocational and technical skills, as well as social and personal competencies." Transferable skills are naturally developed throughout every aspect of a students education: through their academic courses, their extra-curricular activities, their study, their work experience and so on. However, these aspects of a students education can quite often be very disconnected and students rarely take time to reflect on the skills they are developing during their stay in higher education. Integrating such skills explicitly into higher education and programmes is one way to ensure that such philosophies and visions are visible in the curriculum, and thus are truly meaningful for students. Doing so also enables students to see how development of their skills can enhance their learning and vice versa (i.e. skill development and knowledge acquisition are not mutually exclusive). A prospective employer expects the employee to be able to apply the skills he/she have learned in college to the work environment. Hence the development of transferable skills is deemed to have an impact, beyond academic studies, on a professional career. References Curry, P., Sherry, R., and Tunney, O. (2003) What transferable skills should students acquire in college? Retrieved on 20 August 2006 from http://www.skillsproject.ie/downloads/pdfs/Summary%20Academic%20Report.pdf Forfás (2003) The Fourth Report of the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs. Forfás: Dublin. Retrieved from http://www.forfas.ie/publications/_list/skills.html Industrial Development Authority (IDA) (2004) IDA Submission to the OECD Review of Higher Education in Ireland, IDA. UK Centre for Legal Education, (2006) General transferable skills. Retrieved on 20 August 2006 from http://www.ukcle.ac.uk/resources/ldn/index.html UK National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education (NCIHE) (1997) Higher Education in the Learning Society. Retrieved from http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/ncihe/ Read More