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Nearly Half Of Young People Don’t Believe They Are Being Taught The Skills Needed
New figures find nearly fifty percent (48%) of young people believe they are not being taught the skills employers will be looking for in entry level candidates in the future.
The latest research from LifeSkills created with Barclays used the findings of the Future Work Skills 2020 report which identified the skills employers would look for in entry level recruits over the next decade.
The LifeSkills Barometer – a biannual survey conducted by LifeSkills created with Barclays then asked 2,000 young people and their parents to select the skills they believed would be most important to businesses in the next ten years, and if they were being taught them.
The young people surveyed and their parents were united in their belief that the top three skills required by employers in the next decade will be: ‘IT skills’ (47%), ‘problem solving and spotting mistakes’ (43% and 46% respectively), and ‘working with people from different generations and backgrounds’ (43% and 50% respectively).
In contrast, the skills businesses say will be most important in entry level candidates in ten-years time will be:
• Ability to reason and prioritise
• Ability to work effectively in large teams
• Ability to solve problems and spot mistakes
• Ability to work with people of different
generations and backgrounds
• Ability to understand complex data
• Ability to communicate through video/audio rather than writing
• Ability to deal with lots of information at one time and multi-task
• Ability to specialise in one area but also be good at a broad range of subjects
• Ability to get the most out of working environments
According to the LifeSkills Barometer, the majority of young people did not recognise how important these skills would be to businesses in the future.
Two thirds of young people (66%) didn’t know that prioritising workloads, having skills in a broad range of subjects (66%) or working in large teams (65%) would be required by employers in the next decade.
Kirstie Mackey, Head of LifeSkills created with Barclays, said: “Almost fifty percent of young people tell us they don’t believe they are being taught the skills needed to be employable in ten-years time. This is unacceptable. As the experts in the area, and those likely to be most affected by a skill shortage, businesses must work with education providers and the Government to ensure young people have the skills needed to succeed when they leave education.That’s why we launched LifeSkills created with Barclays: to connect young people with local businesses offering work experience and to ensure they gain important employability skills in the classroom.”
6 | TRAINING MAGAZINE EUROPE MARCH 2015