Young people need employability skills as well as academic qualifications but defining what that means and how to teach it is not straightforward. Laura Gibbon looks at schemes that can help.

Learning for life

Are schools and colleges doing enough to equip students with skills for the workplace?

It’s a question that pops up perennially in the media, usually with the implication that ‘not enough’ is being done by teachers in the classroom to ready young people for the world of employment. 

Meanwhile, young people themselves are only too aware of how tough the job market can be. A recent report entitled Evolution of the Teenager (see http://tinyurl.com/l5bfbhq) from National Citizen Service (NCS), the government scheme that brings young people together to work on community projects, has shown that teenagers today are expecting to face more barriers to finding work than any other generation before them. However, they are also more ambitious and keen to make a difference through their careers.

In fact, there are several schemes now, including NCS, which is run externally and outside of term time, that focus on exactly these topics, helping students to learn leadership and communication skills, understand how to work in a team and develop qualities such as resilience.

What do employers think?

The construction company Carillion PLC works with schools, community organisations and volunteers to offer work placements, coaching and a sector-leading apprenticeship scheme. David Picton, Carillion’s Chief Sustainability Officer, believes that today’s teenagers are facing complex levels of competition for jobs, bewildering choices and confusing role models.

This situation creates far greater pressure to both ‘fit in’ but also ‘stand out’ for the right reasons, David says. “While qualifications are critical, skills and experience, beliefs, values and character are just as important.”

The EY Foundation helps young people find alternative routes into employment and education and supports social entrepreneurs and start-ups. Martin Talbot, EY’s Head of Social Investment, says that non-cognitive skills are becoming far more important to securing success in the workplace.

“The EY Foundation’s Smart Futures programme focuses on strengths-based recruitment where we measure candidates on skills such as pride, courage and resilience alongside qualifications. It is these skills that become the differentiator for young people, both at interview process and once in employment.”

How can schools help?

How to develop ‘resilience’ in staff is an issue that has sparked some interest in recent years among employers and was the subject of a 2011 report (See online at http://tinyurl.com/oj8lfb8) for business and employer bodies, including the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). Broadly defined as ‘adaptation despite adversity’, the challenge is translating resilience into a skill that can be developed, measured and tracked on an individual level.

Swavesey Village College in Cambridgeshire has built this term, among other key skills, into the school’s core measurement framework. The school works to the ‘five Rs’ system, with demonstrating ‘resilience’ included. The other terms are ‘resourceful’, ’respectful’, ‘responsible’ and ‘reflective’.

Definitions for each term have been developed with stakeholders, including parents, students and employers, to ensure clarity across all parties. The school holds regular assemblies to discuss the importance of each term in determining workplace success, and merit points are awarded to students who demonstrate these core attributes in class.

Alongside the five Rs, the school has developed a pledges system in partnership with Nene Park Academy in Peterborough. It rewards and reports on students’ progress in terms of leadership, diversity, environment and service – skills and attributes that are developed predominantly through extra-curricular activities. Bronze, silver and gold levels are awarded in a similar way to The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (D of E) with the bronze stage completed by Year 9.

Following on from this, the school now supports National Citizen Service, allowing students to refine further their skills.

Andrew Daly, the headteacher, says, “We realise that while it is necessary to have results from terminal exams, if teenagers do not have the confidence in their capabilities – and the ability to articulate their strengths clearly and confidently – then they stand little chance at competing within an increasingly challenging job market.”

The pledges system has been well received by both pupils and parents, he adds.

“Following on from the pledges system, we also support NCS, which is a natural next step for students taking them out of their comfort zones and into the ‘real world’. The programme helps to refine skills like confidence, leadership and teamwork, through the outward bound section, while the social action project helps teenagers to gain an understanding of the challenges they may face in the future.”

Independent evaluation of NCS by Ipsos MORI 2014 has shown that, like Mr Daly, teachers see the programme as an opportunity for pupils to develop a range of soft skills, including leadership, communication, decision-making and planning skills outside of the classroom environment. Participants also revealed increases in personal resilience levels – particularly those students on free school meals, who showed an increase of 23 per cent in terms of feeling more able to handle what comes their way following the summer programme compared to those who had not taken part in NCS.

James Allen’s Girls’ School (JAGS) in Dulwich, South London, was one of the first schools to pilot NCS. The school encourages the programme as a complement to its own core values that focus on equipping students with skills for life, not just for the classroom, and training them to be the citizens of tomorrow.

Marion Gibbs, the headteacher, says, “Skills like confidence, leadership and resilience are hugely important for the future. We develop them both in the classroom and through initiatives such as the Big Give, where students pitch against each other for a sum of money to be given to their chosen charity, and the London Transport Ambassadors programme encouraging pupils to take an active role in local issues.” The school builds the skills into lesson plans.

“For example, we encourage students to take responsibility for their own learning by asking them to present to the class on a relevant issue,” says Marion. “During the presentation, we invite questioning and debate, which helps students to think on their toes, and use their initiative.”

Programmes like NCS that are run externally, and are therefore not resource intensive in terms of staff or budget, are a great option for schools that often struggle to offer extra-curricular opportunities, she adds. 

“It promotes social mixing, allowing the girls to meet people from different backgrounds. It also gives the girls confidence in their abilities, the experience of planning a project in the real world, and most importantly showing them the importance of being prepared to fail.” 

Independent evaluation of NCS by Ipsos MORI 2014 has shown that eight in ten teenagers who completed the programme last summer felt more positive towards people from different backgrounds. After completing the programme, 81 per cent of teenagers said they felt they could handle whatever came their way as opposed to 74 per cent beforehand, and two thirds (64 per cent) said they were able to stay calm when faced with a problem as opposed to 54 per cent of those who had not attended the programme.

Marion says, “As a society, we definitely underestimate young people today and, sadly, most of the time only the negatives are reported. As schools we have the chance to change those perceptions, by giving students the opportunities to realise their potential both inside the classroom and through extra-curricular activities like NCS.”

---

National Citizen Service

National Citizen Service (NCS), a government-sponsored scheme, helps young people to develop skills for work and life by taking part in projects to help their community. Running in spring, summer and autumn, it brings together 16 and 17 year-olds in England and Northern Ireland from different backgrounds. They spend a week away from home getting to know one another at an outdoor activity centre and then join up again in a university-style setting to learn about the issues facing their communities. They also get a taste of new skills, such as photography or football coaching, while budgeting, and cooking for one another and meeting representatives from local businesses. In the third phase, they identify and plan the project and put it into action. Altogether, the project takes up 30 hours and young people emerge more confident, with greater self-awareness and sense of responsibility, and having acquired leadership, teamwork and communication skills.

For more information, visit www.ncsyes.co.uk or email education@ncstrust.co.uk Also, see the Developing Resilience report online at http://tinyurl.com/oj8lfb8

---

ASCL general secretary becomes NCS Patron

We are pleased to announce that ASCL General Secretary Brian Lightman is now a Patron of National Citizen Service (NCS). Commenting on the announcement, Brian said, “This reinforces ASCL’s support of the remarkable work that NCS is doing in providing young people with better life chances. In particular, I would like to commend NCS on its work to help young people to obtain the employability skills that are so important to their futures as employees – skills that employers are saying are needed. “I would urge schools and colleges to work with NCS and together we can help prepare and develop young people for the future.”

---

Ipsos MORI: National Citizen Service 2013 Evaluation Main Report http://tinyurl.com/lptkfcg

---

Laura Gibbon is Head of School and College Engagement at National Citizen Service Trust.

Designed with IMPACT

© 2024 Association of School and College Leaders | Valid XHTML | Contact us