This report was just brought to my attention and is based on a study of industry’s view of new job entrants. They categorized their skills as “excellent,” adequate” or “deficient.”

On page 32 of the report very few rank entrants with a High School diploma as excellent and note major deficiencies in language, communication, and math. There is a lot of interesting comparative data in this report. 

A second report has issued recommendations, the “21st Century Skills, Education and Competitiveness, Resource and Policy Guide“.  Here is one of the requirements in the recommendations that resonated with me, the needed 21st century skills included:  

Solving complex, multidisciplinary, open-ended problems that all workers, in every kind of workplace, encounter routinely. The challenges workers face don’t come in a multiple-choice format and typically don’t have a single right answer. Nor can they be neatly categorized as “math problems,” for example, or passed off to someone at a higher pay grade. Businesses expect employees at all levels to identify problems, think through solutions and alternatives, and explore new options if their approaches don’t pan out. Often, this work involves groups of people with different knowledge and skills who, collectively, add value to their organizations. 

In our programs and classrooms can often use problem and project based learning. This statement helps me realize that the projects assigned need to be more open-ended and multi disciplinary. 

Michael Lesieki