It is that time of the year when students, freshmen, and undergraduates reconnect with the educational process to continue their studies. It is also the right time to do some soul searching on how our educational system is performing even if there seems to be little media interest in this important element of our lives as a nation.

Statistical data shows that improvements are gradually being achieved in some indicators of educational achievement. We have more students leaving the secondary schools with at least basic academic and technical skills. Our vocational training is also making good progress as more young people are given a second chance to continue with their education after not achieving much in the first decade of schooling.

There are areas where statistics are missing and one has to rely on anecdotal evidence to be-come aware on hidden problems that are not captured by the radar of statistical reporting. What makes life even more difficult for those with a genuine interest in assessing the effectiveness of our educational system is the lack of published socio-economic studies on how young people leaving the educational system are integrating in the workplace.

I do not believe that our education system is producing achievement results that are any better than those of the UK. Many of the complaints about the failures in the educational system that one reads about in the British media are familiar to all those who have a finger on the pulse of our own system. The only difference is that local stakeholders, especially employers, shy away from commenting publicly on how prepared our young people are to join the realities of today’s workplace.

We fool ourselves if we think that all apprenticeship and traineeship schemes are effective in upgrading the soft skills of young people

Russell Knight is a Senior Head of Outreach, Assessment and Outcomes at the Prince’s Trust in the UK. In a recent article Knight makes some relevant comments on how educators in the UK judge the preparedness of young people joining the workforce for the first time. The Prince Trust spoke to thousands of young people, teachers and workers from across the UK to listen to their experiences on whether young people are prepared to help their country face the tough economic challenges ahead.

The first area that they identified as having major weaknesses is that of soft skills as opposed to academic ones. My own experience both in the education and economic sector is that our own education system is facing similar challenges. Teamwork, communication, and re-silience are not being given the importance they deserve to make our young people employable.

We are failing to strike the right balance between academic achievement and supporting young people to develop the life and character skills that will make them more effective when they join the workforce.

We rightly emphasise the importance of high levels of literacy, numeracy and IT skills to prepare our young people to make the transition to the workplace smoother. Many employers will confirm, if only privately, that there is a gap between employers’ expectations and young people work-preparedness.

Educational strategic planning does not sit comfortably with political expediency where planning is often aimed at achieving instant gratification preferably before the next electoral test. I believe that the first step to bridge the work-preparedness gap is to have a motivated, better trained and better remunerated teaching profession that is no longer considered as being inferior to other professions like engineering, law and medicine.

It will always be difficult to measure the achievement of educators beyond that of gauging statistics. Educators must accept that in return for better pay and status they need to be passionate about their work and accept to be held responsible for agreed metrics that measure educational success.

Employers also need to understand that at times of long-term economic uncertainty they need to close the gap between education and the workplace. It is encouraging that traineeships and apprenticeship schemes are once again becoming fashionable. But we fool ourselves if we think that all apprenticeship and traineeship schemes are effective in upgrading the soft skills of young people.

Traineeships programmes should be underpinned by robust quality assurance that guarantees that time young people spend training in a real work environment really upgrades their skills. Assessments should be made by independent bodies to avoid the risk self-congratulatory attitudes by all stakeholders involved.

As our economy become more dependent on human capital intensive industries we need to ensure that every euro we spend on education goes to making our young people more employable.

johncassarwhite@yahoo.com