4.2 Learning in the Workplace
Looking specifically at the job market, the question is: Do competencies inside the classroom effectively translate into the workplace? The OECD outlines this through a strategy of embracing hard and soft skills attainment and implementing it in a real-world context[6]. The question then becomes: How is the gap bridged when assessing skills for work? Stasz proposes that there are two perspectives about how to assess skills for the workplace in an academic sense. She focuses on the differences between academic skills and formal skills as the bridge between obtaining skills in school and correlating them in a job or economic setting[7]. Academic skills tend to take on formal characteristics, such as testing for competency but also allow room for more probing questions and analysis of the formal characteristics. Ultimately, most workplaces rely less on the theoretical and more on the formal aspects of the job, given the structure of growth in an economic system.
| Academic Skills | Formal Skills |
|---|---|
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Does this effectively bridge the gap between academia and the workforce? It may inform our individual decisions about how academics and work are perceived, along with the competencies needed for a specific field. However, academics are of relative importance in the occupation of a historian, as opposed to a financial manager, considering historians are constantly reading text, whereas a financial manager mostly deals with quantitative information. This is not to say financial managers have not used their academic training in mathematics and economics to be successful at their job, or those historians can get by without some grounded aspect of how an economy works. Rather, it depends on the balance in a particular situation.
The concept of academic and formal skills also plays a role in teaching vocational roles at community colleges and colleges of applied arts and technologies. For example, a collaboration of academic and formal skills can be beneficial for graduates from college, not just in their discipline, but also for obtaining jobs in the field through the interview process, or when communicating with co-workers. Ahmad indicates the skills that employers find most important for candidates to possess. These are the top three[8]:
- Honesty and integrity
- Communication (verbal and written)
- Strong work ethic
What this reflects is a need to enhance the soft skills needed in an interpersonal workplace. Hard skills found in the formal areas are important for completing the tasks demanded on the job. In addition, the importance of soft skills can be obtained through academic and theory-based processes.
In Theories of Learning for the Workplace: Building Blocks for Training and Professional Development Programs, Dochy et al. impart the different theories of learning in relation to the workplace. They attempt to focus on inter-organizational learning by expanding past the academic, or organizational walls, for a cohesive learning structure[9]. This is important for the understanding of academic and formal job skills working in tandem with societal implications.
What this comes down to, for educators, is effective decision-making within teaching to enhance academic and formal skills for the workplace. As educators, it is important to understand all the people who can be affected by these skills who are commonly referred to as stakeholders. Stakeholders are individuals who are affected by the actions of a group or organization[10]. As educators, it is essential that the decisions made for teaching benefit the students, the members of the community, and the larger society as a whole. The skills being taught should have an even balance between academic and formal skills, in order to enhance all future job requirements.
Skills for the Workplace Activities
Professional development is an important aspect of learning to work. Use the activities below to understand and differentiate between the different skills that are relatable for learning to work.
