Ready for Work is a self-paced online study programme in the UK designed for potential and recent full-time education graduates. This is a free government-sponsored initiative to prepare people for the workforce:
- Ready to learn
- Thriving in diversity
- Showing respect at work
- Be enterprising!
- Managing stress at work
- Health and safety in the office
- Making email work for you
- Working with the internet
- Data protection at work
- Drugs and alcohol at work
- Be a responsible employee;
- Me and my career
One more online learning programme is not going to change the world but this initiative got me thinking about changes to our education systems. What if the government and industry sponsored more of these types of top-up programmes for job-ready skills? These could be targeted at those people just about to enter or re-enter the workforce. The education system could then move away from a focus on workplace skills and concentrate instead on learning skills. My experience is that the education system is so slow to change that by the time a new programme is implemented it’s already too late for current economic conditions.
Schools keep teaching yesterday’s work skills. Therefore the education system should focus on facilitating learning and critical thinking and media literacy and the like. When students are ready to enter the workforce they will then have the learning skills to blast through whatever job training interests them. Getting the education system out of the job training business may make for happier learners, teachers and parents.
