Are There Really Skills Gaps Everywhere?
Virtually everywhere we turn there are discussions about what to do to solve the skills gap problem, both in the press and in public policy forums. The skills gap notion started in the US, surprisingly, in the middle of The Great Recession when we would have thought there was never a greater glut of talent. […]
Filling the Right Gaps with the Right People
The Gap(s) For all the recent discussion around the skills gap, the numerous reports indicate that there are gaps, not a gap. A broad survey of the research divides skill gaps into two broad areas: the lack of technical skills, and the lack of transferable or ‘soft’ skills. On the technical skills plane, economists such […]
Skills Gap or Communication Gap?
Globally, 73 million young people are looking for work. Yet, millions of vacancies remain unfilled. In May 2015, five million posts were vacant in the US while more than eight million were looking for jobs there. In countries recently surveyed by the OECD, 39 million young people are not in education or employment (NEET). The figures offer a […]
Closing the Skills Gap with Cross-Sector Collaboration
In an era where the only certainty is uncertainty, talent is the key for success. Nevertheless, we face a great paradox. On one side, there are people searching for jobs; and on the other side, companies cannot find the right candidates with the right skills. According to the ManpowerGroup Talent Shortage Survey 2015, globally, 38% of […]
Education for the Future: The Global Experience of Developing Twenty-first Century Skills and Competencies
In recent years the framework for twenty-first century skills has evolved remarkably and global attention and awareness of the subject has increased as well. Nevertheless, the definition and implementation of twenty-first century skills differs among international organizations, particularly according to national contexts. Through a literature review of more than 15 countries over the past ten […]
Ready to Work: Education as a Preparation for Working Life
We can no longer assume that being ‘in work’ is the same thing as being employed – ‘having a job’. As the world becomes more connected, so companies get bigger, but so too do opportunities emerge for all kinds of small-scale, niche and self-employed enterprises. Many people who do not have ‘jobs’ in the old-fashioned […]
Civil Society and the Skills Gap in Latin America
This article is part of a series on innovative solutions to tackle the main challenges of Latin American education (part 2 of 6). The global economy is increasingly defined by jobs that require less than a college degree – but more skills than what can be acquired through a typical high school education alone. At the same time, many […]
Should Teaching “Soft” Skills Be a Priority?
An interview with Paul Tough, author of How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character (Random House) As someone who analyzes data on student achievement in Latin America for a living, I have always been skeptical of calls for schools to teach so-called “non-cognitive” skills. Learning outcomes in the region are abysmally low. Two thirds […]
Tackling School Dropouts and Talent Shortage with Blended Learning
Bringing technology into the classroom can mean many different things: expanding teacher access to students in remote areas via video links, training teachers to use online resources to upgrade their lesson plans, or providing students with their own low-cost computers. ICTs can also open new horizons for small multi-grade rural schools, help reverse teacher absenteeism, […]
Nine Skills That Will Help Make Our Children Future-Ready
Leading futurist John B. Mahaffie looks at the personal and learning skills that will make our children successful in the future. Please bring to mind a child of today, a boy or girl who is eight, nine, or 10 years old. Cast their life forward 20 years. It will be the year 2034. That child will be […]