My FREE SA
Jayram Daya
My Front for Radical Educational Empowerment of South Africans
After the 25 years of independence, South Africa needs wealth creators. Wealth managers are many but they need skills not necessarily university degrees. Why are we facing this dilemma? Are the political parties only interested in their outdated ideologies? Illiteracy and unskilled South Africans are now slaves drowned in poverty, debts, and obesity. Why? Is a simple question with no answers? Do you call this freedom
A 25 year old South African, who is the freedom youth, has no direction. Why? Is again a simple question? My answer is also simple ‘Education’.
The educators of South Africa should be considering training every student from primary years to a university degree with a curriculum of at least 60% skills and practical applications.
I liked Dion Chang ending in his article (How the education system lost its way) to follow and quote;
“If this is what the end goal has become for our education system then the words from the Pink Floyd song – Just another brick in the wall – become depressingly relevant.
“We don’t need no education
We don’t need no thought control
All in all you’re just another brick in the wall.”
Note32; Doing a simple case study, not so far the history books, I have taken the most relevant case that will satisfy our argument of
training students in apprenticeship skill training instead of a university degree
According to British economist
Angus Maddison, India's share of the world economy went from
24.4% in 1700 to 4.2% in 1950. This statement needs just a simple investigation and the facts would bring us to the topic of today. Why and what was responsible for such a downward trend of a highly
trained and skill nation.
Simple, the British destroyed the ancient education
system and introduced their system to produce bureaucrats so that they could
rule the country from England and like a lollipop the bureaucrats were made to
understand that they were ruling the country with British education. In that
process, they destroyed the skills in India and even by physically cutting off the
hands and fingers of skilled people. Yes, the Indian education system was to
create skills in every field so that the population could govern itself. The
west wanted to rule with the industrial revolution, they succeeded but by firstly
destroying the economies of the colonies and transferring not only the skills
but also the wealth. Skills in China have been irreplaceable during the silk trade and today
they are able to compete with the west with modern theology just because of
their skilled people where skills are passed on from generation to generations
What is an accurate definition of skill?
A skill is the ability to carry out a task with
determined results often within a given amount of time, energy, or both. A
joint ASTD and U.S. Department of Labour study showed that through technology,
the workplace is changing and identified 16 basic skills that employees must
have to be able to change with it.
Top 20 skills you need to develop your career By
EVA CHRISTODOULOU eva.christodoulou@leaderonomics.com
In the years to come skills will rule the economy and not
the bureaucrats of today. If this
inspires you please read the two posting
- How the education system lost its way Dion Chang https://city-press.news24.com/Voices/how-the-education-system-lost-its-way-20200204
- Will, you still need a college
education in 2040?https://www.fastcompany.com/90459369/in-defense-of-mobile-voting-russian-hackers-be-damned
- Education Secretary says he will urge his children to do an apprenticeship instead of paying £9000-a-year for a university degree https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7959009/Education-Secretary-says-urge-children-apprenticeship.html
How the education system lost its way
Dion Chang2020-02-04 22:00
Children in schools need to be allowed to be creative for their senses to operate at peak. The writer says the obsession with matric results must stop. Picture: Leon Sadiki
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We’re in between the annual chaotic processes of finding placements for pupils at schools and applying for enrolments at universities.
The bridge between the two is a crucial one, especially considering South Africa’s depressing unemployment figures as well as the exponential change we’re seeing in the new skills required for disrupted business models.
Just how badly our education system is preparing our students for this new world order was brought into sharp focus when I gave a trends briefing to the teaching staff of my high school alma mater.
It was not so much their approach to education which was at fault but, it emerged, the pressure all schools are put under to achieve good matric results every year.
One teacher explained the sorry state of affairs in a nutshell.
She said that while it was widely understood that the skills pupils needed were becoming broader and more intangible – such as collaboration, critical thinking and problem-solving – the benchmark on which schools and their pupils were judged, was in essence just one exam – the matric final.
She lamented that the focus of the matric year, for all staff, was simply to maintain this pass rate.
This is understandable because a school’s reputation depends on these annual statistics.
But then this focus detracts from what pupils are actually equipped with once they leave school.
This is one of the more depressing things I’ve heard about the education system, and it has stayed with me like a vivid nightmare.
Let me explain.
When I left high school I felt stupid. It is not the desired outcome of any education system or teacher, but this is what an expensive private schooling had left me with.
One of the main reasons was that I’ve always been more right-brained, and the academic focus at schools back then was solely focused on celebrating left-brain prowess.
It is evident that things haven’t changed much, even though it is widely acknowledged that creativity and divergent thinking are now crucial and highly sought-after skills in the workplace.
How the education system lost its way (and I’m not just talking about the South African system but generic school education systems elsewhere) is explained perfectly and succinctly by Kenneth Robinson, a British author, speaker and international adviser on education.
If you’re a parent (or a teacher) I urge you to listen to some of his many talks online.
How he puts things into perspective will horrify you.
I’ll give you an abbreviated version.
Public school systems only emerged in the mid-19th century.
They were designed when the world was adjusting to the age of enlightenment as well as the industrial revolution.
The concept of compulsory education for all, paid for by taxes, was revolutionary.
The pioneering vision was therefore based on the “intellectual model of the mind” – the enlightenment view of intelligence: deductive reasoning and knowledge of classic literature.
Traits that we’ve come to know as academic ability.
Robinson points out that this education system mirrored the times and the schools were designed along factory lines: ringing bells to control activities, separate facilities, compartmentalised subjects, pupils segregated by age (essentially defined by their “date of manufacture”) and standardised testing.
However, we now know that human development is not standard or uniform.
And yet this is the system we rely on to give our children an education, and a fighting chance of survival in life.
Fast-forward to the 21st century, one that is proving to be the most stimulating era in humankind’s existence.
We already see with Gen Z’s – the first generation of true digital natives – that this digital stimulus is rewiring their brains and providing exponential and unexpected learning opportunities.
And yet adults see them as being easily distracted, or worse, having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, which they then get medicated for.
If you had a plethora of stimulus at your fingertips, but are then forced to sit in a classroom and learn from a system that was designed in another century and for a bygone economy, wouldn’t you feel frustrated and become bored and distracted?
Creativity and the arts on the other hand are described by Robinson as an “aesthetic experience”: one in which your senses operate at their peak, meaning you are not only present but also engaged.
Isn’t that a learning zone all parents would want for their children?
Focusing obsessively on maintaining the matric pass rate numbers is simply reverting to an industrial revolution era approach to education: an assembly line where uniformity, conformity and quantity matters more than thinking and stepping outside the box.
Ironically, what all future-focused businesses need most.
If this is what the end goal has become for our education system then the words from the Pink Floyd song – Just another brick in the wall – become depressingly relevant.
“We don’t need no education
We don’t need no thought control
All in all you’re just another brick in the wall.”
Dion Chang is the founder of Flux Trends. For more trends visit fluxtrends.com.
College enrollment rates are already
falling. We asked six experts to explain how the workforce of the future will
get trained.
Back in 2015, Heather Terenzio was giving a talk at a vocational school.
After she provided an overview of the Boulder-based software development
company she founded—Techtonic Group—a young man who helped cater
the event came up to her. He told Terenzio that he’d been teaching himself to
code for 10 years. He liked what Techtonic was doing, and said that if she were
to hire him, she wouldn’t regret it. “We thought, well, why don’t we see what
we can do with this kid?” says Terenzio. “He learned everything we taught him,
and we had this epiphany that we were on to something interesting.”
Techtonic had been struggling to find qualified developers, and
outsourcing the work offshore just wasn’t cutting it. So why not create a
formal program to allow people without a computer science degree to train for
these jobs?
Today, Techtonic is the first Department of Labor-approved
apprenticeship program for coding. Participants apply to be part of the
program, and once they’re selected, the company trains them, while paying them
from day one. After the training period, Techtonic pairs each participant with
a senior staff member to work on a client project. At the end of the program,
Techtonic (or one of Techtonic’s clients) hires the apprentice.
Coding-based apprenticeships may be
a recent development, but Terenzio predicts that in 20 years, more
and more companies will adopt similar models. “I can see it in every industry:
healthcare, medical billing, other kinds of jobs,” Terenzio says.
Many workplace and higher education experts agree. We talked to six
professionals whose work involves predicting the nature of education and
upskilling in 2040 and what the workforce is likely to demand from employees.
They all shared the consensus that change is the only certainty. Workers, employers, and education
providers alike need to be agile, flexible, and prepared to adapt as
technology continues to disrupt industries and change what jobs will and will
not be available. Here’s what else they had to say:
1. TRADITIONAL
COLLEGES WILL BE FORCED TO ADAPT TO MEET THE NEEDS OF EMPLOYERS
Rising student debt and uncertain returns on investment have many
questioning whether college is still worth it. According to a 2019 survey by PayScale that
polled 248,000 recipients, 66% had some regrets over their college experience,
with student loans being the main reason for their dissatisfaction. Fast
Company also recently conducted its own informal Twitter poll on how
useful college is likely to be in 2040, and 69% of the 3,911 respondents agreed
that a degree would be “less useful” than it is now.
So what will colleges look like in 2040? According to Ryan Craig,
cofounder and managing partner of University Ventures, a
fund that invests in education companies (including Techtonic), we’re going to
see the biggest shifts among nonselective colleges—that is, colleges with
acceptance rates of 50% and higher. “They will have to eliminate departments,
programs, functions, merge with each other, and ultimately become more focused
on employment and employability,” says Craig.
“Two decades ago, there was this general thought [among colleges], our
job is not to be vocational institutions,” says Johnny C. Taylor, Jr.,
president and CEO of the Society of Human Resources Management.
Instead, the purpose was for “lofty academic pursuits” and teaching individuals
to become more well-rounded individuals.
Now, and likely in the future, employability and return on investment
are at the top of the mind for many prospective students. “I think the market
made education shift,” Taylor says. Combined with declining enrollment due to
the falling U.S. birth rate, colleges will have no choice but to focus on more
practical-based training and change their curriculum to meet the demands of
employers, he says.
As for the merits of colleges, both Taylor and Craig believe that it
will remain a pathway to a good first job, but not the default one as it is for
so many today. Craig believes that for those who can get admitted to a
selective university without incurring large amounts of debt, a four-year
college education remains the best choice. But for everyone else, an
alternative path might be the best way to go.
2. WE’RE GOING
TO SEE MORE AND MORE ALTERNATIVES TO TRADITIONAL COLLEGES
One of those training paths will be company-sponsored apprenticeship
programs, says Craig. In his book A New U: Faster and Cheaper Alternatives to College he
calls this type of arrangement “last-mile training.” Essentially, “it’s the
skills that are missing between the secondary ecosystem and what employers are
looking for.”
Boot camps are what Craig calls version 1.0 of the last-mile training
model. They may be faster and cheaper than colleges, but many still require the
applicants to incur financial risks by paying tuition fees upfront without the
guarantee of a job. And even for graduates, Craig says, companies have what he
calls “hiring friction”—where they are reluctant to hire candidates who have
never done the job the company is hiring them for, let alone entry-level
candidates who are just starting out in their careers.
Version 2.0 of last-mile training, according to Craig, is educational
providers who adopt an income-share agreement. Rather than charging tuition
upfront, students only pay a percentage of their income if they secure a job
that meets a specific income threshold (for example, over $40,000). But while
this eliminates the financial risk, it doesn’t solve the problem of hiring
friction. Employer-sponsored apprenticeships eliminate both.
Terenzio and Taylor see employer-sponsored apprenticeships as a positive
trend. But not everyone in the training and education space is on board. For
starters, not every company can afford to introduce this kind of program. Also,
when a company is in charge of their employees’ education, “it locks the
employees into a company’s way of doing things,” says Scott Latham, an associate professor at the
University of Massachusetts Lowell. For instance, an engineer may get versed in
Amazon Web Services. That may prepare them for a great career at Amazon, but it
doesn’t allow for a great deal of mobility across the tech sector.
Craig believes that the sweet spot will be “intermediaries that can
build into their business model a commercial incentive to provide, train
entry-level talent, and scale.” Here, Craig is referring to staffing and
business services companies that are able to train individuals at a large
scale—in addition to matching candidates to specific roles. He predicts that
they will explode “in a good way,” and as a result, he’s placing University
Ventures’ focus on funding these types of companies.
3. SOFT SKILLS
WILL CONTINUE TO BE IMPORTANT, BUT MOST JOBS WILL REQUIRE A HIGH LEVEL OF
TECHNOLOGICAL COMPETENCE
In today’s workforce, there’s a growing emphasis on “soft skills.” Many
workplace experts predict that it’s these skills that will help workers
differentiate themselves from their peers when they are applying for a job.
These skills include communication, empathy, mindfulness, creativity,
collaboration, and leadership, according to Fast Company contributor
Faisal Hoque. “As we hurtle toward our inevitable robot- and
AI-filled future, these sorts of uniquely human capabilities may only be more
essential,” wrote Hoque.
But the prevalence of automation will mean that more and more jobs will require an
ability to work with new sorts of technology. “As an individual,
you’re going to have to constantly ask yourself, how will the future of work
technology affect my industry?” says Latham. A job in sales or marketing, for
example, will require competence in navigating customer management software
such as Salesforce. Nurses and doctors will have to
work alongside robots. That means that along with having soft
skills, workers of the future will need to be prepared to perform jobs with a
strong technological component.
4. SPECIALISTS
WILL BE MORE VALUED THAN GENERALISTS
The rise of the gig economy and contract work in roles that were once
the purview of traditional employment is one of the main ways that
technology has changed the job landscape. Micah Rowland, the COO
of Fountain, a recruitment platform for gig and
hourly workers, believes that we’ll continue to see this trend in 20 years’
time.
What will change, according to Rowland, is the extent to which
specialists will be valued over generalists. He gives the example of legal
services. In the past, a small business owner may go to a local lawyer to take
care of their legal needs—both for their business and their personal affairs.
In the future, that business owner will have greater access to legal talent and
services—beyond their immediate proximity and geography—depending on their
specific needs. They may engage one lawyer to help them sort out their tax
affairs and another to help them write a will. Possibly neither of these
lawyers will live in their city, and 100% of their interaction is likely to
take place virtually. More and more of those transactions will occur on an
as-needed, one-off basis, says Rowland.
5.
MICROCREDENTIALING WILL BECOME MORE PREVALENT
As technology continues to transform various industries, what employers
are looking for from employees will change at a faster rate. Latham says, “The
best-case scenario is that there will be a disruption that occurs, and jobs
won’t be destroyed but will be changed, and someone who was doing accounting
will now do the same job but they need to know how to work with an artificial
intelligent bot.”
“That’s going to require a lot of upskilling,” says Latham. “The
worse-case scenario is the reskilling, and that is if AI, drones, and
automation destroys jobs and these people need to be reskilled into new
industries and learn new skills. We’re probably going to end up somewhere in
the middle,” Latham predicts.
Whether it’s upskilling or reskilling, experts predict that
microcredentialing will be a big trend in the future. Workers will continually
need to upskill and reskill as employers’ needs shift. Latham believes that
we’re going to see “small bites” education. Workers will be able to obtain
certificates in cybersecurity, for example, without necessarily having to
complete a degree. In turn, educational providers will be more and more
specialized in their offerings. Just like coding boot camps, there will be more
and more training institutions that focus on one particular industry.
6. LIFELONG
LEARNERS AND COMPANIES THAT ENCOURAGE A CULTURE OF LEARNING WILL BE THE ONES TO
THRIVE
If there’s one other thing apart from change that most professionals in
the training and education space agree on, it’s the belief that those who
choose to see their careers as a sequence of continuing education will be the
ones to thrive in the future. It’s not enough to be smart, says Taylor. Good
workers of the future also need to be curious. “Curious people see what’s
coming around the corner. Curiosity will keep you ahead of the game.”
As for employers, companies that cultivate a culture of learning will be
the ones who benefit. Leah Belsky, chief enterprise officer of online learning
platform Coursera, says that “facilitating training
will become part of a manager’s role. I think direct learning is going to be a
core part of that.” She explains, “Companies are now realizing that to sell
their technology, they need to get into the education space. They realize that
they are limited in how much they can grow because there aren’t enough skilled
professionals.”
At the end of the day, “none of us really knows what the future looks
like,” says Taylor. “You just have to be comfortable being uncomfortable.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Anisa is a freelance writer and editor who covers the intersection of
work and life, personal development, money, and entrepreneurship. Previously,
she was the assistant editor for Fast Company's Work Life section and the
co-host of Secrets Of The Most Productive people podcast.
Education Secretary says he will urge his children to do an apprenticeship instead of paying £9000-a-year for a university degree
·
Education Secretary to tell his teenage
daughters to consider apprenticeships
·
Gavin Williamson slams ‘outdated views' which
are 'holding young people back'
·
Apprenticeship uptake tumbled in the first
quarter of the 2019/20 academic year
PUBLISHED: 22:00 GMT,
2 February 2020 | UPDATED: 22:17
GMT, 2 February 2020
The
Education Secretary says he will tell his children to consider apprenticeships
rather than going to university.
Gavin
Williamson believes there are too many stereotypes about vocational training.
And he
insisted he would not necessarily point daughters Annabel, 15, and Grace, 13,
towards higher education.
+2
The
Education Secretary says he will tell his children to consider apprenticeships
rather than going to university [File photo]
Speaking at
the start of National Apprenticeship Week, Mr Williamson said: ‘Outdated views
are holding young people back from pursuing their dream career.
‘Every
parent wants the best for their children and when they ask you for advice about
their futures, it’s incredibly daunting. But I know I will absolutely encourage
them to consider an apprenticeship.’
His comments
came as a Mumsnet poll found many parents do not know there is vocational
training in non-traditional fields such as aerospace and film-making.
Three in
five fear their child will be left making the tea when apprenticed.
Figures show
apprenticeship uptake tumbled nearly five per cent in the first quarter of the
2019/20 academic year.
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