Core skills and employers' attitudes

In response to concerns about the effectiveness of the 'embedded' core skills model, in which these skills are taught and assessed as an integral component of other educational programs, the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) commissioned research into perceptions and experiences of embedded core skills and to locate core skills developments in a European and international context. These pieces of research will inform SQA's core skills policy development in future years. This bulletin examines employer attitudes to core skills via three phases: an analysis of a snapshot of job advertisements in the Scottish Press in a given week; an analysis of a small selection of employer job specifications covering a range of types of employers; and in-depth interviews with a selection of employers, again covering a range of types of employers. The bulletin is comprised of three reports, each relating to one of the three phases. Key findings include: in phase one, on third of the advertisements specified one or more of the core skills as essential attributes of the position; in phase two, research was limited to jobs where specifications could be obtained, thereby excluding some sectors that contributed to the phase one research; despite this restriction, 97% of jobs analysed specified one or more of the core skills as essential attributes of the position; core skills are regarded as important by employers but awareness of the existence and potential uses of the core skills framework is low to non-existent; and very few employers are aware of the existence of student core skills profiles and many are not convinced of the validity of certification of core skills from other qualifications. Recommendations are made as to how the SQA can address these issues.

Other bulletins in the series are indexed at TD/TNC 81.63, TD/TNC 81.65 and TD/TNC 81.66.

In response to concerns about the effectiveness of the 'embedded' core skills model, in which these skills are taught and assessed as an integral component of other educational programs, the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) commissioned research into perceptions and experiences of embedded core skills and to locate core skills developments in a European and international context. These pieces of research will inform SQA's core skills policy development in future years. This bulletin examines employer attitudes to core skills via three phases: an analysis of a ...  [+] Show more