A number
of researchers such as Dabalen, Oni and Adekola (2000), David (2002);
Akerele (2004) and National University Commission (2004), have revealed
that apart from the qualifications that graduates possess, there are
other attributes (non-academic skill requirements) which employers of
labour emphasize. According to them, these attributes include analytical
skills, good communication skills, good personal and social skills,
technical and managerial skills among others. Boeteng and Ofori-Sarpong
(2002), in relating these attributes to experience, stressed that
experience requirements are now stated in terms of competencies and
skills rather than years. Employers of labour force are not only
interested in those having higher education but also practical skills
appropriate for job fulfillment (Abiodun, 2010). On the contrary, Yorke
(2004) asserted that it is a mistake to assume that provision of
experience, whether higher education or without, is a sufficient
condition for enhanced employability. To have work experience does not
of itself ensure that the student develops (further) the various
prerequisites (cognitive, social, practical, and so on) for success in
employment. The same argument applies to whole curricula. The curricular
process may facilitate the development of prerequisites appropriate to
employment but does not guarantee it. Hence, it is inappropriate to
assume that students are highly employable on the basis of curricular
provision alone, it may be a good harbinger but it is not an assurance
of employability. Employability derives from the ways in which the
student learns from his or her experiences. There is no doubt that years
of experience brings about efficiency and productivity. However, the
issue of stretching years of experience and age limit by the employers
as a criterion for employment has narrowed chances for employment. A
31-year-old unemployed a graduate of Economics lamented thus; I wonder
where some of these people want us to get the experience if we are not
given the opportunity to even start. In most cases, employers insist on
25 years age limit and five years’ work experience. But with the
challenges people are faced with before graduating in this country, how
do you expect a 25-year-old to have acquired five years experience?
Asaju, Arome & Anyio, 2014, p. 24).
Together with work
experience, qualifications are usually seen as a proxy for employability
skills (Finnie & Meng, 2007). Scraptetta, Sonnet, Livanos, Nunez,
Riddell & Song (2012) reiterated that a number of countries have
expanded recently to encourage the acquisition of work experience, as
much as paid or unpaid internships can help to increase the
employability skills of young people, their quality is often not secured
and young people are in danger of being exploited as a cheap labour for
employers. Work experience can be acquired by temporary employment
which is prevalent in many European countries such as United Kingdom,
Ireland, Belgium, France, Finland, Italy and Spain among others and can
be seen as stepping stones into permanent employment. The probability of
young people getting a permanent job one year after working at a
temporary job is higher than after being unemployed. This probability,
however, is much higher for higher education graduates than for those
with lower levels of education (Scrapetta, Sonnet, Livanos, Nunez,
Riddell, & Song, 2012).
Work experience opportunities need to
be well managed to be educationally valuable but good work experience
can enhance learning and employability (Knight & Yorke, 2004).
Work-based learning requires the learner to manage their own learning,
create learning opportunities to enable outcomes to be achieved and
provide satisfactory evidence. David (2002) noted that from his
experience and from talking to academics in his institution,
accreditation was felt to be the most likely way of persuading students
to undertake work experience modules. Holmes (2001) suggested that if
work experience is not a formal part of the degree programme, tasks
should be set that explicitly and intentionally relate to the work
place. Students, for example, may be asked to write a report from the
stance of an employee of a particular position within a particular
organisation. This will enable students to focus upon practices relevant
to the occupations that are typically entered into. This enables
students to develop more than just ‘skills’ but can be viewed as a
rehearsal for ‘the real thing’.
According to ILO (2012), core
work skills help individuals to understand the labour market, make more
informed choices about their options in education, training, wage
employment, self-employment and cooperation. They also help them become
better citizens and contribute to their communities and societies.
Generally, education improves a young person’s chances of securing a
better quality job and increases his or her productivity and income.
Many young people face difficulties in finding a job because of the
mismatch between their education/training and labour market
requirements. Innovation, technology and market developments have turned
the world of work into a fast-changing environment. There is a need to
equip a growing young workforce with skills required for the jobs of the
future, not to mention re-equipping the current workforce with the
skills required to keep up with a changing world. The greatest challenge
lies in the technology- and knowledge-intensive sectors that also have
the highest potential for economic growth and employment.
Anticipating future skills needs is the first building block of strong
training and skills strategies. Several methods are used to forecast
future skills needs. These include: forecasting occupational and skills
profiles at various levels of disaggregation; social dialogue; labour
market information systems and employment services and analysis of the
performance of training institutions, including tracer studies.
According to OECD (2011), country experience suggested that it may make
more sense to prioritize core and transversal skills, especially
building the capacity to learn, rather than training to meet detailed
forecasts of technical skill needs, because these may change before
curricula can adjust. Shorter training courses, which build on general
technical and core skills can minimize time lags between emerging skill
needs and the provision of adequate training.
