Do Employers and Secondary School Stakeholders View the "Core Skills" as important?
Keywords:
employers, secondary school, core skills, skills, stakeholdersAbstract
This article reports on the perceived importance of the Queensland Core Skills compared to other skills (Generic Competencies, Virtual Competencies and Entrepreneurial Attributes) required of graduates to generate an income in the 21st Century. One hundred and twenty two senior students, 70 employers, and 50 school guidance officers were surveyed about this issue. The ratings of importance that all participants assigned to the Core Skills were found to be significantly lower than the ratings of importance that were assigned to the other three attribute areas. The employer and school guidance officer groups were found to assign similar ratings of importance to Core Skills, Generic Competencies, Virtual Competencies and Entrepreneurial Attributes. Whilst the Core Skills were found to be rated significantly less important than the other three attribute areas, they were, however, rated as moderately important by all participants. Moreover, the mean ratings given to these skills by the employers and school guidance officers also indicates that these skills are perceived as important, thereby suggesting that the demonstration of such Core Skills are necessary for graduating senior students to generate an income in the 21st century.
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