Schools should be “integrating work and learning, where you work by learning and you learn by working”, according to Geoff Mulgan from the YouTube video on Studio School. Based on 2,000 high school drop outs surveyed in 2015 conducted by the America’s Promise Alliance, the results found an alarming 46.2% drop out of high school because they were bored and felt that “school wasn’t relevant to their life” (Gould & Weller, 2015).
As an educator and now a learner myself, what’s the point of coasting through years of
schooling if the knowledge and skills you have acquired have no relevance in the real world of business? Isn’t one of the main functions of an education system to prepare employees to be ready for work tomorrow?
In a recent survey by a Hart Research Associates study on behalf of the Association of American Colleges & Universities (Selingo, 2015), the results show that there is a major disconnect in perspectives between employers and would-be college graduates in terms of work readiness when looking at 20 different skills. Consistently, employers rated students much lower than the latter evaluated themselves. For example, 57% students said they were creative and innovative while only 25% of employers agreed with this (Selingo, 2015).
As educators, it is our responsibility to equip learners with knowledge and skills in order to bridge the gap between employment and education. By incorporating relevant, real-work scenarios into the learning curriculum, it will enable learners to transfer their knowledge and skills and apply them into the real business world as quickly as possible. Activities that can be integrated with the learning content, such as case study, group discussions, role playing, storytelling and internship are effective in providing relevant and practical knowledge and skills for adult learners. It allows them to bring their life experiences to the classroom, where they can discover and experiment for themselves and in doing so, gain new insights and understanding on the subject.
References
Gould, S., & Weller, C. (2015, October 1). The most common reasons students drop out of high
school are heartbreaking. Retrieved from Business Insider: http://www.businessinsider.com/
most-common-reasons-students-drop-out-of-high-school-2015-10
Selingo, J. (2015, January 26). Why are so many college students failing to gain job skills before
graduation? Retrieved from The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/
news/grade-point/wp/2015/01/26/why-are-so-many-college-students-failing-to-gain-job-
skills-before-graduation/