Educators think their schools could do a better job teaching digital skills, business acumen and the teamwork students need in the modern workforce, according to a new report.
A gap exists between the percent of educators who think these skills are essential and those who feel these competencies are being taught adequately, according to “The View from the Schoolhouse: How Middle and High School Educators See the Skills Shaping the Modern Economy” by American Student Assistance and Burning Glass Technologies.
This gap is wider in classrooms in which a majority of the students are Black or Latinx, or receive free- and reduced-price lunch, the report found.
Now for the good news: Two-thirds of teachers and nearly 90% of school counselors and administrators say they can personally take steps to improve the teaching of modern workforce skills.
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Career exploration and experiential learning are key approaches to teaching these skills, educators in the report said.
Educators ranked modern workforce skills in the following order of importance:
- Communication skills
- Critical thinking skills
- Collaboration skills
- Project management skills
- Analytical skills
- Creativity skills
- Communicating data skills
- Analyzing data skills
- Computer programming skills
- Managing data skills
- Digital design skills
- Software development skills
How to teach workforce skills
The report makes the following recommendations for improved instruction in modern workforce skills:
- Evaluate curriculum for opportunities to connect these skills to classroom instruction.
- Identify teachers who want to spearhead a new schoolwide focus on modern workforce skills.
- Encourage teachers to assess student development of these skills.
- Ask administrators for additional tools and resources for teaching these skills.
- Budget for experiential learning and career exploration.
- Guide students toward internships, apprenticeships and other outside opportunities for skill development.
- Invite business partners to speak at school and host shark tank events that allow students to pitch concepts to industry leaders.
- Create courses that culminate career exploration projects or showcases.
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