CIPD/KPMG Labour Market Outlook (Quarterly Survey Report, Summer 2006):
“The key attributes employers look for in school leaver recruits are communication skills, work ethic and personality”
“When asked what the education system might do to improve the employability of school leavers, half the surveyed employers ranked ‘improved interpersonal skills’ in their top 3 suggestions. This was followed by ‘greater efforts to encourage young people to take responsibility’ (40%), ‘improvements in communications skills’ (38%) and ‘better discipline’ (32%). Employers are more likely to stress the need for improvement in such intangible skills than in literacy (28%), numeracy (22%) and IT skills 19%.
I would maintain that online, collaborative project working can deal with the last three whilst focusing on communications skills in a context in which the students are encouraged to take responsibility through their interaction with the other members of their group.
