Friday, April 26, 2013

So it seems that every day a new report or policy or media item comes out that addresses workforce skills-related issues.  Yesterday saw a report from Texas about the wages of students coming out of 4 year v 2 year colleges in their first year after graduation, and the main headline in the Chronicle of Higher Education was: "Tech training may provide fatter paychecks than 4-year degrees, study finds."  http://chronicle.com/article/Tech-Training-May-Provide/138831/?cid=pm (behind a paywall)

Of course there are details to consider, such as students with cosmetics certificates don't end up with the wages of someone with a certificate in network design, and importantly, the long-term income of students with either type of degree is not tracked.  Such a longitudinal study of students that tracks not only wages but also which types of skills are providing to be most useful in their careers is sorely needed.  Mmmm, perhaps another idea for a study.

Anyways, I think the take-home from a study like this is that some sort of postsecondary and/or professional-vocational education is a good idea for kids if they want to have a decent income throughout their lives.  That much is indisputable. See reports by the College Board  While people can debate about whether the societal push towards "college" rather than the trades is a good idea or not, even if students are destined for a career in manufacturing or farming, some sort of post-high school training, whether it be a formal apprenticeship or a 4-year degree, is critical.  My growing conviction is that the rhetoric against "college" is counter-productive, and all students should be encouraged to acquire some sort of certificate, training, or degree after high school. 

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Back in the saddle again after a brief foray into my other study on curricular decision-making in higher education (http://tpdm.wceruw.org/) and am now preparing a Policy Brief on preliminary analyses for this study.  The brief will be distributed via the WI Center for the Advancement of Postsecondary Education (http://www.wiscape.wisc.edu/) where I've written a couple of pieces on teaching and learning issues.

This brief will describe the lay of the land regarding the skills gap debate on a national and state level, with an analysis of the pros and cons of existing datasets and educational policy that is being developed based on the skills gap idea.  I'll then present preliminary findings from a nice batch of surveys conducted with manufacturers around the state as well as some data from my interviews with HR directors and CEOs.

Ideally, the brief will re-frame the discussion surrounding the skills gap from one that has a single policy solution to a more nuanced view that takes into account the importance of both "hard" and "soft" skills and how the development of these skills is the province of both vocational and liberal arts/college prep education. 

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Insights from the field

I've just wrapped up a handful of site visits with companies in southern Wisconsin, speaking with HR managers, CEOs and some employees about the "skills gap."  After early rounds of data collection and studying up on the issues, it's clear that the broader issue of the skills gap is far more complex than is often portrayed in the media.  There's a host of issues that employers have with the applicant pool that goes beyond a simple presence/absence of technical skills, or the ability to run a new-fangled laser-directed fabrication machine.  There's the work ethic issue - how about showing up on time for work?  There's the drug test issue - can't have someone with a blood alcohol level of .08 operating a $1m machine (true story!).  There's the inability to work in teams issue, lack of people who work with their hands, and so on.

This last point is really interesting, and I'm hearing from a number of people in industry and academia that they really miss farm kids.  That is, people who grew up working with their hands, working long hours and generally with a solid work ethic, and have the ability to trouble-shoot on the fly.  For the lack of farm kids and general work ethic shortcomings, can there ever be a policy answer to this seemingly cultural set of issues? 

Another insight from the field is that these issues aren't plaguing companies, at least ones that I'm seeing data on, at all levels of the organization.  Hiring management, HR directors, and other similar white collar type of professional positions is a different story than skilled labor.  So the take-home for me at this early stage of this study is that discussions of the skills gap should be far more nuanced and careful than they currently are.  Employers are definitely seeing something in the applicant pool for skilled labor that they don't like - even with the limitations of interviews and anecdotes, that much seems to be clear.  It's also clear that work ethic and communication issues are a major issue, perhaps more than technical abilities or aptitudes. 

And emergent questions that I'm going to pursue include: are these issues common to all job categories?  which types of skills can be addressed by education?  what are the implications of lecture-based or overly didactic instruction for workforce development issues - or, are students who are being trained by teachers adept at inquiry-based instruction going to be in a better position in the job market?