Employability Skills:An Update :: Employer Work Job Essays

Employability Skills: An Update This project has been funded at least in part with Federal funds from the U.S. Department of Education under Contract No. ED-99-CO-0013. The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Department of Education nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. Digests may be freely reproduced and are available at http://ericacve.org/fulltext.asp. What skills do employers want? How do these skills match those that youth and adults are developing through their school and work experiences? How can education and training programs prepare individuals to enter a rapidly changing workplace? These and other questions are examined in this Digest that explores skills currently needed for employment. Since 1986 the authors of no fewer than six ERIC Digests and one Trends and Issues Alert have sifted through an increasingly prolific literature base to investigate the evolving topic of employability skills. The dual challenges of competing in a world market and rapid technological advancements have necessitated a redesign of the workplace into an innovative work environment known as the high-performance workplace. This environment requires a behavior and orientation toward work that go beyond step-by-step task performance. It expects workers at all levels to solve problems, create ways to improve the methods they use, and engage effectively with their coworkers (Bailey 1997; Packer 1998). Knowledge workers who demonstrate this highly skilled, adaptive blend of technical and human relations ability are recognized by employers as their primary competitive edge. Job-specific technical skills in a given field are no longer sufficient as employers scramble to fill an increasing number of interdependent jobs (Askov and Gordon 1999; Murnane and Levy 1996). Many U.S. and international authors point out the importance of continuously developing skills beyond those required for a specific job, and they identify employability skills that enable individuals to prove their value to an organization as the key to job survival. The volume of major studies undertaken in the past 2 decades to identify and describe employability skills underscores their criticality. (For a listing of some of these authors, organizations, and studies, see the references.) There are many definitions of the phrase employability skills. The following updated definition is representative of a synthesis of definitions as they have evolved over time: Employability skills are transferable core skill groups that represent essential functional and enabling knowledge, skills, and attitudes required by the 21st century workplace.

Different social, professional and cultural contexts Essay

When communicating with others we need to consider the context within which we are working. We would need to adapt the way we communicate for different situations, most people do this automatically. Your school should have a range of planned communication for dealing with other professionals; there would be informal communications, meetings and discussions. Talking is not the only way we communicate. The way we respond to others, how quickly we respond either in person, by telephone, email, etc, respecting other cultures, for example in some cultures it is polite to maintain eye contact but not in other cultures. Always make sure you can be understood whether talking to someone or in a letter or email. Social One good way to learn about your school’s culture and much more is to begin investing in relationships with other adults in the school. Value their insights, value them and the relationships you have with them. Read more:  Different reasons people communicate  essay Lunchtime in the staff room can be a good time to have a little chat/conversation or catch up with them. You are likely to find out about children with behavioural problems and how they tackle these issues, what’s coming up next in the school and you are less likely to have the feeling of being left out. If every time you go into the staffroom for lunch, you are seen and heard to be talking loudly on your mobile phone, texting or just doing something else which is alienating you from everyone else, some people may find it rude and disregarding of others and so less likely to include you in conversations. Professional Once you become employed to work in a professional setting like a school, you are representing the school and should conduct yourself in a professional  manner. This professional manner should include the way that you communicate with the pupils and other adults. You obviously cannot use words like ‘lol’,’defo’, and ‘rofl’, when you are sending an email or writing a comment on a child’s work or communicating in a professional way in school. You should always use appropriate language and gestures for children, young people and adults an ensure that they understand what you mean. Cultural Culture is the way that we identify groups of people who share common characteristics including language, values, social practices and attitudes. We are not usually aware of our culture until we meet someone from a different culture. The language, gestures, dressing, mannerisms, etc become obviously different. The same gestures may mean different things in different cultures. For example, in some countries it is generally disrespectful to look at someone directly and boldly in the eyes, especially if they are your senior (older than you, your boss, or of a higher social class/status), whereas in the United Kingdom, not making eye contact can be seen as a sign of dishonesty. If someone avoids making eye contact with you when speaking, perhaps that is the impact of culture – not that they are rude, shy, uninterested or even dishonest. Where ever possible I would learn and adjust to the other person’s culture to ensure that we communicate effectively and if I was unsure I would ask questions (not personal) and try to find out more. Bibliography Book: Heinemann work based Learning – Supporting teaching and learning in schools (primary) by Louise Burnham and Brenda Baker. Websites: www.tafocus.co.uk/qcf-levels-and-units- QCF levels and units/Teaching Assistant Focus.

Behaviorist Revised

By properly incorporating repeated practices and mechanisms in the study of business math, an educator can actively create participation and appreciation of the course objectives. Also by properly incorporating mechanisms for motivation, students can appreciate the way the subject is taught. The overall rationale in creating world problems in teaching business math is to incorporate students the proper attitude and behavior that is deemed to address each problem. This specifically coincides with the notion of a behaviorist approach by Skinner.Skinner is â€Å"one of the behaviorist psychologists saying that a measurable learning outcome is only possible if we change the learner’s behavior. † (Faryadi, 2007, p. 2) Basing from such idea, educators must incorporate the understanding that the students are responsive in the environment they are given into. It is through this that educators must understand the meaning of classical conditioning. This process usually involves h aving a stimuli and response from people.Conditioning students can be a very effective tool for them to acquire the information that they need. â€Å"The most efficient use of conditioned reflexes in the practical control of behavior often requires quantitative information. † (Skinner, 1976, p. 10) The use of examinations can be a gauge to determine their individual development as a student in accordance to guidelines and objectives of the subject. By incorporating exercises and exams, educators can control the tempo and analyze the way students grasp the subject they are studying.In addition, such world problems can help facilitate observable facts that the teacher can use to improve the subject he/she is teaching. It is the overall environment that It is through this rationale that the idea of behaviorism can be applicable in the realm of education. It seeks to foster a different way of arriving on how people learn. â€Å"In other words, behaviorism states that the mind do es not help a person acquire knowledge but instead it is the psychology of the environment which a person lives. † (Faryadi, 2007, p. 3)Recognizing this, there is a need for educators and teachers to create motivational scenarios for students. These activities are called ‘positive reinforcement’ in behaviorism. One example of an activity would be creating a reward system for students who go above the expected results. This will motivate students to study harder on the notion of achieving extra credits. To conclude, creating examinations and exercises by teachers can be very helpful in determining the grasp of student in the subject according to the behaviorist approach.By carefully understanding its relative tenets, educators can facilitate better teaching and imparting of information which is vital in the overall learning process. In the end, such actions can motivate students to learn more given the proper amount of reinforcement. References Faryadi, Q. (2007) B ehaviorism and the Construct of Knowledge in Education Resource Information Center (ERIC). Retrieved March 16, 2008. Skinner, B. F. (1976) Behaviorism. United States; Random House Inc.

Gay Macho: The Life and Death of the Homosexual Clone

â€Å" I n the sence, Gay Macho captures a moment in time, an exuberant period when gay men had thrown off the opprobrium of social stigma as failed men and widely, ecstatically, and somewhat recklessly articulated a new kind of gay masculinity. No more were gay men the â€Å"pitful effeminates† that Magnus Hirschfeld has called them, the inverts, men trapped in woman’s bodies. Gay men were real men , and their sense of themselves as gay was shaped by the same forces by which the experience themselves as men: traditional masculinity. † Pg. 1 Gay Macho, â€Å"Martin P Levine†- â€Å" Raining Men†, The Sociology of Gay Masculinity â€Å"The straight world has told us that if we are not masculine we are homosexual, that to be homosexual means not to be masculine†¦ One of the things we must do is refine ourselves as homosexuals. † – Tony Diaman (1970) Pg. 10 Gay Macho, â€Å"Martin P Levine†- The Clone as a man â€Å"All men in American culture, regardless of the future sexual orientation, learn the male gender role and sexual script, mainly because or culture lacks a anticipatory socialization for adult homosexuality. Regarding same- sex love as a loathsome aberration, the agents of socialization prepare all youths for heterosexual masculinity† – Dank (1971) Pg. 11 â€Å"Camp: a behavioral style entailing the adoption of feminine dress, speech, and demeanor. † Pg. 21 Gay Macho, â€Å"Martin P Levine†- The Birth of Gay Macho â€Å" Gay activists formulated radically different images of the postcloset homosexual (Marotta 1981, chaps. 5-6). Some gay liberationists viewed this man as a politicized hippie who eschewed traditional manliness, conventional aspirations, and established institutions. He avoided the quick sex associated with the sexual marketplace and formed instead lasting relationships. And he wore â€Å"gender fuck† attire that mixed masculine and feminine (beards and dresses). (Marotta – 1981, 144. ) Pg. 28 â€Å"The image heralded the masculinization of gay culture. Gay men now regarded themselves as masculine. The adopted manly attire and demeanor as a means of expressing their new sense of self. They also adopted this look to enhance their physical attractiveness and express improved self-esteem. â€Å" Pg. 28 Since American culture devalued male effeminacy, they adopted manly demeanor and attire as a means of expressing a more valued identity. † Pg. 28 -My question is, is what makes a man? How many times when you think of the idea of a man do you not get caught up my the idea that has been put in front of you because of the culture that we live in. As young boys are given a dress code, G-I Joe’s and swords, and taught to be kni ghts, doctors, and hero’s. What happens when one child doesn’t follow those rules, do we call him a rebel, weird, do we make up an excuse for his behavior, call him queer? The idea of a man is in us all man or woman and the expectations to live up to the idea sometimes are not as easy for some. -BUT YOU JUST WANT TO FIT IN -IS ONE SEX HOLDING BACK? J. Craik, 1994, The Face of Fashion London: Routledge pp 176-203 Fashioning Masculinity – Dressed for comfort or style: fashionless men â€Å"Men’s bodies have never simply stood for sex; consequently, their clothes never have either. Pitty the poor man who wants to look attractive and well dressed, but who feel that by doing so he runs the risk of looking unmanly. † (Steele 1989b: 61) Pg. 177 Men’s appearance has been calculated to enhance their active roles (especially occupation and social status). † Pg. 177 â€Å"The post -1960s reassertion of male fashion and male bodies. † Pg. 178 â€Å" Male fashion has been confined to particular groups and subcultures’, such as ‘gentlemen’, gays, popular entertainers, ethnic groups, and popular subcultura l groups (Almond 1988;consgrove 1989; Kohn 1989; D. Lloyd 1988). Pg. 179 â€Å"Perversely, normatively homophobic sportsmen have engages in blatantly homoerotic activities (touching, embracing, kissing, cuddling) which elsewhere they would denounce. In other words, sports have been ‘the privileged space of the legitimate gaze of male upon male (Miller 1990, pg. 82). † â€Å" Out of the sporting arena, however, the men have continued to eschew signs of masculinity and sexuality. Insofar as clothes articulate masculinity, they display attributes of strength and power rather then male sexual desire and homoeroticism. † Pg. 192 â€Å"Not only have men been reluctant to wear clothes the exude sexuality but they have also been loathe to indulge in other behavior associated with sexual display, including shopping (Pumphrey 1989: 97). Pg. 192 â€Å"Scheuring (1989) has explained the way in which the humble pair of jeans was transformed from practical, rural and blue collar work-clothes into a fashion garment synonymous with youth. † Pg. 194 â€Å" The break came in the early 1950’s when middleclass, white rock singers and film stars (such as Elvis Presely, Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent, Marlon Brando and James Dean) adopted the Levi Strauss 501 style (with button flies) and black leather jackets to convey a ‘tough, rugged, youth-rebel appearance (Ibid. :227). † Pg. 194 The new man is a contradictory composite: one who is becoming more self-conscious of what it is to be a man, and one who sees through the farce of masculinity and all the entrappings that accompany it’ (Gentle 1988: 98). † Pg. 197 â€Å"Male models, too, make eye contact with the viewer, adopt sultry expressions, display their best masculine features, and allow their bodies to be dissected by the camera. Garber has shown that dress code have established the boundries of self through rules concerning status and gender, and the ‘anxieties’ associated with them (Garber 1992: 32). Pg. 203 â€Å"Changing conventions of men’s fashion have entailed re-worked attributes of masculinity that have transformed male bodies into objects of gaze, of display and decoration. This radically undercuts the Victorian and post-Victorian idea of masculinity as the display of restraint in a disciplined body. Finkelstein (1991: 134)† Pg. 203 â€Å" At the more extreme end of high fashion, Gaultier has, fro example, used ‘feminine’ fabrics like lace and silk, sexualized leather garments, and experimented with men’s skirts (Gentle 1988: 99). Pg. 200 â€Å"Gaultier’s collec tions have created controversy because they question and undermine definition of masculinity by creating clothes that are effeminate. (Tredre 1992a: 8). † Pg. 200 A. Bennett, â€Å"Fashion†, 2005, culture and everyday Life, London, Sage pp95-116 Fashion and Masculinity- â€Å"Men’s appearance has been calculated to enhance their active roles’ (Ibid: 176). † Fashion and ethnic identity- â€Å"Fashion also plays significant role in the articulation of ethnic identity in contemporary everyday settings. As back notes, ethnic identity, as with other forms of social identity, can no longer be regarded as â€Å"real† or â€Å" essential† but is rather a ‘multi-faceted phenomenon which may vary through time and place’ (1993: 128). † Pg. 113 * most of the time people with other ideas for the norm are not liked by others. * Masculinity stereotypes * Stereotype: a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing : the stereotype of the woman as the carer | sexual and racial stereotypes.

HR Final Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

HR Final - Essay Example A proposal to convince the president should emphasize that a new training program is critical for the improvement of performance of the employees given that the corporation is a global information technology firm. Training would require that the employees undergo instruction to upgrade their knowledge and skills and to improve their attitudes in order to make them qualified for their respective jobs. Since the global market is constantly evolving, there are training trends and challenges which face the organization that would be addressed by appropriate training. One training trend is hypercompetition. Hypercompetition is a type of highly competitive challenges facing global corporations resulting from greater rates of changes in the environment necessitating adaptive and immediate response from organizations in specific endeavors. The president should be made aware that as a global firm, training is critical for both domestic and international operations due to advancement on technologies and updates in trade agreements. As a consequence, senior management is required to design appropriate strategies to adjust and adapt to challenges in competitive stance in the environment. Another training challenge is in the area of maintaining high level of talents. In response to the demands of the increasingly competitive environment, there are tendencies for products and services to be replicated. The most effective advantage that the organization could count on is their human resources. In this regard, training is necessary to maintain high level of talents and to ensure that they are competent and qualified to respond to advancement in technologies and competitive challenges in the environment. The third training trend is changes in workforce. As universities and institutions to produce newly graduates from diverse fields, training is necessarily required to prepare them for their respective responsibilities. There are identified underutilized group

Development and Training Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Development and Training Paper - Essay Example On overall increase in the performance standards of the company’s staff and to undertake greater and more demanding roles account for the main reason behind development of this training program. Training needs assessment The opening up of new stores in new locations necessarily means that the company must adapt to the wide diverse demands made by the consumers at different locations. For example, stores located in the densely populated and diverse areas might require selling high proportions of specialty goods in order to cater to the requirements of the customers in that area. This means a thorough analysis of the profile of customers in that area. Moreover, stores located at diverse places would require a wide diversity of technical competencies and skills; The organization also requires an employee base with wide skill ranging who would be able to work with high flexibility and would prove to be more productivity for the purpose of the business (The Times 100, 2012). Design ing the training material The first step towards designing the training module would be set the overall goals in training. ... TESCO requires its employees to deliver high technical competence, problem solving abilities, decision making skills, and delegator skills, customer specific skills. The next step would be to decide the exact methods of attaining the learning objectives. This implies completing a course within a required time under basic supervision, addressing major problems and hurdles in the process, or delegating certain employees for undertaking the tasks. Documentation in the training process is an important step in the process, such as course grades could be allocated; written evaluations could be undertaken; decision making and problem solving approaches could be undertaken. Finally assessment and evaluation of the quality of evidence would highlight whether the required goals and objectives were achieved or not (McNamara, n.d.). Development of the training program Training would be primarily provided through internal sources. This would be provided highly sound and experienced technical prof essionals from within the company. This would primarily cater to developing the technical skill aspects of employees. The main aim would to identify the skill and knowledge gaps of employees. Employees along with their managers would identify these gaps and try to remove them by applying the training and development programs. Moreover, the training module would also try to enable employees develop such skills which help them advance in their careers. The idea would be not only to benefit the organization through the training programs but also provide career benefit to the employees at large (The Times 100, 2012). Online training could also be employed as a potential medium of training as it would be accessible for all at any point of time. Moreover, it would also act a manual for

Presentation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Presentation - Essay Example Ernie Davis’s refusal to do this caused all his white teammates to boycott the banquet. Ernie Davis also won the MVP title in the Liberty Bowl. One year yare, in 1961, Ernie Davis won the Heisman Trophy. This trophy meant a lot for Ernie Davis given he was the first athlete of the African American race ever to win the Heisman Trophy. In the year 1979, Ernie Davis was introduced into the College Football Hall of Fame. All his achievements, titles, and awards carried a special meaning for Ernie Davis because he had won them by fighting dual challenge of showing marvelous performance in the games and prejudice against the black athletes in the south. John F. Kennedy passed a salute to Ernie Davis saying, â€Å"Seldom has an athlete been more deserving of such a tribute. Your high standards of performance on the field and off the field, reflect the finest qualities of competition, sportsmanship and citizenship†¦I salute you† (Kennedy cited in â€Å"Ernie