Scottish Government

Interchange 74
Learning Gains from Education for Work

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Sheila Semple, Mary Paris, Patricia McCartney,
Brian Twiddle (National Centre: Education for Work and Enterprise)

Introduction

The term Education for Work is a relatively new one in Scottish Education, dating only from 1997. Even in that short time there has been debate about exactly what is meant by the term.

Learning and Teaching Scotland offers the description:

'Education for Work is one of the key purposes of the curriculum, enabling and preparing young people to:

• face the challenges of life in a rapidly changing society
• live successful lives both now and in the future
• operate confidently and effectively in the changing world of work and the flexible labour markets of the future.

Education for Work is much more than vocational preparation. It is also an essential part of lifelong learning for living'.

( Education for Work: Education Industry Links in Scotland: A National Framework [1999])

For the purposes of this research, Education for Work was taken to have three strands - Education Industry Links, Enterprise Education and Careers Education - since these are the main inputs and activities that occur under the banner of Education for Work.

Many claims have been made about the benefits of Education for Work but little detailed research has been undertaken. This study was funded jointly by Scottish Executive Education Department and Scottish Enterprise who set the research question:

'What do young people learn from Education for Work and part-time employment?'

In this study young people are taken to be S4 to S6 school students and those who have very recently left school.

Methodology

The timescale of this study was one year and therefore it was not possible to use any measures of long term impact. The study concentrated on the learning gains as seen from the perspectives of school students, school leavers, teachers, careers advisers and employers. Information was gathered by means of group discussions, interviews and questionnaires. Each of the respondent groups was asked to identify what employability skills and attitudes young people need to get and keep a job, before going on to identify learning gains from specific activities. These two strands form the basis of the reported findings.

The five schools selected for study provided 245 young people. These schools were chosen because they had above average or good provision in all three strands of Education for Work (EfW) and were about the national average in other measures such as attainment in SQA examinations. It was decided to use schools that were rated highly in EfW to make it easier to identify learning gains. It was remarkably difficult to find schools deemed strong in all three strands, which is an interesting finding in itself.

School students' involvement in EfW activities

There was a wide variation in the number of Education for Work activities experienced by students in the same school. Indeed, the group discussions exposed provision of which students were unaware. The main reasons for such differences were: location of Education for Work in specific subjects - those students who had chosen 'vocational' subjects were more likely to have a range of Education for Work activities in some schools; some activities required students to opt-in, and in some cases students had been unaware that some options were available; some students appeared to have missed out on activities because of staff concerns about possible poor behaviour outwith school.

School students' views on employability skills

We were interested in what school students believed to be important to get
and keep a job, i.e. employability skills. Of the core skills, working with others and communication skills were viewed very positively, but numeracy, ICT and problem-solving were less likely to be thought important. There were variations in these perceptions according to gender and expected attainment.

Gender differences were not unexpected. Most of these differences were in whether the items were rated 'strongly agree' or just 'agree'. Female students were more likely to rate communication skills more highly than males
( 59% compared to 44% strongly agree). They were also more positive about the importance of: being well organised ( 55% compared to 41% strongly agree); being able to work without someone standing over you (68% compared to 52% strongly agree) and being able to do things without being told to do them ( 59% compared to 42% strongly agree); coping with pressure ( 66% compared to 56% strongly agree); and being polite ( 68% compared to 58% strongly agree). On the other hand, male students were more likely to rate being good at solving problems as important ( 28% compared to 14% strongly agree) - in this case there were also significant differences in the percentage disagreeing that this was important.

There were statistically significant differences depending on the expected attainment level of students. In each case this was on a sliding scale:

• The higher the expected level of attainment, the more likely the student was to give a high importance to ICT skills and problem-solving. This may be because the types of jobs they aspired to might be perceived as using these skills.
• The lower the expected level of attainment, the more likely the student was to give a high importance to initiative.

Those students who had a greater career focus were more likely to think that employability skills in general were more important. We took 'career focus' to mean the extent to which students had a definite career idea. It is not clear however what is the direction of this relationship. Does the greater career focus lead to a recognition of the importance of employability skills or does the career 'decision' lead to a consideration of what the job would require?

Most students were confident that they had the personal skills they might need although 28% were not confident about selection interviews and 20% were unsure about completing application forms and letters. A high proportion also believed they had, or knew where to find, the knowledge to secure the kind of job they were interested in. There were some significant differences between schools however. Those schools whose students appeared most confident about their knowledge and skills in applying for jobs and courses were also those which offered mock interview programmes.

The students' perception of their knowledge and understanding of the wider opportunity structure was however much less encouraging. A clear majority thought they knew 'little' or 'nothing' about job opportunities, available training and running your own business.

Factor analysis of student responses suggested different underlying attitudes to employability. There were four different combinations of factors, which we have named to try to encapsulate the main features of these groupings:

1. The 'personal effectiveness' group:

• Work without someone standing over you.
• Being able to work with others.
• Not giving up when faced with problems.
• Coping with pressure.
• Being willing to do different tasks.

2. The 'confidence' group:

• Being able to work with others.
• Not giving up when faced with problems.
• Able to stand up for yourself.
• Being confident.
• Understanding how your work contributes to the success of the company.

3. The 'order and logic' group:

• Being able to work with numbers.
• Being able to work computers.
• Being methodical and neat.
• Being good at solving problems.
• Understanding how your work contributes to the success of the company.

4. The 'fitting into the organisation' group:

• Being a good timekeeper.
• Being well organised.
• Being polite.

Given that employability is such a wide-ranging notion with so many different facets we wondered whether these groupings might form one framework for class-based work on employability.

Learning Gains identified by school students from Education for Work provision

Central to the research was the view of school students on what they perceived they had learned from specific elements of EfW provision. These overall learning gains, as derived from responses in student questionnaires, are summarised in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Learning Gains identified from Education for Work provision

Not surprisingly, work experience was by far the most commonly identified activity as providing the most learning. The learning identified from work experience was primarily grouped under world of work, implications for career decision-making and interpersonal skills (working with others). Aspects from the career education and guidance element of Education for Work were most likely to contribute to learning gains under the headings of knowledge and understanding and implications for career decision-making. Mock interviews and application forms/CV practice were most likely to be thought to provide learning about opportunity search skills.

Perhaps one of the most interesting results was that virtually no perceived learning relating to numeracy or ICT was identified from Education for Work activities. It seems, therefore, ICT and numeracy were skills that were not apparent in Education for Work activities, including those based in the workplace. Even those activities which actually used ICT (e.g. 'used a computer database to find information on careers and work experience') were not identified as having ICT-related learning.

The core skills of numeracy, ICT and problem-solving were rated as less important than others by young people, employers, school staff and careers advisers.

Another notable finding was that very few students indicated that they had learned about links between school subjects and the world of work. This is significant because school staff hoped that the relevance of the curriculum to the world of work would be one of the key learning gains for school students.

Career education elements of EfW were noted as having learning gains in career decision-making, as might be expected. The role of work experience in career decision-making was interesting. It provided a job taster, confirmed career ideas and put students off ideas; however, no-one noted that work experience had given more career ideas nor broadened or extended career possibilities. This latter finding is in contrast to the expectations of employers. Many employers hoped that a by-product of EfW activities (especially work experience) would be that young people would think more positively of their industry and see the range of career opportunities. A number went as far as to say they would hope to attract good school leavers into their industry or their company as a result of their involvement in EfW activities.

Students noted relatively few learning gains related to attitudes and work discipline. This contrasts with what they thought they had gained from part-time work.

What students thought they had learned from part-time work

About two thirds of students had had part-time work at some point. A comparison of Figure 2 with Figure 1 will show that the perceived learning gains from part-time work are quite different from those from EfW provision.

Figure 2: What young people thought they had gained from part-time work

Learning related to the world of work, to knowledge and understanding and to career decision-making is less noted from part-time work than from EfW activities. Instead the most common learning was in working with others/ interpersonal skills.

It does appear that in some respects part-time work is a more powerful learning experience than work experience and this may be due to the greater responsibility given to part-time workers. In other areas work experience appears to provide more learning and this may be due partly to the types of jobs available to part-time workers and partly to the greater preparation and debriefing associated with structured work experience. Schools made little attempt to value and build on the learning gained from part-time work. Indeed some school staff involved in this research expressed anxiety about the impact on examination performance of too much part-time work.

Our findings showed that school students believed that there were ways to improve the extent and quality of EfW experiences. We have classified these under four headings:

More

A common suggestion was that the length of the work experience placement should be increased, or that there should be more than one separate week.

Everyone should have a chance

This particularly applied to mock interview experiences and enterprise activities. Students who had listened to others talking about what they had learned from these two aspects of Education for Work felt that the learning was appropriate for everyone.

Participation rather than observation

This arose in discussions on mock interviews and work experience. School students felt they learned much more when they were actively involved
rather than observing. It seemed clear that, when the actual experience
of undergoing a mock interview was confined to a minority (with the majority observing), the learning gains for the majority were less.

Talking about it

The chance to reflect on what might be learned seemed to open the mind for learning; the chance to review and apply the learning post-experience allowed the learning to be consolidated and remembered. Members of the research team concluded, from their observations of how discussions progressed, that involvement in the research was itself assisting school students to identify learning gains through listening to the experiences of others or through having the chance to reflect and comment on their own total experience of Education for Work to date.

The Perspectives of School and Careers Staff

Our research showed that the ways in which teachers and careers staff viewed EfW could be described under four headings:

• The transition orientation
• The opportunities awareness orientation
• The personal development orientation
• The realism orientation.

Whether an individual teacher's view of EfW affected the emphasis on different learning points and therefore produced variations in learning gains from the same apparent provision was not clear from the research but could benefit from further investigation.

What was clear was that school staff's view of EfW tended to rate most positively those employability skills valued in a school environment, i.e. willingness to keep learning, ability to work with others, listening to instructions and being polite. As with school students, school staff rated
least positively numeracy, ICT and problem-solving.

School staff's perception of the actual learning gains was dominated by the outcomes of work experience although other provision was taken into account. The main learning gains from EfW were considered to be work discipline, knowledge of what employers expect and how they treat staff, working with others and standing on your own feet. Some staff also commented on the value of EfW in motivating young people, particularly those who exhibited challenging behaviour.

The Perspective of Employers

Employers were asked to comment on whether specific employability skills were important for school leavers in getting and keeping a job.

Figure 3: Employers' perspectives on whether specific employability skills were important for school leavers in getting and keeping a job

Figure 3 shows the importance given by employers to each of the employability skills and attitudes covered throughout the research. Employers were generally positive about all the skills and particularly so about being a good timekeeper, willing to learn, taking a pride in the job and listening to instructions. As with other groups they were least positive about numeracy, ICT and problem-solving.

Most of the employers were involved mainly with work experience and so their rating of employability skills probably reflects the context in which they were interviewed. This is also true of their perception of learning gains. We were able to group the learning gains that employers thought school students made from EfW under a number of headings:

• Realising the impact of how they do their work on clients and users of services and businesses
• Changed image of the industry/career/task
• Communication and interpersonal skills
• Differences between school and work
• Confidence and maturity
• Helps career thinking
• Learn to be more responsible for themselves
• The integration of learning and work
• Work satisfactions (or not)
• Work discipline.

Work experience was thought to have most impact when students chose their own placement. Another important aspect was thought to be the nature of family support.

Young people with family support and family experience of employment were thought to perform better on work experience than those from different backgrounds. However it may be the case that young people with less family support learned as much or more than those with family support, but their starting point was further back.

Those employers engaged in enterprise activities identified a significantly wider range of learning gains. Examples included:

• A broader range of communication skills
• A range of attitude changes as young people learned about the need to be efficient
• To be aware of what's going on around them, to be adaptable, confident, persevering and willing to help with a range of tasks
• Entrepreneurial approaches and running a business
• Broad range of interpersonal skills.

It is important to note that these comments were from a very small sample of employers but also that they are based on observation of school students' behaviour from the beginning of the project until the end.

Employers also believed that part-time work was beneficial, specifically for how school students performed on work experience. Those students who had previous part-time work were thought to:

• use their own initiative more
• know that the job had got to be done
• have more insight into what work required
• settle in more quickly
• be better at dealing with the public
• be more mature.

These findings further support the perceived value of part-time work noted in the responses of school students.

In general, employers' perceptions of the differences between the school and the work environment illustrate that there is still some way to go in mutual understanding between school and employer. Some school staff would disagree with employers' descriptions of the different relationships within the school and the workplace, saying that school staff continually try to make young people act in a more adult and responsible way. However, it would probably be true to say that there is a clear difference. The norms of the school are based on the child/adolescent behaviour and stage of development, and the environment is one in which the majority of the school population is young. Work is a different environment, where the majority of the population is adult and norms are based on that of the adult worker. The transition to a different context has the potential to be a powerfully different experience, one that opens young people's eyes to different possible behaviours and attitudes.

The Perspective of School Leavers

The most important employability skills and attitudes as seen in the views of young people who had recently left school and started work were:

• Being a good timekeeper
• Listening to instructions
• Being polite.

Two of these three items overlap with the grouping we described earlier as 'fitting into the organisation' when analysing the underlying factors in school students' responses. It seems that the impact on young people of getting and starting work reinforces the importance for a new employee of fitting into the existing organisation. This is in many ways inevitable, as the young worker is likely to be at the lower end of the pecking order in work and to still be learning and dependent on support from managers and other workers: 'fitting in' is a survival skill in this situation.

Considered less important were, again:

• Numeracy skills
• Being good at solving problems
• ICT.

School leavers believed that the learning gains they had obtained from EfW were:

• Work discipline
• Career decision making
• Working with others
• Communication
• English and PSD were seen as providing relevant learning gains for work.

However some school leavers questioned whether school could ever realistically prepare students for work, echoing the comments made by employers about the differences between school and work. This prompts the question as to whether some EfW activities especially, perhaps, enterprise should be available once young people are in the workforce?

Conclusions and Recommendations

It is clear from the research that EfW activities by school students do produce learning gains in the broad sense in which the term is used in this study. Work experience dominates EfW provision and consequently most of the gains identified are in those employability skills most easily learned on a one-week placement. Other individual activities, e.g. mock interviews and enterprise, provide additional learning gains but these are not usually available to all students.

Given the importance attributed to core skills as an ingredient of employability skills by employers' organisations such as the CBI, it was surprising to see numeracy, ICT and problem-solving consistently rated as less important employability skills. This was perhaps partly due to the perception of what the core skill is about (for example, problem solving may have been interpreted as a skill relevant to maths and science rather than one which deals with life challenges and coping skills) and partly due to the fact that they may be little used on some work experience placements.

Most school students find it difficult to make the links between various EfW activities, suggesting that more needs to be done to maximise the potential learning gains. All schools need not only a programme of EfW but also a system of tracking of students' experiences. Even more important is that students need the opportunity to reflect on their experiences and to link them to a set of outcomes for EfW. What seems to be required is some form of learning log or individual employability development plan. Such a development plan needs to go beyond school and accompany the young person into the workforce. The young person will require continuing support, and the opportunity to provide this sustained support is one of the potential benefits of the bringing together of various organisations into Careers Scotland.

Two particular failures to make links have been identified. Despite the aspirations of school staff, students did not see the links between EfW and the curriculum. One of the major benefits claimed for EfW is the capacity to make the subjects real and meaningful and this study suggests that is not being achieved in the minds of the students. The second area where fruitful links could be made is between EfW and part-time work. All groups of respondents other than school staff were very positive about the gains in employability skills resulting from part-time work. Perhaps the suggested individual employability development plan is one way to capture these potentially rich experiences.

But schools cannot achieve all this alone. Most EfW activities require the support of employers and the research indicates that when employers are engaged in more than just work experience there are additional benefits for both employers and students. Equally EfW needs to be supported by parents and families. Where such support is lacking perhaps there is a role for an
adult mentor.

This research confirms that young people, teachers, careers advisers and employers can and do identify a range of learning gains from EfW and part-time work. Young people's suggestions on key ways in which learning gains might be maximised were echoed by teachers, careers advisers and employers:

• 'More' - increased range of provision
• 'Everyone should have a chance' - consistency and entitlement
• 'Participation rather then observation' - active, experiential learning
• 'Talking about it' - identifying and strengthening learning gains through briefing and debriefing.

Bibliography

CBI (1998) In search of employability. London: CBI Publications Unit

HILLAGE, J. and POLLARD, E. (1998) Employability: Developing a Framework for Policy Analysis. Research Report No. 85. London: DfEE

KILLEEN, J. (1996) "Learning and economic outcomes of guidance" in Watts et al, Rethinking Careers Education and Guidance. London: Routledge

MORRIS, M., NELSON, J., ROBINSON, M., STONEY, S., BENFIELD, P. (NFER) (1999) A Literature Review Of Young People's Attitudes Towards Education, Employment And Training. DfEE

PETHERBRIDGE, J. (1996) Debriefing work experience: a reflection on reflection? British Journal of Guidance and Counselling, Vol. 24, No. 2

POWNEY, J., LOWDEN, K. and HALL, S. (2000) Young People's Life-Skills and the Future (SCRE Research Report No. 98) Edinburgh: SCRE

SAUNDERS, L., STONEY, S. and WESTON, P. (1997) The Impact of the Work-Related Curriculum on 14- to 16-Year-Olds [1]. Journal of Education and Work, Vol. 10, No. 2

SCOTTISH CCC (1999) Work experience. A guide to promoting quality. Dundee: Scottish CCC

SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE (2000) Education for Work in Schools. A report by HM Inspectors of Schools

SEMPLE, S. et al. (1999) Employability: a report to the Director of Education, South Lanarkshire Council. Glasgow: University of Strathclyde

Why Interchange?

Research cannot make the decisions for policy makers and others concerned with improving the quality of education in our schools and colleges. Nor can it by itself bring about change. However, it can create a better basis for decisions, by providing information and explanation about educational practice and by clarifying and challenging ideas and assumptions. It is important that every opportunity should be taken to communicate research findings, both inside and outside the Scottish Executive Education Department (SEED). Moreover, if research is to have the greatest possible impact on policy and practice, the findings need to be presented in an accessible, interesting and attractive form to policy makers, teachers, lecturers, parents and employers. Interchange aims to further improve the Education and Young People Research Unit's dissemination of the findings of research funded by SEED. We hope you will find that Interchange is long enough to give the flavour of the complexities, subtleties and limitations of a research study but concise enough to give a good feeling for the findings and in some cases to encourage you to obtain the full report. Research funded by

The views expressed in this Interchange are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the Scottish Executive or any other organisation(s) by whom the author(s) is/are employed. Copyright © July 2002, Scottish Executive Education Department ISSN 0969-613X Interchange may be photocopied for use within your own institution. A limited number of additional copies can be obtained by writing to the Education and Young People Research Unit Dissemination Officer at the Scottish Executive Education Department, Victoria Quay, Edinburgh EH6 6QQ. File copies for electronic downloading are available on the Scottish Executive server at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/insight/

The Interchange series

1. Homework Policy and Practice
2. School to Higher Education: Bridging the Gap
3. Teaching, Learning and Assessment in the National Certificate
4. Developing School Managers
5. Transition from School to Adulthood of Young People with Recorded Special Educational Needs
6. Discipline in Scottish Schools
7. Training the Trainers' Programmes: Effective Management and Monitoring
8. Introduction of the New Further Education College Council System
9. Young People's Experience of National Certificate Modules
10. Costs and Benefits of Adult Basic Education
11. Performance Indicators and Examination Results
12. An Evaluation of the Advanced Courses Development Programme
13. Staying the Course
14. A Study of Probationer Teachers
15. Making School Boards Work
16. Professional Development through Research
17. Students' Views on SWAP
18. Specific Learning Difficulties: Policy, Practice and Provision
19. Foreign Languages in Primary Schools: the National Pilot Projects in Scotland
20. Towards More School Based Training?
21. Patterns of Attainment in Standard Grade Mathematics 3-6
22. Patterns of Attainment in Standard Grade English 3-6
23. Implementing 5-14: a Progress Report
24. Education-Business Links: Patterns of Partnership
25. Foreign Languages for Vocational Purposes in Further and Higher Education
26. School for Skills
27. Effective Support for Learning: Themes from the RAISE Project
28. Marketing Means Business
29. Adult Education: Participation, Guidance and Progression
30. Studies of Differentiation Practices in Primary and Secondary Schools
31. Health Education: What Do Young People Want to Know?
32. Social and Educational Services for Children Under Five
33. Issues in Teachers' Continuing Professional Development
34. Primary Teachers' Understanding of Concepts in Science and Technology
35. Putting 5-14 in Place: An Overview of the Methods and Findings of the Evaluation 1991-95
36. Implementing 5-14 in Primary Schools
37. Implementing 5-14 in Secondary Schools
38. Provision for Special Educational Needs
39. Methods of Teaching Reading
40. Criteria for Opening Records of Needs
41. Guidance in Secondary Schools
42. Higher Grade Examination Performance (1987-1994)
43. Pupils with Special Educational Needs: The Role of Speech & Language Therapists
44. Evaluation of the National Record of Achievement in Scotland
45. Part-time Higher Education in Scotland
46. Educational Provision for Children with Autism in Scotland
47. Exclusions and In-school Alternatives
48. Devolved School Management
49. Implementing 5-14 in Primary and Secondary Schools: Steady Development?
50. Early Intervention: Key Issues from Research
51. Youth Work with Vulnerable Young People
52. Evaluation of the Technical and Vocational Education Initiative (TVEI) Extension
53. Cost of Pre-School Education Provision
54. Managing Change in Small Primary Schools
55. Baseline Assessment Literature Review and Pre-School Record Keeping in Scotland
56. Schools and Community Education for the Learning Age
57. Accelerating Reading Attainment: The Effectiveness of Synthetic Phonics
58. Teachers' ICT Skills and Knowledge Needs
59. Foreign Languages in the Upper Secondary School: A Study of the Causes of Decline
60. Practices and Interactions in the Primary Classroom
61. Providing Drug Education to Meet Young People's Needs
62. The Attainments of Pupils Receiving Gaelic-medium Primary Education in Scotland
63. The Impact of Information and Communications Technology Initiatives
64. Parents' Demand for Childcare in Scotland
65. Uptake and Perceptions of Early-years' Qualifications
66. Developments in Inclusive Schooling
67. Raising Attainment of Pupils in Special Schools
68. All Day Provision for 3 and 4 Year Olds
69. Pre-School Educational Provision in Rural Areas
70. Gender and Pupil Performance
71. Early Intervention in Literacy and Numeracy
72. Fostering and Secure Care: An Evaluation of CAPS
73. Early Education and Childcare Workforce Survey
74. Learning Gains from Education for Work

Further information

If you have views on Interchange and/or wish to find out more about SEED's research programme, contact the Education and Young People Research Unit, The Scottish Executive Education Department, Room 1B Dockside, Victoria Quay, Edinburgh EH6 6QQ