Doing well in education can mean a person transfers that knowledge and does well in the world of work, but not always.
In education, we often measure and compare.
- The level of a person’s educational achievement is measured by their qualifications – their degree, their college diploma, their doctorate.
- A grade achieved in an exam or assignment.
- If a person completes a course, it is assumed that they have a certain level of knowledge
- Their IQ
Measuring Education
Everyone is different. Two students completing the same course may come out with different “measures” of education.
- They might achieve different grades in their assignments. Student A might consistently get good grades, whilst Student B is around the middle grade.
- They might achieve different grades in a final exam. Student A might get a high grade of 80%, whilst Student B just passes with 51%.
They both set off into the world of work to try and get jobs.
Student A is obviously the better candidate??
Not necessarily.
- Student B is keen to learn. Student A thinks that they know most of it, so don’t need to improve.
- Student B has good soft skills, enabling them to work well as part of a team and communicate well with others. Student A prefers to work as an individual.
- Student B is adaptable, enabling them to move from different jobs, get promoted and even change careers. Student A finds it hard to adapt to change.
- Student B is well organised and punctual. Student A is often late and disorganised.
- Student B realises that they don’t know everything and studies hard to improve their knowledge. They also are keen to learn on the job, asking questions and improving their skills and knowledge as they work. Student A thinks that their course has given them enough training so that they know what they are doing.
So, who is the better candidate?
Student A might have done better in education, but that does not mean that they are the better person in the workplace. In fact, Student B, who struggled with education, actually performs better at work.
This is why we have to be careful.
Measuring education is not the only way in which we should judge a person’s worth.
Other Skills
Assignment results and exam results tell us that a person is good at doing well in assignments and exams.
IQ (intelligence quotient) tests were developed many years ago and are still used as an indicator of someone’s intelligence in many settings.
They can be used to –
- Stream children at school – determining what class they are in based on their IQ.
- Determine if a student is accepted on a particular course
- Decide if a person is intelligent enough to be offered a particular job. They are used often in recruitment.
However, the results often tell us that a person is good at answering IQ test questions. It doesn’t mean that they can use that knowledge in other situations.
A Good Measure?
Education does not always measure how good a person is at –
- Soft skills, such as punctuality, time management, teamwork, communication
- Adapting to different situations – in the modern world, adaptability is increasingly important
- Being willing to learn – are they willing to continue to learn and expand their knowledge to improve their performance at work?
Some Benefits of Education Cannot Be Measured
The benefits of education cannot always be measured.
If we go back to Student A and Student B, if we were asked to measure how good they are likely to be at their job when they leave education, it would be hard to measure. We might think Student B would do 75% well in the world of work, but Student A might only do 60% well. How can we measure this?
We can see that Student A did better than Student B in their exams and on the course, but we cannot measure how well they will do in the workplace afterwards.
This suggests that measures like assignment and exam grades do not necessarily tell us how a person will perform in the “real world.”
Does This Mean Education Is a Waste of Time Then?
No, of course not.
Education can provide people with a base of information and knowledge.
If a person wants to study agriculture, for example, they might –
- Study a course or courses
- Get work experience
Taking courses is important –
- It provides students with useful knowledge on theories and skills.
- It enables them to recognise what they might be good at and where they need to improve.
- It provides them with that essential starting point to develop their career.
Traditional education often prepares people to pass their assignments or their exams. It does not necessarily prepare the student for the world of work.
It may not help them to develop other essential skills, such as –
- The desire to learn, and to learn throughout their lifetime
- Adaptability
- Soft Skills
- The skills that they need to do the job in the real world
- Generalist Skills needed
This is where less traditional courses and education providers can be so important. They will recognise the need for the student to develop the skills and knowledge to do the job in the real world, not just to pass exams. Education should make people THINK !
So, education is essential! But how we measure education should be seriously considered.
Opportunities for Education Providers
When thinking about studying a course, we assume that many students will head towards the accredited courses, but research by the Australian Bureau of Statistics found that the majority of students over 25 are actually studying non-formal qualifications. The way that adults are training and learning is changing !
Think about what students need to work in the modern world.
- Do they need to pass exams? Possibly. Some jobs do require that you pass certain exams, for example, the medical profession.
But for many careers, courses that provide students with the skills required to work in the real world are far more important. They need the skills, information and knowledge to work well in the modern world.