The Real Curriculum Students Need

Jobs are increasingly hard to get nowadays, you might have students that have gone through the expected route of getting an education, graduated with a degree and now have to deal with the frustration of not being able to secure their dream job. Several pieces of research from various channels shows that an increasing number of students are not getting job offers upon graduation.

So what is the solution if graduates are not able to get jobs upon graduation, the old formula seems to work less efficiently than it used to in the past which included getting an education, then get a job, rise through the ranks and finally retire with a sizeable pension.

How do we train and equip students going through these changes. We need to rethink the way that children are being trained today and what the expectation or end goal of getting an Education is. For one the focus needs to change from getting a job to rather being able to earn a living. Earning a living means getting paid or earning wages in exchange for services rendered, this does not have to be tied to getting a job in the traditional sense.

Getting an Education in the structured way is a basic framework for the average person to gain skills, mature, learn and pickup necessary skills to be an independent, self-sufficient adult who can fend for him or herself.

The real curriculum for developing students into the adults they will become has to be one that teaches them to keep learning, be open-minded, understand his or her natural skills and interests and is able to potentially earn a living from an extension of this. This should be the main focus of developing students ready for their future.

As part of this "Real Curriculum" the skills taught should include these life skills -

· Knowledge - Learning to be hungry for information, a curiosity for knowledge and thereby always looking for answers and understanding should be cultivated. The days of cramming enough information to pass an examination are over. Students need to be able to understand and apply what they are taught.

· Skills and Talents - The ability to identify their skills and talents, everyone is wired with their particular God given talents. It is much more effective when these are identified, nurtured and maximized to the point that the students are able to earn a living from the skills and talents. So if your child likes to draw? Encourage him or her to take drawing classes and become very good at it, stretch them be entering into competitions to grow their confidence.

· Self-motivation - The future might involve self-employment right out of university vs. getting a traditional job. The ability to motivate themselves and not always wait to be told what to do will be critical.

· Ethics- Work ethics have long-term benefits and will always outlive short-term quick win practices in business. Businesses that have lasted generations have Corporate Governance (structures and ethics) as their bedrock. There are several ways for students to learn this through being taught, case studies and gaining actual experience from an appropriate age.

· Teamwork - The ability to learn to work with people in a team is critical. As an employee there will be need to work as a team with other colleagues. Even more importantly as a potential self-employed individual, there is a need to manage a team to realize the dreams of his or her business and company.

· Self-regulation - The ability to self regulate is important, more than ever before there is an abundance of things that can fill the time. The ability to understand the importance of work-life balance is not suddenly learnt when they have families they will need to care for and spend quality time with. Being a workaholic is not attractive.

These are some of the ways we can attempt to equip our children and students with skills they require to tackle a world where the typical 9 to 5 jobs are harder to come by and might not necessarily be their path to 'Earning a living'

What do you think about this shift in thinking - Earning a living from your Skills and Talents rather than relying on getting a traditional 9 to 5 job?

Article source: http://eslarticle.com/pub/lesson-planning/114862-The-Real-Curriculum-Students-Need.html