This blog posting represents the views of the author, David Fosberry. Those opinions may change over time. They do not constitute an expert legal or financial opinion.
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Posted on 10th April 2024 |
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I have rather mixed feelings about this article on Euronews. They report that "75% of employers in 21 European countries could not find workers equipped with the right skills in 2023". That figure rose to 82% in Germany and Greece. At first glance this seems to be an education problem, but I am not so sure. As a long-term resident in Germany I know from personal experience that the required qualifications for many jobs are simply too stringent; the same is true in many European countries. The concept of acquiring skills through work experience is almost non-existent, in Germany and most of Western Europe. As a freelance contractor, I was luckily able to sidestep many of the requirements that apply to permanent employees, but to be employed in my industry one must have the right qualifications to work as a manager, developer or tester. My partner Sheryl has also been caught out by this: she is still taking a leadership/management course that is specific to her industry, because it is a mandatory requirement imposed by the German government, even though she is probably better qualified to teach the course than the actual instructors. Even people with qualifications usually have issues with the requirements, if they qualified in another country. You may have the appropriate certificates, but the government will decide whether they qualify you for a job, on a case by case basis. The only country that I know of that is worse in this respect is New Zealand, which typically requires immigrants to re-qualify in their profession before they can work. This applies to managers, doctors, nurses, lawyers, accountants etc. My father was an experienced manager in TV and radio repair in the UK, but when he moved to New Zealand he was paid as a technician until he re-qualified (6 months to take all the local exams - at least he didn't have to actually sit in a classroom or work under supervision to get all his NZ technical tickets). There are other issues at play here. People now entering the workforce don't seem to be as committed to education: they may drop out, change subjects mid-course, or simply fail the exams. It may be a case of "the world owes me a living" syndrome. Nevertheless, some of the shortage of skilled labour could be eased by making the qualification requirements a little less tough, and recognising certificates issued in other countries. Time for a bit of common sense, I feel, although common sense seems to be in woefully short supply nowadays. |
Posted on 18th September 2018 |
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This story on Inquisitr just shows how messed up the world has become. Diane Douglas, soon to depart her position as Arizona State Superintendent, has hired a creationist, Joseph Kezele, who believes that dinosaurs were on Noah’s Ark, to help schools decide how best to teach evolution in science classes across the state. Joseph Kezele said "Plenty of space on the ark for dinosaurs – no problem." Whatever happened to facts, science and basic common sense? I am so glad that I don't have children (more likely grandchildren at this stage) going to school in Arizona. I suppose that this is what happens when you let religion and ideology interfere with education. |
Posted on 25th August 2014 |
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The people described in these stories, from the BBC and from The Atlantic, really don't deserve to have places at university. What they describe is a growing trend in education in the USA. The BBC story covers the case of students at Duke University who refused to read an assigned book because they feel they "would have to compromise [their] personal Christian moral beliefs to read it" (the book deals fairly explicitly with homosexual relationships). The story in The Atlantic, which is rather more comprehensive, talks about law students at Harvard asking professors not to teach rape law, and also describes the lengths that professors now need to go to to avoid offending their students (and to avoid the resulting complaints). I have serious problems with both the above examples:
Bear in mind that we are not talking about dodgy third rate universities here. According to this review, Harvard ranks second in the USA, and Duke is at number 8; these are the places where future leaders of government and business are educated. To some extent I blame the universities for failing to enforce standards of education: censorship has no place in education. Time to stop coddling these students. Maybe they should be thrown out, and their places given to someone who would properly appreciate the privilege of a good education. |
Posted on 24th June 2014 |
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I have to wonder whether any of the people at the CBI (Confederation of British Industry) referred to in this BBC News story ever actually went to school. They certainly didn't go to my school. I remember making my subject choices at school. I was not particularly good at languages at school, but even then (many years ago) I understood that languages might make a huge difference to my work options. The problem was that I was not given the option: to do a foreign langauge in the 6th form, I would have had to drop one of my science classes. That really defeats the object, To use a foreign language to make me more employable in a science or engineering job, I need both the language and the science education. When politicians say that "more children [are] learning languages", what they really mean is that more are learning languages instead of science, rather than in addition. This is typical a politician's answer: the appearance of relevant facts, but not actually relevant, and the appearance of doing something to improve education, when in fact making it worse. The whole topic of languages in addition to science or engineering subjects is not even addressed in the BBC article, so maybe I should blame the BBC, and the author (Judith Burns). |
Posted on 2nd May 2014 |
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Did I misunderstand, or is the eductaional system really that stupid? This story describes a "new" initiative to have people go to schools and explain about their jobs. The supposedly new part is that the pupils will get an explanation of "how lessons relate to their future careers". Excuse me, but isn't that the very reason for having people come and explain about their jobs? Such visits have been going on for a long time, in many countries, under several guises (parents coming in to talk about their jobs, organisations volunteering and professionals being invited by the schools). Seriously, in all this time, no-one thought that maybe the whole point was to explain how studying, and the choice of study subjects, related to careers and career choices? |