'Korea should make vocational training more attractive'
The Korea Times, Dubai, 26 March 2014 - An education expert called on Korea to make vocational training more attractive by integrating it into the curriculum so that students are not forced to choose between academic and skills routes.
“Korea is facing a problem that the West has already
encountered, which is that industries can’t find the skills, and
graduates don’t have the work,” said Chris Kirk, CEO of GEMS Education
Solutions, the education consultancy division of GEMS Education, an
international education company.
He made the remarks in an
interview with The Korea Times at the second annual Global Education and
Skills Forum held in the Gulf city from March 15 to 17.
He
pointed out that Korea’s rapid economic development was a result of it
powering itself through with skills, technology and industry. Now, it
has its share of developed economy crises that are familiar in Europe
and the United States, according to Kirk.
“The West has always
looked at Korea as a country that has really strong links amongst its
training, employment system and industry,” he said. “In Korea, you’ll
want to do many things to try and recapture that link. You need to
refocus on the skills agenda as well as the graduates’ agenda.”
Kirk
explained the ease of parents wanting their children to be as highly
educated as they can be, as society recognizes that the returns on being
a graduate are among the highest one can have.
“But then you
have this lack of esteem for the vocational sector, which is often seen
as the lesser track,” he warned. “You need to find ways to make
education not only relevant to the things that people are going to go on
and do in the world of work, but also to make it relevant to the
employers themselves.”
He pointed out that many colleges are
staffed with lecturers who have never been a direct part of the industry
they’re training in. He questioned how such lecturers can have the
depth, passion and detail for the skill if they haven’t really been
involved.
“It wasn’t such an issue in Korea, but it has become
more significant in the last five or 10 years,” he said. “If we’re going
to have children spend 12 years in school, and they graduate without
the skills they actually need in the workplace, then what have we been
doing with all this money and time?”
Kirk suggested institutions
find ways to integrate skills training into the curriculum. He referred
specifically to three types of skills ― the basic skills of
employability, including resilience, teamwork and leadership;
professional skills, such as project management, finance and
engineering; and employer-based skills through learning at institutions
such as the CISCO Academy and the Microsoft Academy.
“This is
where businesses really need to back education,” Kirk said. “In Korea,
you would probably have LG or other major employers actually offering
certification in engineering programs or design programs that they
recognize and have accredited.”
But he warned that CSR funding in education by businesses is not a sustainable way to deliver all the education needed.
“Rather,
we need to make it a core part of what businesses do,” he said. “It
helps them motivate their staff, attract great employees and do some of
their recruitment and filtering whilst providing training.”
He added, “Most importantly, it will help them deliver a sustainable skills industry.”
Source: http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2014/03/181_154089.html
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