The confidence to succeed in the future
by Leila Thompson
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The confidence to succeed in the future
Too much focus on qualifications?
I do worry about getting a job in the future. Jobs and placements seem to be getting much more competitive; even finding a week’s work experience is proving to be difficult for me. Obviously, things like coursework and homework teach us skills such as time-management and sticking to deadlines, but I don’t always feel that everything we are learning has relevance to the world of work. I don’t feel that school is necessarily helping with my social development or confidence – things that I think are equally as important as studies, especially when it comes to attending interviews or applying for jobs in the future.
Much of what we seem to be doing in school is focusing on the qualifications that we will need in order to obtain work, and teachers work hard to try and ensure that we are getting the best grades possible, and so, I do think they are trying to prepare us as much as they can.
Skills for the world of work
Work experience and a day of work-shadowing in Year 10 are compulsory at my school and aim to show us what the world of work is like, and encourage us to do well so that we can get good jobs. In terms of the skills which I believe to be necessary in the workplace, I think that communication is a key one. I am not a ‘people person’, something which made my day of work-shadowing last year rather daunting, as I was in an office with around 20 strangers. I also think that academic skills are necessary, although the relevance of some things learnt at school isn’t always obvious.
In the future, it is my belief that work will involve communication and interaction with countries all over the world, including developing nations. I think that confidence will still be key as with more people going into further education and university the workplace will be far more competitive, and those applying for jobs will have to show that they are more than just intelligent enough to get good grades. Schools will have to take some of the responsibility here, as it will still be important to show that students are capable academically.
Also through the extra curricular activities they offer, they can help us to become more rounded people. However, I also think that students have to help themselves as well; we can’t just expect everyone else to support us throughout our lives. But how do we go about preparing ourselves, especially when we don’t know for sure what kind of skills we will need?
My school has tried one way: to show us career options from an early age (11 or 12) and to use these to help us find out what skills we will need. In Year 9, we were taken for careers guidance, using computer programs to help us choose our options and the best careers for us.
Once armed with the information, we were then able to research careers, finding out exactly what grades and personal requirements were needed to help us get into those industries. This was a good approach, as it has given me a clear idea of what sort of work I want to be doing in the future but, at the same time, it puts a lot of pressure on students to decide exactly what they want to be doing when we won’t start work for a good few years yet. So at school, developing skills, such as confidence, is as important as qualifications and early careers guidance.
About the author
Leila Thompson is a 15 year old student at the Latymer School, Edmonton where she is currently studying for GCSEs. She is on the national council for ESSA (the English Secondary Students Association), an organisation run by students for students so they can have a voice on issues which affect them at school or college.
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