Developing professionalism in new IT graduates? Who needs it?

A new graduate may require a period of ‘acclimatisation’ through a process of ‘developing their professionalism’ to fit into their work environment. The e-Skills UK Technology Counts Insights 2010 report suggests that 110,500 new entrants a year are required to fill IT & Telecoms professional job roles, with 20,800 coming from education (predominantly graduate level and higher). However, 43% of recruiters were reporting a lack of suitable candidates for IT & Telecoms posts where growing importance will be placed on relationship management, business process analysis and design, project and programme management. IT & Telecoms professionals are increasingly expected to be multi-skilled, with sophisticated business and interpersonal skills as well as technical competence. As the report also says: ‘UK growth will continue to be primarily in high-value roles with an increasing need for customer and business-oriented skills as well as sophisticated technical competencies.’ The diverse needs and requirements of the IT sector, as specified by various employer groups and professional bodies including BCS, IET, eSkills, the CBI and the SFIA Foundation, are discussed. According to the CBI, ‘62% of entrants to the IT sector need to draw on managerial and professional business skills almost immediately.’ For organisations to succeed, their IT graduate recruits must supplement their IT skills with managerial and professional business skills. Well considered CPD will ensure that recent graduates can enhance their ‘academic’ skills with the necessary work-based skills for the benefit of both themselves and their new employer. The focus of the improvement will balance the student-centred needs for development and the engaging employer’s commercial needs

Perception of Employers' in Transforming Technical and Vocational Education and Training vis-a-vis Emerging Technology Tools for Sustainable Workforce Development in Nigeria

Economic competitiveness of a country depends to a large extent on the skills of its workforce. The skills and the competencies of the workforce, in turn, are dependent upon the quality of the country’s education and training. Education and training are undergoing continuous change, and this change poses more challenges to the 21st-century workforce, and to training institutions. Despite the importance of TVET in transforming economic development, of any nation, Nigeria still has different perspectives about the competency of its TVET graduates. Therefore, the paper aims at determining the perceptions of Organized Private Sector (OPS) employers’ regarding the competency of TVET graduates and the role of emerging technology tools in transforming TVET for a sustainable workforce development. Using a descriptive survey research design and a sample of 80 OPS employers. A validated and piloted questionnaire based on a 5-point Likert scale used as the data collection instrument for the study. Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics including means, standard deviation and ANOVA. Data analysis was facilitated using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Findings revealed that employers were not satisfied with the competency level of TVET graduates as it is showed that they are not well prepared to enter the competitive workforce and to be self-reliant. Given the nature and complexity of the field of TVET for a sustainable workforce, it was recommended that the utilization of adequate planning and management of emerging technology tools and resources in teaching TVET programs could contribute enormously to the quality and sustainability of the Nigerian workforce

Innovations in Vocational Education and Training – a Successful Paradigm Shift within the Dual System in Germany

In the 1990s, the system of dual vocational education and training (VET) witnessed the beginning of a restructuring, leading to a paradigm change away from emphasizing the holistic nature of the concept. Instead the work-process orientation was now considered the core asset of the concept. This step came as a surprise because the dual approach with the companies as the contractors for apprentices had implied that training had always been carried through in a practice oriented way on the basis of work-processes. Both educational planners and social partners were apparently convinced that this was no longer the case. It was generally agreed: Vocational training could no longer cater to the requirements of the industry. This article attempts to shed more light on the reasons for the necessity of a reform of the vocational education and training system. In this context central reform steps necessary to secure the future of the VET system (with the “dual” system as pivotal point) will be presented and discussed by focusing on the work-process orientation. Finally, some critical reflection will be added regarding the “transition system” which has more and more emerged as a parallel system of the “dual” system. (Orig.)In den 1990er-Jahren wurde damit begonnen, das System der dualen Berufsausbildung zu restrukturieren. Dies führte zu einem Paradigmenwechsel, der die Arbeitsprozessorientierung in das Zentrum der Neugestaltung stellte. Es überrascht, dass dieser Schritt getan wurde, weil der duale Ansatz mit den Betrieben als Vertragsgeber für Auszubildende ja erwarten lässt, dass immer sehr praxisnah und damit entlang von Arbeitsprozessen ausgebildet wurde. Das schien jedoch nach Auffassung von Bildungsplanern und Sozialpartnern nicht mehr der Fall zu sein. Zumindest – so der Tenor – wurde die Ausbildung den betrieblichen Anforderungen nicht mehr gerecht. Im Artikel werden die Gründe für die Notwendigkeit der Reformierung des beruflichen Ausbildungssystems beleuchtet. Darüber hinaus werden zentrale Reformschritte zur Zukunftssicherung des Ausbildungssystems (mit dem „dualen“ System als Dreh- und Angelpunkt) vorgestellt und diskutiert, wobei die Arbeitsprozessorientierung im Mittelpunkt steht. Eine knappe kritische Betrachtung erfolgt zudem aus der Perspektive des Übergangssystems, welches als Parallelsystem neben dem „dualen“ System entstanden ist. (Orig.

Adopting appropriate teaching models to develop knowledge and skills to academic standards in the accounting discipline

Cooperative learning models of teaching are the most suitable teaching models for the development of professional accounting competencies in the accounting discipline. Currently, the role of accountants has changed from being a technical job to more client-oriented job. The teaching and learning of accounting has been changing to match the challenges of this new accounting role. Universities are searching for a number of strategies to teach the professional accounting competencies that are required. The Australian accounting teaching and learning standards provide a thorough set of criteria for determining what is necessary in accounting education. Joyce, Weil, and Calhoun categorised a wide variety of teaching models into four families including: information processing, behavioural, personal, and social models. This paper applied the Australian accounting teaching and learning standards criteria to the models of teaching by Joyce, Weil and Calhoun to evaluate which teaching and learning model would be most appropriate to teach future accountants. The findings indicate that the social interdependence theory and the cooperative learning model are the most appropriate to test for teaching accounting in the accounting discipline

Educational Policies for Integrating College Competencies and Workforce Needs

Explores the challenges of workforce development for a global economy in Brazil, Mongolia, Ukraine, and the United States, with a focus on basic skills development, internships, and the role of stakeholders. Recommends policy and curriculum changes

Holistic analysis of the effectiveness of a software engineering teaching approach

To provide the best training in software engineering, several approaches and strategies are carried out. Some of them are more theoretical, learned through books and manuals, while others have a practical focus and often done in collaboration with companies. In this paper, we share an approach based on a balanced mix to foster the assimilation of knowledge, the approximation with what is done in software companies and student motivation. Two questionnaires were also carried out, one involving students, who had successfully completed the subject in past academic years (some had already graduated, and others are still students), and other questionnaire involving companies, in the field of software development, which employ students from our school. The analysis of the perspectives of the different stakeholders allows an overall and holistic) view, and a general understanding, of the effectiveness of the software engineering teaching approach. We analyse the results of the questionnaires and share some of the experiences and lessons learned.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio