Work-Based Learning

When this Bearing, Work-Based Learning, was first written, it was written with the intent of focusing on actual students learning careers through jobs as well as schooling. Upon returning to this topic, Work-Based Learning is being viewed from the perspective of classroom students working together on problems, projects, and ideas in a way that will stretch their learning and prepare them to be better participants in life. When one looks at the list at the bottom of this page that refers to the top 15 employability skills, those same skills are valued in a work-based learning environment. They might even help to serve as guidelines as teachers try to create community classrooms that respect the whole, as well as the individual.

When students feel that they are a part of a larger classroom community, they become less focused on themselves and more invested in the good of the group as a whole. Middle school students are especially concerned with two things: themselves and how they fit in with others.

A work-based learning environment gives them a chance to know themselves better and discover new ways to be a part of a group. They are given multiple and varied learning situations in which to interact with their peers. Since the teacher constantly works to create a community-focused culture, the layers of social hierarchy that are so much a part of an adolescent's life are largely stripped away, allowing each student to discover himself or herself in a learning environment. Am I a leader? Am I good at getting others to come to common ground? Do I work better when I talk things out? Do I need to see things written down, or do I get it more easily when I hear it? How am I different than others? How am I the same? Do I want to change? Do I like the way I am? How do I feel when I take a risk? Will I be okay if I get it wrong?

Creating a classroom community requires a few basic, fundamental guidelines:

Social Learning

Social learning (social pedagogy)

Social learning refers to the acquisition of social competence that happens exclusively or primarily in a social group. Social learning depends on group dynamics.

In social pedagogy social learning is seen as a way to overcome hierarchical, linear behaviouristic learning and is supposed to further individual democratic development. A special emphasis is put on the advancement of reason, ethics and moral courage. Social learning promotes the development of individual emotional and practical competence as well as the perception of oneself and the acceptance of others with their individual competencies and limitations.

Top 15 Employability Skills

(Developed by top U.S. industry leaders in a survey of secondary educators in 1994 to determine whether educators felt their students were prepared for the workforce). In no particular order:

1) Good attitude

2) Commitment

3) Basic technical skill

4) Basic communication/writing and math skills

5) Adaptable and flexible

6) Dependable

7) Open to further learning

8) Customer service skills

9) Punctual

10) At work every day

11) Teamwork skills

12) Problem-solving skills

13) Computer skills

14) Leadership skills

15) Some work experience

The survey concluded that over 2,000 educators in over 10 states indicated that only 25-30% of their high school graduates possessed sufficient skills in the 15 areas to be employed.

Why a Need for Change in the Way We Teach?

- Although much of U.S. public schooling is spent on preparing students for college, most do not attend or complete college.

- The U.S. has fallen behind in preparing our youth for a competitive workplace. We are outdated.

- We must ask ourselves, "What is our purpose?"

- The time has come to shift from learning for knowledge (an ideal stemming from an English elitist educational system) to learning to work.