The hard sell for soft skills
26/04/2007
"Successful innovation requires individuals who seize the initiative and challenge accepted norms, and evidence suggests these traits aren't coming through."
Young people do not fully recognise the value of 'soft' skills such as creativity and adaptability, and don't always see the relevance of these qualities for their future, according to a new report issued today by the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) to coincide with the launch of its Future Innovators programme.
The 'Ready for the Future?' report by Demos, asked 15-16 year olds what qualities they thought would help them get the job they wanted, with being hardworking and reliable being seen as more important than creative skills. Four times as many respondents chose 'hardworking' (67 per cent) compared to being 'creative' (15 per cent) or 'resourceful' (17 per cent), and over three times as many chose 'reliable' (52 per cent)
Similarly, when asked what they felt would improve their chances of getting a job, 'having good ideas' was seen as having limited value. Qualifications came up top (79 per cent had this in their top three), followed by personality (42 per cent). Asked to describe their own personalities, qualities like being hardworking (47 per cent) and reliability (40 per cent) emerged almost twice as often as creativity (22 per cent) and three times as often as resourcefulness (11 per cent).
The report paints a picture of a generation which understands the value of hard work - 90 per cent believe if you work hard you'll usually succeed. But with more and more employers identifying skills like creativity as key to the workforce of the future, NESTA CEO Jonathan Kestenbaum warns:
"There is a potential disconnect between employers' demands and young people's skills and perceptions. While it's important that young people understand the need to work hard and gain qualifications, there is a danger they are missing out on some of the wider skills that will allow them to drive the expansion of an innovative economy".
Entrepreneurial spirit needs to be nurtured
For most of today's 15-16 year olds, there is no illusion about the level of competition awaiting them in later life, with almost 70 per cent believing it will be 'hard' or 'very hard' to find a job in their chosen career.
Perhaps it is this understanding of the difficulties associated with making it big in a chosen career that has steered today's teens to desire what they perceive to be reliable options. Of all those questioned, only 4 per cent indicated they want to start their own business when they're older.
For the majority, 43 per cent, setting up on their own remains something they haven't even thought about. With only just under a third dismissing the idea, and 23 per cent expressing some interest in finding out more, awareness seems to be a key issue, suggesting that more should be done to promote the opportunities offered by entrepreneurship.
In terms of career drivers, while having a job that's 'interesting' emerges as the most important factor for many (33 per cent), for others more practical concerns like pay (26 per cent) and reliable career prospects (18 per cent) come into play.
Young people learn most from parents
The report also looks at the influences on young people and where they learn most from. 'Parents and family' were identified ahead of school (39 per cent vs 37 per cent), showing the importance of both formal and informal learning environments.
The internet emerged as the third most popular learning resource, with 15 per cent of those questioned citing the web as where they learn the most from compared to just 2% choosing books. A generation of 'digital natives' appears to be influenced not just in the home - but through the home computer.
Helen Gresty, Executive Director of Innovation Programmes at NESTA said:
"An understanding of young people's attitudes toward the working world is a useful starting point to ensure that they both possess and have an accurate view of the skills they will need in the future. Successful innovation requires individuals who seize the initiative and challenge accepted norms, and evidence suggests these traits aren't coming through.
"Through the Future Innovators programme we will be working with educators, voluntary organisations and young people themselves to better nurture creativity and self-belief through both formal and informal learning environments".
NESTA'S Future Innovators is a systematic, practice-focused programme designed to uncover and stimulate the skills and attitudes in young people that are necessary for them to become innovators in the future. The findings from pilot projects supported through Future Innovators will be disseminated widely in order to influence other practitioners and the wider education landscape.
The report, by Demos researchers Hannah Green and Duncan O'Leary, analyses polling done by GfK NOP in March 2007 with 309 15-16 year olds across the country.
NESTA spokespeople are available for comment and interview. Please contact our press office on 020 7438 9608.
NESTA
NESTA is the National Endowment for Science, Technology & the Arts. With endowed funds of over £300 million, our mission is to transform the UK's capacity for innovation. We do this in three main ways: by working to build a more pervasive culture of innovation in this country; by providing innovators with access to early stage capital; and by driving forward research into innovation, with a view to influencing policy.
NESTA Future Innovators
NESTA'S Future Innovators Programme aims to develop the skills and attitudes needed by young people for the future economy. We do this by supporting the professionals and institutions that work with young people, to test new approaches and disseminate ideas and resources about 'education for innovation'.
The new programme will be formally launched at NESTA's London offices on Thursday, 26 April 2007.