Are 'Lifeskills' still taught in secondary schools today?

BennyC

BennyC

BennyC

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Today I was presented with the CV & covering letter from a local 19 year old looking for work.

Unfortunately we have no vacancies at current, nor do we have any roles that would match his particular skill set. So I sent a reply letter to politely let him know and also commend him for his efforts to find work in the current economic climate (handing his letter in in person) and also another letter detailing some improvements to his CV & cover letter to make himself more attractive & desirable to potential future employers. In a bid to give him something positive to take away from the experience rather than another rejection/dead end.

Now I have only just turned 23 myself but my CV at 19 years old was no where near as 'lacking' (poorly punctuated, messy, full of waffle and badly presented) as his and it made me wonder if they are still teaching what used to be called 'Lifeskills'?. Where for one period per week you would study something useful as a class. We once had a bank employee come and explain budgeting (give us some simple exercises to do etc), we would discuss other pressing ethical and economic issues and generally be taught things that actually had some use and practical application in the real world. I did also ponder that if this example was indicative of the general standard of CV's from the younger generation it could make sense as to why they are struggling to find employment.

I know there is more focus on application writing during sixth form with UCAS & university but we were given some guidance whilst in secondary education which proved to be quite useful.

So I guess this is a question for some of our younger members that are currently in education or for any of those members that can remember their secondary education! :p

BennyC
 
At my secondary we did, it was called PSHE but most of it was talking about how drugs were bad and sex education. There wasn't any cookery/finance/CV advice which would have actually been useful.
 
I think it's just the system makes it seem the worst subject out of the lot besides RE. For us, that sort of thing came under GS I think, General Studies. Whatever it was, there wasn't a dedicated teacher for it.
 
When I was at school it was covered in P.S.H.E. at year 11 and below and then some more in General studies and a Careers class when in post 16. Most of us just treated is as a joke as we had better thing to be doing, other work for more important subjects, studying for exams or just messing around.
 
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I work in primary, but I have to say, you saying his CV was "badly punctuated, full of waffle and poorly presented" doesn't surprise me. In general, even over the 3-4 years I've been working full time as a teacher, it never fails to surprise me how bad some children's grammar and punctuation are. Children as a rule sit in front of a TV or computer when they get home - I used to love writing stories etc, but it doesn't happen any more.

People now write in shorthand text/email speak so much that I think a lot of people have forgotten how to use correct English.

No matter how many times I teach the different rules in as many different ways as I can think of, they learn it there and then but don't apply it to their work.

We have decided that it is going to be a HUGE focus for us as a school next year, really trying to improve children's basic grammar, as it's getting worse and worse. I don't know if young people don't believe it's that important any more but it's a massive turn-off to future employers if you can't even spell and punctuate properly.

Well done for trying to give the lad some feedback - I know that when I was applying for jobs (even ones that were advertised), I lost count of the number of schools that didn't even bother to send an acknowledgement that they had received my application :mad:
 
RomanNose said:
At my secondary we did, it was called PSHE but most of it was talking about how drugs were bad and sex education. There wasn't any cookery/finance/CV advice which would have actually been useful.
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This for me too.

We did spend some time covering CV's though. Not that I cared at the time.
 
vicisthebest said:
People now write in shorthand text/email speak so much that I think a lot of people have forgotten how to use correct English.
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Couldn't agree more. I even see people my own age with a poor grasp of the language. Spelling things phonetically or how they think they should be spelled as a regular occurrence.

My vocabulary isn't as broad as I would like and I've never been keen on reading but over the last few years I find myself 'googling 'define: .....' to check spellings and show meanings of words I see & hear day to day. I probably do it several times a day minimum.

I guess punctuation & grammar isn't a priority for most kids or for most youngsters until it's too late and does more harm than good.

It was apparent he hadn't had any help from a family member so felt like i should give some pointers (it was also a quiet afternoon :p) to prevent another 'I givun meh seeveee in loadz n had nuttin bk' walking abortion.
 
Disco Boy said:
If you have half a brain you know how to write well and how to use google.
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Do you know how much of an arse-hole you sound?

Not everybody is blessed with good parents and those that aren't require aid from outside the home. Students should be pinpointed by staff in the final year of GCSEs, it will be clear which students are on route for further education and which are likely to join the workforce. The kids that clearly aren't going to make it to A-Levels should be taught key skills to help them gain employment. Getting people working is the only way to have a healthy economy and getting kids into employment quickly after they leave education is the only way to instill a working mentality in them.
 
You really can't count general studies though can you? It's just a waste of time.
The government really reallly really need to make finance classes mandatory as well as CV writing and cookery.
I completely fail on all three counts and it's really because I haven't had the opportunity to learn about them. Debt problems in all parts of the country could be prevented by finance classes.
 
RomanNose said:
You really can't count general studies though can you? It's just a waste of time.
The government really reallly really need to make finance classes mandatory as well as CV writing and cookery.
I completely fail on all three counts and it's really because I haven't had the opportunity to learn about them. Debt problems in all parts of the country could be prevented by finance classes.
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Aren't you 78 or something ridiculous? You should have been able to seek help in those areas by now lol.
 
dirtychinchilla said:
You just need to be able to write properly...surely it's something everyone eventually learns to do.
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Speaking and listening is something some kids find hard to grasp, letalone reading and writing, skills which must be learnt. You don't honestly think reading and writing can just be 'picked up' do you?
 
desires said:
Aren't you 78 or something ridiculous? You should have been able to seek help in those areas by now lol.
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He's right.

The vast majority of us, I suspect, will have ha some sort of a privileged upbringing where we were taught the basics, eg, loans from wonga at 900000% interest were not the way to get the new Xbox station or whatever silly gadgets people wanted.

If the government had made something like home economics mandatory, obesity would be less of a problem. It's the sad state of affairs that many people don't know how to cook easy, relatively healthy meals.

One thing to say though, I am extremely grateful my school taught me well on how to write a CV.
 
desires said:
Speaking and listening is something some kids find hard to grasp, letalone reading and writing, skills which must be learnt. You don't honestly think reading and writing can just be 'picked up' do you?
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Yes. They are picked up. They need a lot of practice though.

Things like reading, speaking an maths are all things we need to practice to be good at.
 
Cleeecooo said:
He's right.

The vast majority of us, I suspect, will have ha some sort of a privileged upbringing where we were taught the basics, eg, loans from wonga at 900000% interest were not the way to get the new Xbox station or whatever silly gadgets people wanted.

If the government had made something like home economics mandatory, obesity would be less of a problem. It's the sad state of affairs that many people don't know how to cook easy, relatively healthy meals.

One thing to say though, I am extremely grateful my school taught me well on how to write a CV.
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Took an economics A level whilst at college (2nd year uni now just finished, going into 3rd) and it was one of the most worthwhile things i've ever done. Really really should be a mandatory subject.
 
vicisthebest said:
People now write in shorthand text/email speak so much that I think a lot of people have forgotten how to use correct English.
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Define "Correct English"
Writing skills are not set in stone and will constantly evolve with time. You can see a huge difference in the style of writing in books written in the 1800's to books written in the mid 1900's and i'm sure 60yr old scholars of the late 1800's had the same thoughts you do now to the current styles.

You can hang on to how you were taught as long as you like but lets face it, its old hat to the teeny boppers of today :p
 
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LizardKing said:
Define "Correct English"
Writing skills are not set in stone and will constantly evolve with time. You can see a huge difference in the style of writing in books written in the 1800's to books written in the mid 1900's and i'm sure 60yr old scholars of the 1800's had the same thoughts you do now to the current styles.

You can hang on to how you were taught as long as you like but lets face it, its old hat to the teeny boppers of today :p
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The change that is happening to the way that some people communicate, caused by the advent of the internet and text messaging, is much faster and more pronounced than any change in the history of English. It isn't really comparable.

It's going to lead to an even more pronounced separation between the educated and the less educated.
 
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