Education, Training & Employment

Lying at the heart of an educational system are society’s values, which need to be articulated in each one of its subsystems for their implementation.

As opposed to outright specialisation, today probably more than ever there is a need for defining a basic common curriculum, flexibly adaptable to future changes. When everything is changing so quickly, one has to move forward at speed in order to keep up with the competition. Therefore, an understanding of the basic principles, and the skills and mindset to adapt them creatively and constructively, is more useful than the mastery at any given moment of specialist subjects, however important and pressing these may seem, or even are, at that moment.

The world of future opportunities and economic leadership will depend on people with a broad-based education, with an overall perspective, capable of understanding complex problems, and always ready to learn new things.

The aim, therefore, is to help instruct “new knowledge workers” within a learning cycle that passes through several stages: basic skills and education in values, learning to learn, learning to create knowledge, and learning not to stop learning.

Regarding employment, this is a fundamental aspect that provides the backbone for social harmony and economic orchestration. The generation and consolidation of quality jobs should be a mainstream goal that impregnates and guides all the lines of action and deliberations involving each and every one of the other key variables.

We should not forget that quality jobs are created in and by high value added economic activities. It is obvious that the professionals involved in such activities are the ones who need to maximise this value creation through the contribution of their capabilities, skills and engagement.

Over the short term, it is crucial to have a clear definition and analysis of our unemployed population (as well as of the employed population), with a view to thus understanding which are the most realistic options for their employment, or the shortcomings to be resolved in order to improve their employability.

It seems reasonable to make way for consolidated groups of professionals themselves as the ones to design, supervise and marshal the necessary schemes for integrating these new professionals within the productive system.

There are cultural parameters with an unquestionable impact upon our professionals’ ability to create value. We should not forget the following: capacity for effort, commitment, engagement, ethics… We need to focus our endeavours on instructing professionals in these kinds of values. Let us speak in terms of PROFESSIONALISM.