| Here are the latest articles, hand
selected by the Step One team, which give you all you need
to know about the latest happenings in the career guidance
world:
Wanted: ‘Cyber Ninjas’
– How Demand for Computer Security Experts is Rising
New group encourages colleges to start programs
in 'Web Science'
UCAS – UK University and College Admissions
System
The best (and worst) careers for 2010
Best Colleges: Most International Students:
National Universities
Best Colleges: Average Freshmen Retention
Rates: National Universities
Case Study – Physics or no Physics
– that is the question
Step One initiates a fundraising programme for
a ‘water for health’ project in Nepal
Improved prospects for Philosophy graduates
Generation Y
Harvard University Fellowships
Work shadowing for students
Highlight your competencies
Recommendation of Commission on use of SATs
Where have all our teachers gone?
Social Mobility
Credit Crunch impacts on International Education
Europe faces a dearth of IT skills
Cosmetic engineering
Wanted: ‘Cyber
Ninjas’ – How Demand for Computer Security Experts
is Rising
Last spring, eight students from California State Polytechnic
University, Pomona, spent many Saturdays practicing how to
defend a typical business computer network from attacks, as
part of a regional competition. They won and 6 of the seniors
in the group, all in computer information systems, were immediately
offered jobs with Boeing, the giant military and aerospace
company. Many Colleges are now busy adding courses and degrees
in this recent career option but there is still a lack of
these “cyber ninjas” to help defend us from the
increasingly sophisticated array of hackers. So check out
these new courses across the globe, in “informatics”
–a range exist ( or soon will exist) which are suitable
for either new students, those with appropriate degrees or
career changers
Source : New York Times December 29th 2009
New group encourages
colleges to start programs in 'Web Science'
The inventor of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee, announced
a new nonprofit group last week to promote the study of 'Web
science,' arguing that his creation deserves its own specific
research focus. The group, Web Science Trust, has set up a
Wiki where universities offering Web-science programs can
list their offerings and links to their course syllabi.
Source: The Australian Chronicle of Higher Education (Nov09)
:
UCAS – UK University
and College Admissions System
If you check the UCAS website you will find more practical
references now to aiding students and employers by raising
awareness of the type of competencies which employers seek,
internationally. Below you will find this list of desirable
knowledge, skills and attributes which collectively are known
as competencies :
Listed here are the qualities and attributes identified and
categorised by the Policy Forum of the Council for Industry
and Higher Education.
Click on the groupings below to view the competencies and
indicators:
- Cognitive
skills / brainpower - The ability to identify and solve
problems, work with information and handle a mass of diverse
data, assess risk and draw conclusions.
- Generic
competencies - High-level and transferable key skills
such as the ability to work with others in a team, communicate,
persuade and have interpersonal sensitivity.
- Personal
capabilities - The ability and desire to learn for oneself
and improve one's self-awareness and performance. To be
a self-starter (creativity, decisiveness, initiative) and
to finish the job (flexibility, adaptability, tolerance
to stress).
- Technical
ability - For example having the knowledge and experience
of working with relevant modern laboratory equipment.
- Business
and/or organisation awareness - An appreciation of how
businesses operate through having had (preferably relevant)
work experience.
- Practical
and professional elements - Critical evaluation of the
outcomes of professional practice; reflect and review own
practice; participate in and review quality control processes
and risk management. Employers also look for subject specific
knowledge depending on the job and vocational area concerned.
Students may find it profitable to identify examples of their
own skills development during study and map these against
the list of qualities and attributes typically desired by
employers. This would be of great assistance in translating
your learning experiences into language helpful to employers.
Work experience or internship opportunities will also be more
meaningful potentially if any competencies gained can be evidenced
against the above
The best (and worst)
careers for 2010
What are the best careers? According to a report by the Canadian
Career Cast actuary and software engineering are the two best
gigs you can have in 2010. Actuaries ranked number one for
job’s low physical demands and stress levels, but most
importantly it’s steady employment in these uncertain
times.
Whatever they do, students or indeed guidance professionals
and teachers who are tired of their profession, should not
take what career Cast states is the worst job in 2010 –
a roustabout (somebody who performs physical work on oil rigs).
It’s stressful, hard on the body and, with a low starting
salary there’s no payoff for all the hard work.
According to the US News, the best job for 2010 is a X-ray
Technician. Good starting pay, high professional status and
long term growth in demand.
Best Colleges: Most
International Students: National Universities
http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/national-most-international
Best Colleges: Average
Freshmen Retention Rates: National Universities
http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/national-freshmen-least-most-likely-return
Case Study – Physics or no Physics
– that is the question
Over the vacation period we at Step One continued our guidance
interviews and a particularly interesting case arose with
a young man whose career guidance profile strongly indicated
that he would perhaps find university study and eventual career
in engineering of great interest and suitability.
Unfortunately, because of his previous experience with physics
he had decided not to pursue the subject at high school/6th
form level even though he enjoyed the subject itself very
much indeed.
This young man’s prospects are thus adversely affected
and as he said, if he had received the guidance at 15/16 that
he received now, his decision would have been quite different.
He is now going to go back to his school to see what alterations
can be made to his studies.
Step One is working on a guidance profile aimed at grade
8/9, year 9/10 students, to help them with their subject selection
at a much earlier age in order to help prevent this unfortunate
situation occurring before it is too late.
Hence to be launched later this year: PIONEER.
Step One initiates
a fundraising programme for a ‘water for health’
project in Nepal during the FOBISSEA conference in Kathmandu
 Last
year at the FOBISSEA conference in Brunei, Sandj Wilderspin,
Head of the British International School of Kathmandu, explained
that Nepal has the poorest drinking water and sanitation coverage
for its population in South Asia and a large percentage of
its drinking water contains faecal coli forms. Inadequate
protection of water sources, open defecation, poor protection
of waterways, and poor maintenance are some of the main causes
of bacterial contamination.
To improve the quality of drinking water and sanitation for
Nepalese involves large amounts of money.
Therefore Step One has asked a donation of 50 US dollars
from everyone involved in the conference this year to ensure
that 10 households will have potable water, fewer infections,
and that information about community health and sanitation
awareness can be financed!
Improved prospects for
Philosophy graduates
In the past 4 years, the number of philosophy graduates
working 6 months after graduation has risen by 13 %. This
may be due to their being better prepared for work as apparently
they know how to “think and learn” (Times Higher
Education 01/01/09)
Generation Y
Generation Y must alter their expectations of work in the
current downturn, although bosses should still be prepared
to make concessions for them. When economies recover, younger
workers will be invaluable due to the demographic change.
Harvard University fellowships
The Government of India has given $4.5 million to Harvard,
to support fellowships for graduate students from India
Work shadowing for students
Many students have benefitted from being able to observe
someone doing work that they think may be of interest to them.
This experience can be revelatory in helping to either confirm
vocational choices or reviewing them - even a day work shadowing
can be beneficial though obviously the more time you have,
the more the student may be able to gain from asking employees
about their work – the negative points as well as the
good.
Many access such opportunities through contacts of families
or friends; it is surprising how obliging people are when
they think they may be able to help a young person on their
career path.
Work shadowing implies that the student does little actual
“hands on” work as this is not always desirable
or possible, although some may be able to help out by answering
phones, doing some administrative work etc , depending on
the function and level of the work in question.
For some careers such as medicine, law, teaching etc, such
experience is usually essential when the student applies to
do a vocational course and needs to convince admissions tutors
that they are suited to this work.
Highlight your competencies
When applying for a job, potential employers like to see
a candidate’s competencies. A competency is a set of
“performance behaviours” ie it is all about how
you do something, not just what you do.
So, to help any student go for a job or a work shadowing
opportunity, where they may be asked to demonstrate their
competencies, here is a short 7-step competency checklist
for presenting your evidence. They can of course use events
in school, on the playing field or relating to hobbies and
interests, to demonstrate their competencies, eg. leadership,
communication skills etc
- Situation – what was the context (in which you are
using this evidence of competency)?
- Obstacles – what problems did you overcome?
- Action – what did you actually do?
- Team contribution - what did you add to the team or organisation?
- Outcome – what was the result?
- Learning – what did the experience teach you?
- The Future – How would you perform this task differently
if you were to do it again (also known as reflective practice)?
In an increasingly competitive world, exercises such as this
can help prepare your students for life outside school.
Recommendation of Commission
on use of SATs
NACAC have produced a report on the use of SATs in Undergraduate
admissions, which highlights their concern over misuses of
the tests.
There are several recommendations related to the Association,
especially concerning training, the need for additional guidelines
and objective assessment of the effects of test coaching methods.
The recommendations make interesting reading for colleagues
in government and education and include sharing of best practice
whilst stressing the importance of offering test preparation
as a component part of a continuous programme involving other,
related activities
Where have all our teachers
gone?
New figures reveal that record numbers of qualified teachers
are quitting the UK to work abroad, usually in schools with
a similar curriculum. Numbers from England and Wales have
gone up by 26% - there are now over 74000 UK teachers in such
schools, a figure equal to almost 14% of teachers in the UK
state system. One teacher revealed that although her salary
is not much higher in her new school in Saudi Arabia, the
fact that her rent, household bills, gym membership and travel
expenses are paid makes a huge difference.
Social Mobility
Quote from Russell Group of Universities:
Dr Wendy Piatt, the Director General of the Russell Group,
which represents the 20 major research-intensive universities
in the United Kingdom, said:
“There are some encouraging examples of social mobility.
One Russell Group Nobel Laureate – Professor Sir Peter
Mansfield – left school in south London at fifteen to
become a printer, before later studying for A-levels at night
school, and then winning support from the armed forces to
take his BSc degree. From unqualified school-leaver to Nobel
Laureate in Medicine. It is just one compelling example of
the rewards to be gained by detecting and fairly supporting
talent."
(From Guardian newspaper Jan 09)
Credit Crunch impacts
on International Education
There are growing concerns over the effect which the economic
down turn appears to be having on international students accessing
world wide higher education.
The possibility of China going into recession poses a "cataclysmic"
threat to global higher
education, Prof Malcolm Gillies, vice-chancellor of City
University, London, warned at a recent seminar .
Falling applications to take the GRE test needed to study
at American universities, and the record low of the pound,
had created a "fear factor" in higher education,
he said. Students are asking if they can pay their fees upfront
while the pound is weak.
Australian universities, whose academic year starts in February,
have reported huge numbers of international students from
China, Korea and Japan deferring their places, which will
have a multi-billion dollar impact. They are the first intake
after the credit crunch.
UK universities have often relied on income from overseas
students' fees up until now, but the seminar heard that the
period of growth in international
students may be over.
Bahram Bekhradnia, director of Hepi ( Higher Education Policy
Institute – UK) said new, largely online learning providers
would threaten the "cash cows" UK universities used
to subsidise other parts of the university. The issue of how
globalisation had affected higher education was even more
pertinent with the economic downturn
Europe faces dearth
of IT skills
More women are needed to help defuse a recruitment “time
bomb” forecast for 2010 in the information and communication
technology sector, according to the HR director of Cisco.
A report commissioned by Cisco reveals that there could be
a shortfall of 70,000 employees in IT by 2010 across 5 European
countries. It found that a high number of female students
were not pursuing careers in IT, despite having good computing
skills. There are initiatives underway from some companies
such as IBM, to try to encourage young people into these careers,
especially young women
Cosmetic engineering
More than half of all business people would use cosmetic
treatment to advance their careers, according to an Australian
sociologist quoted in a recent book “Making the cut:
How cosmetic surgery is transforming our lives” –
all due to the job market’s apparent growing obsession
with youth
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