A pre-employment core skills programme for young adults

Abstract

This study focussed on the development and pilot testing of a research based preemployment core skills programme for young adults in order to equip them for the open labour market, to improve the young adults’ knowledge and application of employment core skills, which in turn could increase the likelihood of securing employment. This programme can also help to alleviate unemployment and poverty by contributing to the social development of young adults, enhancing human capital development, increasing opportunities to reach full educational potential, enhancing economic development and increasing the opportunity to be self-sufficient and raising the quality of life. The motivation for this study is based on the high unemployment amongst young adults, the lack of intervention programmes that address core skills for employment for young adults that are making the transition from school to work in South Africa and the apparent lack of core skills support for young adults at places of employment. The study was conducted from an ecological systems perspective which is relevant for the social work profession and to the “help professional” who engages with young adults. The applied research was used and a quantitative research approach was undertaken by using self-administered and group-administered questionnaires to collect data in a standardised way under controlled circumstances with procedures planned prior to the commencement of the study in order to test a hypothesis. The study was conducted in two phases namely (A) an exploration of core employment skills needed by young adults by using a quantitative descriptive survey research design and (B) the development and pilot testing of a pre-employment core skills programme for young adults by using a one-group pretest-posttest design to assess the change in knowledge of core skills of young adults through the deployment of an intervention of the programme. The discussion of young adulthood as a life phase highlighted the nature of human development. The discussion of the different development theories gave a good indication of what development tasks are of importance during young adulthood and especially in terms of preparation for entering into the labour market (career). Unemployment has various impacts on the young adult who in turn has an effect on the social system and the economy of South Africa. From the empirical findings of phase A and combining the literature study it became apparent that young adults who can communicate well, solve problems and work with others are more employable as they can assume an active, adaptive and responsible role in the workplace and society. This information was used to develop a pre-employment core skills programme for young adults. The conceptual programme model, the experiential learning approach and problem-based learning were used for the basis of the core skills programme. The aim of the core skills programme was to enhance the young adults’ knowledge and application of core skills necessary for employment and their employment opportunities. The findings from phase B indicate that the developed programme did enhance the young adults’ knowledge of core skills necessary for employment and that the developed programme can be implemented with young adults between the ages of 18-25 years.