All About SCANS - The Skills YOU Need!

Introduction

When a college graduate finally gets into a job interview the employer on the other side of the desk is going to care a lot more about the general skills and attitudes the applicant will bring to work than they do about the applicant's major , GPA or mastery over specialized technical skills.

This means that planning programs that are attuned to the demands of the labor market does not just mean producing the right number of nurses, engineers, teachers or artists to meet the needs of organizations or even insuring that graduates have mastered the latest technology or theories. Universities must make sure they are educating students who have the general skills and attitudes that organizations want in their employees. The area of jobs skills has become a frequent topic of research. Interestingly, recent national research shows that the skills and attitudes employers want cut across occupation and industry. Many of the skills demanded are not job specific and involve the ability to communicate effectively, work cooperatively and solve problems. Mastering the skills demanded by employers means that graduates can have access to wide range of occupations regardless of their undergraduate field.

An understanding of the skills demanded by employers provides valuable insights for planning both professional programs and general education. The most widely used model of skills demanded by employers is the SCANS Model. This model was developed by the Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS), a multi-year effort funded by the U.S. Department of Labor (SCANS, 1992). The SCANS model breaks skills into two broad categories: Foundation Skills and Workplace Competencies. The specific skills included in these two areas are enumerated below and then followed by complete definitions later.

The Foundation Skills:

Basic Skills: reading, writing, arithmetic, mathematics, listening, speaking.

Thinking Skills: creative thinking, decision making, problem solving, mental visualization, knowing how to learn, reasoning.

Personal Qualities: responsibility, self-esteem, sociability, self-management, integrity/honesty.

Workplace Competencies:

Resources: managing time, managing money, managing material and facility resources, and manages human resources.

Interpersonal: participates as a member of a team, teaches others, serves clients/customers, exercises leadership, negotiates to arrive at a decision, works with cultural diversity.

Information: acquires and evaluates information, organizes and maintains information, interprets and communicates information, uses computers to process information.

Systems: understands systems, monitors and corrects performance, improves and designs systems.

Technology: selects technology, applies technology to task, maintains and troubleshoots technology.

Complete definitions of all the SCANS skill areas are included in Appendix A of this section.

Several reports have attempted to operationalize these skills in terms of specific occupations and test to see if they are actually tied empirically to performance on the job (see for example SCANS, 1992 and Cappelli and Roovsky, 1995). While research is preliminary it does appear that proficiency in these skill areas are related to productivity on the job. In developing curriculum and constructing assessment measures the SCANS model provides a useful starting point.

Skills or Attitudes

Complaints about the skills of recent graduates is probably completely intertwined with employer worries about the work attitudes of recent graduates. Several recent studies have focused on the importance employers put on attitudes when they make hiring decisions (see for example Barton, 1990, Committee for Economic Development, 1984, and Levin, and Rumberger, 1988). In a review of a number of studies Cappelli (1995, p.110) concluded: "These surveys suggest that employers see the most important considerations in hiring and the biggest deficits among new workforce entrants as being the attitudes concerning work that they bring with them to their jobs."

Cappelli reviews the research and identifies some key attitudes that research shows contribute to success on the job, they include: a strong need to achieve, a sense of optimism, a willingness to take the initiative, willingness to persist in the face of difficulties and the belief that an employee's fate is in their own hands. While evidence is scarce it does seem that education can contribute to developing these attitudes. If students learn in college that hard work and persistence will lead to success, and that outcomes are based on their behavior rather than random choices made by authorities they may gain these positive work attitudes. It is an interesting paradox that increased focus on measuring outcomes often takes educators away from measuring the more affective outcomes of education and perhaps de-emphasizing them.

In short complete planning for matching programs and curricula to the labor market needs to go beyond looking at the demand for particular occupations and consider what the overall educational experience contributes to acquiring the skills and attitudes that required in a wide range of occupations.

 

Appendix A: Complete Definition of Scans Skills

The Foundation Skills

Basic Skills

Reading-Locates, understands, and interprets written information in prose and documents-including manuals, graphs, and schedules-to perform tasks; learns from text by determining the main idea or essential message; identifies relevant details, facts, and specifications; infers or locates the meaning of unknown or technical vocabulary; and judges the accuracy, appropriateness, style, and plausibility of reports, proposals, or theories of other writers.

Writing-Communicates thoughts, ideas, information, and messages in writing; records information completely and accurately; composes and creates documents such as letters, directions, manuals, reports, proposals, graphs, and flow charts with the language, style, organization, and format appropriate to the subject matter, purpose, and audience; includes, where appropriate, supporting documentation, and attends to level of detail; and checks, edits, and revises for correct information, appropriate emphasis, form grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

Arithmetic-Performs basic computations; uses basic numerical concepts such as whole numbers and percentages in practical situations; makes reasonable estimates of arithmetic results without a calculator; and uses tables, graphs, diagrams, and charts to obtain or convey quantitative information.

Mathematics-Approaches practical problems by choosing appropriately form a variety of mathematical techniques; uses quantitative data to construct logical explanations for real world situations; expresses mathematical ideas and concepts orally and in writing; and understands the role of chance in the occurrence and prediction of events.

Listening-Receives, attends to, interprets, and responds to verbal messages and other cues such as body language in ways that are appropriate to the purpose-for example, to comprehend, learn, critically evaluate, appreciate, or support the speaker.

Speaking-Organizes ideas and communicates oral messages appropriate to listeners and situations; participates in conversation, discussion, and group presentations; selects an appropriate medium for conveying a message; uses verbal language and other cues such as body language in a way appropriate in style, tone ,and level of complexity to the audience and the occasion; speaks clearly and communicates a message; understands and responds to listener feedback; and asks questions when needed.

Thinking Skills

Creative Thinking-Generates new ideas by making nonlinear or unusual connections, changing or reshaping goals, and imagining new possibilities; and uses imagination freely, combining ideas or information in new ways, making connections between seemingly unrelated ideas, and reshaping goals in ways that reveal new possibilities.

Decision Making-Specifies goals and constraints, generates alternatives, considers risks, and evaluates and chooses best alternatives.

Problem Solving-Recognizes that a problem exists (i.e., that there is a discrepancy between what is and what should be); identifies possible reasons for the discrepancy, and devices and implements a plan of action to resolve it; and evaluates and monitors progress, revising the plan as indicated by findings.

Mental Visualization-Sees things in the mind's eye by organizing and processing symbols, pictures, graphs, objects, or other information-for example, sees a building from a blue-print, a system's operation from schematics, the flow of work activities from narrative descriptions, or the taste of food from reading a recipe.

Knowing How to Learn-Recognizes and can use learning techniques to apply and adapt existing and new knowledge and skills in both familiar and changing situations; and is aware of learning tools such as personal learning styles (visual, aural, etc.), formal learning strategies (notetaking or clustering items that share some characteristics), and informal learning strategies (awareness of unidentified false assumptions that may lead to faulty conclusions).

Reasoning-Discovers a rule or principle underlying the relationship between two or more objects and applies it in solving a problem-for example, uses logic to draw conclusions from available information, extracts rules or principles from a set of objects or a written text, or applies rules and principles to a new situation (or determines which conclusions are correct when given a set of facts and conclusions).

Personal Qualities

Responsibility-Exerts a high level of effort and perseverance toward goal attainment; works hard to become excellent at doing tasks by setting high standards, paying attention to details, working well even when assigned an unpleasant task, and displaying a high level of concentration; and displays high standards of attendance, punctuality, enthusiasm, vitality, and optimism in approaching and completing tasks.

Self-Esteem-Believes in own self-worth and maintains a positive view of self, demonstrates knowledge of own skill and abilities, is aware of one's impression on others, and knows own emotional capacity and needs and how to address them.

Sociability-Demonstrates understanding, friendliness, adaptability, empathy, and politeness in new and ongoing group settings; asserts self in familiar and unfamiliar social situations; relates well to others; responds appropriately as the situation requires; and takes an interest in what others say and do.

Self-Management-Accurately assesses own knowledge, skills, and abilities; sets well-defined and realistic personal goals; monitors progress toward goal attainment and motivates self through goal achievement; and exhibits self control and responds to feedback unemotionally and nondefensively.

Integrity/Honesty-Recognizes when being faced with making a decision or exhibiting behavior that may break with commonly held personal or societal values; understands the effects of violating these beliefs and codes on an organization, oneself, and others; and chooses an ethical course of action.

Workplace Competencies

Resources

Manages Time - Selects relevant, goal-related activities, ranks them in order of importance, allocates time to activities, and understands, prepares, and follows schedules.

Manages Money - Uses or prepares budgets, including making cost and revenue forecasts; keeps detailed records to track budget performance; and makes appropriate adjustments.

Manages Material and Facility Resources - Acquires, stores, and distributes materials, supplies, parts, equipment, space, or final products in order to make the best use of them.

Manages Human Resources - Assesses knowledge and skills, distributes work accordingly, evaluates performance, and provides feedback.

Interpersonal

Participates as a Member of a Team - Works cooperatively with others and contributes to group efforts with ideas, suggestions, and effort.

Teaches Others - Helps others learn needed knowledge and skills.

Serves Clients/Customers - Works and communicates with clients and customers to satisfy their expectations.

Exercises Leadership - Communicates thoughts, feelings, and ideas to justify a position, encourage, persuade, convince, or otherwise motivate an individual or groups, including responsibly challenging existing procedures, policies, or authority.

Negotiates to Arrive at a Decision - Works towards an agreement that may involve exchanging specific resources or resolving divergent interests.

Works with Cultural Diversity - Works well with men an women and with people from a variety of ethnic, social or educational backgrounds.

Information

Acquires and Evaluates Information - Identifies a need for data, obtains the data from existing sources or creates them, and evaluates their relevance and accuracy.

Organizes and Maintains Information - Organizes, processes, and maintains written or computerized records and other forms of information in a systematic fashion.

Interprets and Communicates Information - Selects and analyzes information and communicates the results to others using oral, writer, graphic, pictorial, or multimedia methods.

Uses Computers to Process Information - Employs computers to acquire, organize, analyze, and communicate information.

My Note:  I don't think they had Napster or chat rooms in mind on this one!

 

Systems

Understands Systems - Knows how social, organizational, and technological systems work and operates effectively within them.

Monitors and Corrects Performance - Distinguishes trends, predicts impacts of actions on system operations, diagnoses deviations in the functioning of a system/organization, and takes necessary action to correct performance.

Improves and Designs Systems - Makes suggestions to modify existing systems in order to improve the quality of product of services and develops new or alternative systems.

Technology

Selects Technology - Judges which sets of procedures, tools, or machines, including computers and their programs, will produce the desired results.

Applies Technology to Task - Understands the overall intents and the proper procedures for setting up and operating machines, including computers and their programming systems.

Maintains and Troubleshoots Technology - Prevents, identifies, or solves problems in machines, computers, and other technologies.

 

References

Barton, P. E. (1990) Skills employers need: time to measure them? Princeton, N.J.: Educational Testing service.

Cappelli, P. and Rogovsky, N. (1995) Skill demands, changing work organization and performance. EQW Working Papers. Philadelphia: National Center on the Educational Quality of the Workforce.

Committee for Economic Development (1984) Investing in our Children. Washington, D.C.

Levin, H.M. and Rumberger, (1988) Educational requirements for computer use in business. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 8. pp. 423-434.

SCANS (1992) Learning a living: a blueprint for high performance, a SCANS report for America 2000. Washington, D.C.: The Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills, U.S. Department of Labor.

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