So far in our blog series Untangling the Modern Credential Marketplace, we’ve talked about the language of employability and understanding what we mean when we say things like capability, skills, and competencies. We also talked about 21st-century skill frameworks: what they are and how we can best teach them to learners at all levels. Perhaps the most important aspect of all of these things is employability. How are employability and 21st-century skills aligned?
To understand this, we must define employability, and understand that being employable does not equal being employed. They are different, and that difference is related to the very purpose of teaching 21st-century skills in the first place.
What is Employability?
Employability is the capability to be employed in a given industry, defined by the possession of capability, skills, and competencies desired by employers in that industry. The difference between employability and being employed is often one of choice. A learner may leave school and take a “gap year” to travel before starring their career, or may stay home to care for elderly parents, or make take another job in another field for any number of reasons.
The difference is critical when measuring learning outcomes. A person possessing the needed 21st-century skills can be employable and yet not employed for a variety of reasons. But how do we measure employability? One solution is micro-credentialing.
