Employability Skills Required by the Workplaces

ISBN : 978-602-97249-0-5 International Seminar on Vocational Education and Training 47 heart, will miss a crucial part of character. Finally, he divides moral action into three sub-moral action i.e. competence, will and habit. He claims that moral action is the outcome of moral knowing and moral feeling. Thus, moral action requires opportunities to develop habits, plenty of practices and repeated experiences. The followings are examples of general personal characters living values that everybody should possess as good citizens: responsibility, respect for self and for others, compassion, courtesy, tolerance, honesty, self-discipline, freedom, human rights, democracy, prudence, helpfulness, diligence, courage, integrity, cooperationsolidarity learning to live together, peace, justice, fairness, good will, love, democracy and humility Ohio Department of Education, 1990; Lickona, 1992; UNESCO, 1999; Drake, 2006; Slamet PH, 2009.

E. Employability Skills Required by the Workplaces

In general, education institutions are supposed to prepare young people to be good citizen, to live full lives and to create broad-based, smart, skilled, flexible, technology-literate, and good character of workforce. Thus, vocational education and training institutions can not escape from this broad objective. This paper concerns only one part of that objective, the part that explains how vocational education and training institutions contribute to the smooth transition of graduates from school to work. Smooth effective and efficient school-to-work transition can be achieved by producing a well-educated workforce having relevant employability skills needed by industry and commerce. A well-educated workforce is the condition-sine-qua-non for successful workplaces. Current and future workplaces require well-educated workforce who are smart and good people e.g. the ones who posses workplace know-how, smart mind, good heart character, healthy physics, and consequently good behaviors. At the present time and even in the future, personal characters are paramount concerns for the workplaces. Elsewhere has been cited that, a well-educated workforce has to have employability skills which are relevant to the needs of world of work or workplace. For example, SCANS Report 1991 of USA identified the know-how employability skills in two parts, competencies and the foundations. The competency part includes how effective workers can productively use resources, interpersonal skills, information, ISBN : 978-602-97249-0-5 International Seminar on Vocational Education and Training 48 system and technology. The foundation part contends that competence requires basic skills, thinking skills and personal qualities. UK 1993 identified core skills related to workplace as follow: 1 communication, 2 personal skills, 3 working with others, 4 application of numbers, problem solving, 7 information technology, and 8 modern foregn language. In Australia, Department of Employment, Education and Training 1995 key employment-related competencies, that is, competencies essential for effective participation in the emerging patterns of work and work organization as follows: 1 collecting, analyzing and organizing ideas and information;2 communicating idea s and information, 3 planning and organizing activities, 4 working with others and team, 5 using mathematical ideas and techniques, 6 solving problems, 7 using technology, and 8 cultural understanding. New Zealand 1995 defined essential skills related to workplace as follows: 1 using information skills, 2 communicating skills, 3 self-management skillsa, 4 work and study skills, 5 social skills, 6 numeric skills, and 7 problem soling and decision making skills. In 1998, Ministry of Education and Culture, Republic of Indonesia defined the workforce who has employability skills are those who posses broad-based, skilled, flexible and technology-literate. These broad employability skills are then detailed as follow: 1 possessing broad and strong basic skills adaptable to confront the future development of science and technology, 2 collecting, analyzing, and using data and information, 3 communicating ideas and information, 4 planning and organizing activities, 5 working together in team, 6 solving problems, 7 thinking logically and using mathematical techniques, and 8 communicating in global language English. We may go on searching more other literatures on employability skills but the readings clearly show that they are more comparable and have been repeated again and again in those countries. Therefore, it is enough to sum up that, the workforce for current and in the future should have employability skills as follow: workplace know- how, smart mind, good heart personal character, healthy physics, and consequently good behaviors. The reminder of this paper will restrict on personal characters required by the workplaces. ISBN : 978-602-97249-0-5 International Seminar on Vocational Education and Training 49

F. Dimensions of Personal Character Required by the Workplaces