Beyond the Skills Gap Preparing College Students for Life and Work: A Book Review

APA Citation: Hora, M. T., Benbow, R. J., & Oleson, A. K. (2016). Beyond the skills gap. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press. 220 pages.

Beyond the skills gap discusses the increasing gap between the abilities of college graduates and the expectations of employers. The text investigates the correlation between college students’ skills, college programming, and curriculum against the expectation of employers regarding what they expect college graduates to be able to do upon employment. Using a qualitative approach, Hora, Benbow, and Oleson (2016) interviewed several employers in Wisconsin with a focus on what they are looking for regarding the abilities and knowledge of college graduates. The authors then use the data provided to investigate the efficacy of the Wisconsin higher education system.

While beyond the skills gap does not directly address competency-based education, the book includes underlining concepts included in the competency-based paradigm. Throughout the text, the authors describe skills employers are looking for from recent college graduates. These skills are closely aligned with competency-based education principals.

The authors open the text with a rhetorical question, which asks, “Why study the skills gap in Wisconsin?” This question forms the premise of the rest of the text. The authors move the reader through a series of factors, which are implied to be contributors to the skills gap. In the book's introduction, the authors claim that there is a debate within higher education. This debate includes those who argue that a skills gap is a phenomenon, which was poorly influencing companies worldwide. Others believe that the labor market industry initiated this skills gap fabrication in an attempt to shift the burden and responsibility of employee training to the public sector.

In chapter 1, the authors discuss the dynamic between business and education through the context of how the role of government influences this relationship. The authors take the reader through a brief history of the changes to Wisconsin public education. Then they discuss liberal arts programming, and the skill sets these programs offer students which they can use to transfer. The authors interview Dr. Janet Batzli about the importance of liberal arts education. Dr. Batzli indicated that she believes that a liberal arts education teaches students how to be a “mature adult in our society” and “an informed citizen” (p. 19). She goes on to say that these skills are transferable to the professional and social areas of society.

The authors continue through chapter 1 with additional history about the Wisconsin public school system detailing the expansion of the state's technical and community college system, which was “designed to boost the state's economy” (p. 24). Chapter 1 concludes with the college for all idea, which is not restricted to Wisconsin. In this section of the book, the authors articulate the idea that students should be educated in a variety of disciplines as an education policy which takes in several smaller, liberal arts colleges nationwide.

Chapter 2 takes the reader through an assessment of Wisconsin's higher education system, and the chapter articulates what Wisconsin manufacturers and commerce, the state's most significant business trade association describes as a skills gap. The authors interview Mr. Jim Morgan, a member of Wisconsin manufactures and commerce. Mr. Morgan described a scenario which seems to be prevalent nationwide; “if you get a four-year degree, you're a success” (p. 34). While this mantra seems to have shifted a bit, the authors reported that Mr. Morgan is not alone in his advocacy of the skills gap to state policymakers.

In Chapter 2, the authors define the term “skills gap” as jargon repeatedly used to “spread cultural ideas, assumptions, behaviors, and styles from person to person” (p. 38). Additionally, Chapter 2 offers the reader an essential premise of the skills gap, which in the text is addressed through the context of Wisconsin's Public Education system but could be generalized more broadly regarding the civic purpose of higher education in society (Lagemann & Lewis, 2015). In this section of Chapter 2, the authors articulate the perspective that liberal arts and higher education curricula are the predominant causes of the skills gap. According to the authors’ perspective on the skills gap narrative, technical education has been replaced with theoretical coursework in curricula as early as high school. Later in Chapter 2, the authors refer to the skills gap as a technical problem and that education is responsible for changing the narrative, not industry. The remaining sections of Chapter 2 discuss the government's role concerning policy which influences the skills gap in Wisconsin.

With Chapter 2 predicated on the industries perspective that education is responsible for the skills gap, Chapter 3 offers a rebuttal to this perspective. The chapter opens with the authors describing an educator with a background in electrical controls identified only as Ron. Ron takes the position that students need to be trained in core principals of a specific discipline and not on specific tasks. He also discusses the various challenges colleges are faced with concerning the abilities and backgrounds of the student population. As the authors progress through Chapter 3, the reader gets a sense that the skills gap, in some respects must be addressed as a partnership between higher education and industry. Within this context, the chapter seems to also implicitly imply that students need a balance between technical skills and liberal arts education in order to be successful in the workforce.

Chapter 4 offers the reader an exciting topic, habits of mind. This book provides multiple contributions to the higher education industry and the various labor market industries higher education cultivates. The chief contribution included in the book is discussed in Chapter 4; the distinction between training and education. The authors explain that “training is the direct instruction in how to perform a specific task such as pipefitting, welding a T-joint, or operating Microsoft Word” (Hora et al., 2016, p. 100). Training is distinct from education because it lacks what the author refers to as “habit of mind” and it is this “habit of mind” or education that employers are seeking (Bailey, Jaggars, & Jenkins, 2015; Stokes, 2015). The authors divide this “habit of mind” contribution into many components.

There are two principal components to understanding the distinction between training and education. The distinction is that education cultivates a “habit of mind” which is a fundamental mechanism that the authors break into several components. The chief elements of this structure include how educators approach teaching and how higher education institutions develop and maintain course curriculum. The way educators approach teaching should be a cultural act, according to the authors, but culture is rooted in the heart of the organization. In this section of the book, the author argues that apprenticeships are an essential learning mechanism, which not only provides technical learning but also includes proficiencies associated with the “habit of mind.” These proficiencies include learning how to interact with customers, and how to address and respond to complex and challenging problems. In this section, the authors introduce the reader to anthropologist Jean Lave who then makes the distinction between inductive and deductive learning.

According to Lave as cited by Hora et al. (2016) the inductive approach to teaching relies on more modeling and offering real-world practice and problems. This type of learning is what Bailey et al. (2015) refer to as “learning facilitation” (p. 85). The idea of the inductive approach is to provide students with more knowledge regarding applied skill instead of the outdated lecture or deductive approach (Wyner, 2014).

With Chapter 4 predicated on theory and habits of mind, Chapter 5 discuss changes to the University of Wisconsin system. The authors articulate that the University system along with other smaller colleges around the state has started to alter their curricula facilitation methods to include, fewer lectures in class, competency-based education built into curricula, and skills-based training in order to cultivate twenty-first-century habits of mind. Chapter 5 offers an inspiring looking into the UW system, and the authors discuss teaching and learning methods which take place at multiple UW campuses.

In Chapter 6, the term “employability skills” is defined as daily work structure and interaction, which becomes a habit of mind. The author identifies the following habits of mind as the most valuable employability skills; communication, teamwork, self-regulated learning, critical thinking, and problem solving. Later in Chapter 6, the author mentions that data indicated that respondents referred to speaking, listening, physical presentation, resume building and writing abilities as additional employability skills they felt needed to be integrated into college-level programs. The author articulates the value of each employability skill through the context of various employers, trades, and disciplines throughout Chapter 6.

The remaining chapters of the book discuss improving instruction, moving into the future, and developing partnerships between higher education and industry. Chapter 8 offers essential information on faculty members can embrace reform on an individual level. The chapter discusses topics such as moral, engaging in active learning methods, and accountability. Chapter 9 provides the reader with the student's perspective of higher education and how they navigate college structure.

Chapter 10 is an important topic not just in Wisconsin but for all of higher education. In chapter 10, the authors suggest that educating adult students is a shared responsibility between higher education institutions and employers. The chapter articulates several higher education institutions with strong industry partnerships such as the University of Maryland and Georgia Tech. Later in the chapter, the authors describe different types of partnerships and techniques which could be used to help form them.

The book's conclusion seems to tie in the authors’ discussion with the eternal rhetorical question, what is the purpose of higher education? The conclusion titled A New Vision for the Role of Higher Education in Society explains to the reader that higher education does not have a single purpose in society. In the opening paragraph, the authors proclaim that the skills gap is mere “a manufacturing narrative designed to advance a particular ideology about the role and purpose of higher education in society” (p. 197). However, the authors concede that they recognize that there are skill shortages, but these shortages are “occupation and region-specific” (p. 197). An essential part of the conclusion of the book is the “next steps” section where the authors identify specific legislative and programmatic steps college and governing bodies can take to improve teaching and learning to provide employers with better prepared and a more versatile workforce.