Professor Van Ry

A majority of professionals who responded to a recent survey about the 21st-century workplace said they had developed most of the skills they use in their jobs outside of the classroom.

That’s according to a Gallup study that sought to pinpoint how knowledge gained in high school and college relates to the quality of work later in life.

The survey, conducted near the end of April in collaboration with the Pearson Foundation and Microsoft Partners in Learning, interviewed 1,014 people who either are employed or are students. According to areport on the survey’s findings, “21st Century Skills and the Workplace,” 59 percent of the respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they had learned most of what they use at work outside of academic settings.

Those who attended or graduated from college, though, were less likely than respondents whose highest educational attainment was a high-school diploma or less to say they had gained most of their job skills outside of academic settings. While 59 percent of respondents whose highest educational attainment was a high-school diploma or less strongly agreed that they had developed most of their job skills outside of school, only 35 percent of those who attended or graduated from college said the same.

That finding, the report says, indicates a “potential call to action for high schools to better prepare youth for work.” <Read more.>

Via Seth Zweifler, The Chronicle of Higher Ed.