BIRMINGHAM UK BULGARIA PRESENTATION DECEMBER 2012 INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL

MUST-HAVE SKILLS We defined ‘must-have skills’ for students as skills that the surveyed party thought were the most important in any workplace they may find themselves. In essence ‘portable skills’ – not ones students must learn in order to only work for one particular firm or industry. These are close to what the UK ministry of education have termed ‘key-skills’.

AGE OF STUDENTS AT THE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL We are a school that has approximately 700 students aged between 11 and 18. The biggest age group is between 11 and 16. We have very limited numbers for the ages between 16 and 18 – this will alter in the next two years as the government is changing the school leaving age from 16 to 17 years of age next year then to 18 years old in 2014.

GETTING INFORMATION It was difficult for the younger students to understand the nature of this survey as they see their future through the world of celebrities (famous people) i.e. pop music stars, footballers. The students asked were those that will face the prospect of using their skills in the world of work in the next couple of years. Students between the ages of 14 and 17 were asked to participate in the survey.

HOW DID WE GET THE INFORMATION? A survey of the following skills was given to students, staff and parents. Communication Research Analytical IT Multi-task Leadership Inter-personal Planning/ Organising Problem-solving Teamwork

NUMBERS Each skill was to be ranked between = important. 10 = least important. Then they were counted up and multiplied. A number 1 rank was multiplied by 5 A number 2 rank was multiplied by 4 Etc.

STUDENTS CHOICE 1 – Communication – 95 points 2 – Inter-personal – 64 3 – leadership – 56 4 – planning/ organising – 53 5 – Teamwork – 52 6 – Problem-solving – multi-tasking/ research – Analytical/ IT - 20

TEACHERS’ CHOICE 1 – Communication – 77 2 – Inter-personal – 51 3 – Teamwork – 38 4 – Planning – 35 5 – leadership – 20 6 – multi-tasking – 18 7 – problem-solving – 16 8 – IT – 14 9 – Analytical – 6 10 – Research - 3

16-18 YEAR OLDS 1 - Communication 2 - Leadership 3 - Teamwork 4 - Analytical 5 - IT 6 - Research/ planning 8 - Multi-task/ interpersonal 10 - Problem-solving

PARENTS 1 – Communication/ Interpersonal 3 – Teamwork 4 – Problem-solving

HEADTEACHER – MARK GARSIDE 1 – Interpersonal 2 – Communication/ Teamwork 3- Multi-tasking/ analytical/ planning/ problem- solving 4 – leadership/ IT 5 - Research

DEPUTY HEAD – D. LYCETT RESPONSIBLE FOR STUDENTS’ CAREERS 1 – Communication/ Interpersonal/ Teamwork 2- IT/ Multi-task/ Problem-solving 3 – Analytical/ Leadership/ Planning 4 - Research

WHERE DO OUR STUDENTS GO WHEN THEY FINISH AT 16 YEARS OLD? From information taken from the school’s latest survey: No surprise – 83% of our students stay in education. Soon to be 100%! From that 83%: 69% go onto vocational courses to learn specific skills for specific jobs. 31% go onto study academic subjects.

THE OTHER 17 % 4.5% go onto work-based learning. 7.5% were seeking work. 2.8% gained full-time employment 2.2% had moved out of the area.