Uppeldi og menntun - 01.01.2001, Síða 81

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ABSTRACT
A comparative research project was carried out in four countries, Iceland, France, Greece
and Italy, with the aim of comparing job developments and skill requirements in non-pro-
fessional occupations. Twenty jobs were examined in each country, in the fields of pro-
duction, services and business.. The practical aim of the research was to create knowledge
that would be applicable in policymaking conceming the establishment and organization
of vocational programs as well as continuing education and in-service training. It was
hypothesized that there is currently an upskilling trend, i.e., that jobs are becoming more
complicated and that all jobs require competence in four categories of basic skills.
A questionnaire was presented to 15 employees and 5 supervisors in each job in
the four countries, a total of 1600 people. Tlie results suggested that there was a
mixed trend, with some jobs becoming more complicated and others becoming sim-
pler. The segmentation of the job market therefore seemed clearer than before. There
were, however, notable differences in the results among the different countries. In
France both supervisors and employees felt more strongly than those in other coun-
tries, that the 20 jobs were becoming more complicated. On the other hand, the
Icelandic participants felt more strongly than the others that their jobs were not
becoming more complicated and the Icelandic supervisors believed, more than other
supervisors, that there would be no increased demand in the near future for further
skills and education for these jobs. Furthermore, the general employability skills in
question were not equally relevant in all the jobs. All jobs relied, at least partially, on
basic skills in reading, writing and arithmetic, as well as communication and co-
working skills. Foreign language skills were least required in production. Jobs in
business required creativity and information mastery skills more than did other jobs.
Pietro Busetta, prófessor og forstöðumaður Hagfræðistofnunarinnar „Angelo
Curella", Palermó, Ítalíu.
Dr. facques Ginesté, prófessor, Kennarahdskólanum íMarseilles, Frakklandi.
Haris Papoutsakis, prófessor, Tæknihdskólanum í Heraklion, Grikklandi.
(E-mail: haris@lyttos.admin.teiher.gr)
Hildur Björk Svavarsdóttir, verkefnisstjóri hjd Rannsóknapjónustu Háskóla
íslands.
(E-mail: hildursv@hi.is)
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