The skills fetish is fragmenting education and careers

Gavin Moodie is to be thanked for these remarks that argue life is more than skills, money and work. Universities, Governments and employers, as a trio to protect their own interests, have dominated discussions about the purpose of life and society for too long. new balance is required that gives a greater focus on matters other than work and money.

At last, recognition of the corrosive obsession with skills. This has translated into the production of "learning outcomes" against which modules are judged. Having studied long before this came to prevalence (and taken my first academic job in halcyon times too), it seems that the current system is obsessed with the process itself rather than why we are carrying it out. Naturally, employers will push for universities, the student and the public purse to pay their costs if we are daft enough to do it. However, universities carry out education and not training in most areas!