Working In The Industry

Personal Learning and Thinking Skills

Research with business leaders has indicated that the six skills shown below in bold (PLTS) are an important part of skills development. The employers who were questioned believe the development of these PLTS will help learners become successful employees.

Employees who can (1) Self Manage their own skills development are highly valued by businesses. To achieve this you need to be enthusiastic about your work. Enthusiasm helps you become (2) An Effective Participant who gets the job done and (3) A Team Worker who is happy to support other staff.

However businesses also need their employees to be (4) Independent Enquirers, as this helps you find solutions to problems and act on those findings. Within this it is important to become a (5) Reflective Learner as this helps you understand what you have learned and develop the ability to explain any benefit to other staff clearly, so the greatest benefit to the business can be gained.

It is also important in todays challenging business market to be (6) A Creative Thinker. Creativity is a very valuable business tool. Businesses that are market leaders in their industry look for this skill at interview. Staff who are creative can provide a business with new ideas and these ideas can lead to reduced costs and/or increased profits. In today's challenging business market creativity can be the difference between a businesses success and its failure.

The Personal Learning and Thinking skills (PLTS) shown in bold above will be tested within the new 14-19 Diploma qualifications that will be taught in schools from September 2008.