Durable skills will be incorporated into classroom teaching

Teaching students durable skills such as showing up for work on time in addition to academic knowledge and stressing the importance of each is the focus of a new report presented last week to North Carolina’s State Board of Education.

Those skills inclusive of having a good work ethic and motivation are important to employers in every career field and contribute to much higher pay for employees, the report said.

Starting this fall, classroom teachers will incorporate durable skills with academics, based on a new set of performance tasks created by teachers, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction said.

“In addition to academic knowledge, our graduates must also develop the ability to collaborate and communicate with others, adapt to challenging situations and think critically about the information presented to them to excel in the 21st century workforce,” state Superintendent Catherine Truitt said in a statement.

As North Carolina’s economy grows, employers have been struggling over the last few years to find enough qualified entry-level workers, Jeffrey DeBellis said. He’s economic and policy analysis director of the Department of Commerce. However, conditions have improved since the COVID-19 pandemic and are now approaching prepandemic levels, he said.

In 2019, a survey found 50% of employers were having trouble hiring entry level employees. That increased to 81% in 2022 but was back down to 62% in 2024.

“Lack of employability” traits have also been cited by employers as a top concern, DeBellis said.

“This is different than typical soft skills like communication, critical thinking and problem solving,” DeBellis said. “Employers highlighted personal qualities like showing up for work on time, having a good work ethic and being motivated and reliable.”

In 2024, 72% of employers cited “lack of employability qualities as their top challenge in hiring. Only 34% cited lack of work experience as their top hiring challenge.

Careers that required a college degree tend to place a higher level of importance on durable skills than those requiring less education although durable skills are important for jobs at every level of education, the Department of Public Instruction said.

“North Carolina is winning,” Kristie Van Auken, special assistant to the state school superintendent, told the state board of education. “We are growing high-quality jobs in multiple sectors of the economy. Career awareness is truly a mandate.

“We need to ensure that every single student can benefit from this state’s economic expansion. Our students deserve to be well prepared for jobs when they graduate from high school.”