Origin, Development and Decline of Individual Skills in Times of Uncertainty

Abstract

In the course of the globalization processes of the past three decades, the focus on skill-based education and training has become a strong educational and labor- policy tool in which conceptual, evaluative and economic precepts are emphasized above and beyond fundamentals of a multidisciplinary, educational and social nature. The purpose of this article is to broaden awareness of this situation and its repercussions on the nature and development of individual skills.

The methodological strategy, which is highly qualitative, was structured on an analysis and discussion of three closely related core topics: a) the conceptual framework of skills; b) skills and standardized systems (from third parties); and c) the development of skills (starting with the individual himself).

It is noted that, far from encouraging learning throughout life, inducement of the skill-based training approach can discourage it, besides to being ineffective and quite costly. Contributions are made to the theory of skills, based on their origin and development as biological, psychological and socially integrated constructs that provide elements to improve policies for education and training beyond the conventional conceptual frameworks in this field.