All throughout the last century, formal education grew in importance and scope with more and more students opting for higher education in the fields of medicine, engineering and maths.
Many went on to get bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and acquire high paying white-collar jobs.
What was frowned upon was technical education, as more students saw themselves sitting in plush offices and doing brainwork rather than being on the field and using their skills.
As a result, the field of technical education – which requires skills, strength and sometimes, physical labour – suffered. Blue-collar jobs were frowned upon.
But now, as the world sentiment moves towards equity, more and more students are inclined towards technical education that imparts knowledge of practical and important jobs while promoting independent workers and entrepreneurs.
Many international schools are now offering technical skills right from the primary level to encourage students to hone their skills and develop inherent talents.
International schools in Abu Dhabi, Mumbai, Dubai agree that technical skills are a type of hard skill since they are something that can be taught in a classroom. Here’s why:
Skills Worth Acquiring
Technical education is knowledge about finer skills in life, which give an added advantage to students besides mainstream education.
Skills like audio editing, video editing, voice modulation, recording, etc are interesting sets of skills that require a finer and more nuanced understanding.
These skills are usually found in students who are artistically inclined or have a softer side to their academic persona, allowing them to experiment and explore rather than follow the rules and stay within the lines.
Students are breaking free of traditional career options like that of a doctor, lawyer, engineer, and instead of trying to make a break for jobs that require far more technical knowledge like sound or video editing.
For Eg: A voice artist is a special individual who has taught himself/herself a skill that is not everyone’s cup of tea. This is an extremely diverse field that is often looked over by others.
The Importance of a Technical Education
● Technical education encourages self-learning and independence.
● It offers employment opportunities that are skill-based and nuanced.
● Technical education has various levels of studies and a lot of different degrees too. There are diploma levels, graduate degree levels, postgraduate degree levels, research levels, and even special industrial training institutes for technical education in the world.
● Many of the above mentioned educational levels offer specialized courses in various technical fields. This is to adjust to the different sides of technological development and the following economic progress.
● The standard of technical education is maintained around the world with the help of international level councils and universities. They generally deal with forming standards and norms and keeping them consistent.
● Technical education is one of the very few fields that can provide assured sources of income for those who have proper technical skills. These jobs pay well enough for individuals to get by in a very comfortable manner.
● Many students of technical education have started their own companies or small scale businesses and have managed to provide job opportunities to other educated hands as well.
● Technical education schemes do have brilliant opportunities for education, employment, and even internships for those who are new to the business or just want to try it out.
Advantages of a Technical Education
Students of an international school in Abu Dhabi, Singapore, Malaysia, and other big cities around the world have to make decisions about their careers by the end of their final year of high school.
This seems like a very young age but usually, children know their talents and strengths by that point in time.
Many students of technical education opt for jobs while others opt to attend international technical colleges like Caltech, MIT, etc.
Here are some of the major advantages of early technical education.
Financial Benefits
Local technical school degree courses or diploma courses are not as expensive as regular four-year courses at colleges. This is mainly due to the shorter length of the technical courses.
They also give students the added benefit of joining a workforce directly in their stream of choice.
Career Advice
High schools focusing on technical education often have more career advice to offer to their students than schools that focus on their regular subjects in academics.
This generally tends to include a larger amount of career advice sessions, skill development workshops, and their teachers being able to offer more advice to the students.
Many high-end technical institutions have connections with higher education institutions and companies that perpetually require fresh faces working in their technical divisions.
Smaller Classes
The class strengths for technical fields are much smaller. This is because the students have different interests and there is a wide array of courses that they can choose from.
This automatically splits the students up into smaller groups, allowing them to pursue their favored subjects.
This also permits them to get adequate attention from their teachers due to the smaller classes.
Adaptability
Technical schools can adapt to the needs and requirements of students in a far easier manner than regular schools.
A contribution to this could be that they have fewer students per class to focus on. Technical school admissions in Abu Dhabi don’t often look at the past performances of candidates.
They prefer practical entrance exams and interviews which can showcase the skills of the candidates perfectly.
Some Important Technical Skills
The following technical skills are those which also have demand in different fields of employment:
1. Data Analysis
All major industries in the modern world rely heavily on some form of data consumption or the other. This data could be about the clients or their products.
Getting a hold of the data is a fairly easy task but companies require individuals to organize and interpret it methodically for them.
2. Coding and Programming
Even though a job application doesn’t say so, many employers look for these skills in the resumes that come their way.
Being good at understanding multiple programs is a set of strong skills that won’t go wrong at all.
3. Project Management
A project manager is critical for all technical aspects of a project. The knowledge of many complex systems and programs is required for this.
Project managers are supposed to be good leaders, effective at task delegation, and good at dealing with success as well as failure.
4. Social Media Marketing/Digital Marketing
Social media marketing or digital marketing is often also referred to as content marketing.
Students who possess this skill set can always look for good jobs in public relations firms, web development, or marketing agencies.
5. Technical Writing
Many jobs require written communication. These often require people to explain things that are hard to understand.
Messages may have to be sent to clients, press releases may have to be written up and sent out, etc. All these jobs are handled by a technical writing team.
Good careers can be made out of technical education. An individual can also earn a respectable amount of money and status from a career in technical work.
A large chunk of this can be attributed to the modern world which is gaga over technology and the extremely rapid advancements that are made to it.
