Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS)

The Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) was appointed by the Secretary of Labor to determine the skills that our young people need to succeed in the world of work. The Commission's fundamental purpose was to encourage a high-performance economy characterized by high-skill, high-wage employment.

WORKPLACE KNOW-HOW

The know-how identified by SCANS is made up of five competencies and a three-part foundation of skills and personal qualities that are needed for solid job performance. These are:

WORKPLACE COMPETENCIES: --- Effective workers can productively use:

• Resources --- They know how to allocate time, money, materials, space, and staff.
• Interpersonal skills --- They can work on teams, teach others, serve customers, lead, negotiate, and work well with people from culturally diverse backgrounds.
• Information --- They can acquire and evaluate data, organize and maintain files, interpret and communicate, and use computers to process information.
• Systems --- They understand social, organizational, and technological systems; they can monitor and correct performance; and they can design or improve systems.
• Technology --- They can select equipment and tools, apply technology to specific tasks, and maintain and troubleshoot equipment.

FOUNDATION SKILLS: --- Competent workers in the high-performance workplace need:

• Basic Skills --- reading, writing, arithmetic and mathematics, speaking, and listening.
• Thinking Skills --- the ability to learn, to reason, to think creatively, to make decisions, and to solve problems.
• Personal Qualities --- individual responsibility, self-esteem and self-management, sociability, and integrity.

Source: LEARNING A LIVING: A SCANS REPORT FOR AMERICA 2000, U.S. Department of Labor, Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills, April 1992.