Skills Change, Aptitudes Don’t

Education is largely concerned with helping students to acquire skills. Thriving societies also seek to make the transition from school to work more successful by encouraging students to master skills during their education that will be valued in the workplace.

One of the few constants in human development is the increase in skills over the lifespan. Some theories of career development focus almost entirely on the acquisition of skills and the development of expertise. Such theories tend to downplay the importance of enduring characteristics of the person such as aptitudes and values, characteristics that are not skills per se.

For us at Career Vision, this question of the importance of aptitudes is a central consideration. It is our belief that aptitudes exist and that they are important predictors of the level to which individuals can acquire skills useful both in school and in the workplace. Although we do not deny that people acquire skills, we do believe aptitudinal differences between individuals have an important and measurable affect on the ease with which skills are gained. We also assume that aptitudes are enduring characteristics or traits of people, that they do not fluctuate willy-nilly through development, and that they are to a large degree unteachable. It would follow from our approach that although individuals may gain various skills as they mature, the underlying aptitudes and their relative pattern of strengths will remain the same.

We recently put these beliefs to the test. The Career Vision staff has conducted a study to examine the stability of aptitudes over time. One hundred eighty six students from a public high school completed the Ball Aptitude Battery (BAB) during both ninth grade and again in grade 12. The aptitudes measured by the BAB showed stability over the three year period. Two kinds of stability were found: stability of score pattern and stability of scores relative to same-grade peers. The results suggest that although the various skills tapped by the tests might improve over time (such as vocabulary knowledge), the underlying pattern of aptitudes does not improve, at least when one considers a student’s skill level in relation to others of his or her same age. Likewise, the underlying level of aptitude also does not change when a person’s scores on BAB tests are compared to others of the same grade level. The core abilities of Vocabulary, Numerical Reasoning, and Paper Folding were the most stable over the three-year period. Students’ scores on these aptitudes changed little over time. The correlation between BAB test scores at grades nine and 12 were all large.

Both this study and earlier ones conducted by Career Vision suggest that aptitudes remain stable through adolescence and into adulthood. Such stability provides a basis for practical assessment with multiple aptitude batteries that can begin in early adolescence, as early as grade eight or nine. Providing students and their families with information on aptitude assessment should permit wiser choices of courses, extracurricular activities, and the development of career goals.