Soft skills help prepare kids for school and the workplace. They are a series of strategies that help children learn competencies such as manners, respect, and organization. This book focuses on fourteen soft skills that all kids need, as well as how teachers and parents can work together to help children both at home and in educational settings.

The cultural rise of “big data” in the recent years has pressured a number of occupations to make an epistemological shift toward data-driven science. Though expressed as a professional move, this article argues that the push incorporates gendered assumptions that disadvantage women. Using the human resource occupation as an example, I demonstrate how normative perceptions of feminine “soft skills” are seen as irreconcilable with the masculine “hard numbers” of a data-driven epistemology. The history of human resources reflects how (...) assumptions of a biological fit with an occupation limit what women can convincingly describe as her skillsets. However, challenging this cannot stay within the confines of the occupation itself. To undo sexist thinking, it is necessary to understand the broader networks of patriarchal power that dictate how value is defined in corporate environments, especially within other high status professions in business. (shrink)

The purpose of this article is to discuss the importance of soft skills in the context of higher education and in the context of the foreign language learning classroom. The article aims to define the notion of soft skills and to offer possible ways of grouping soft skills. It also provides ways of including soft skills instruction in the context of higher education. In addition, the article aims to propose models of implementing (...) soft skills in foreign language learning and teaching situations and to suggest teaching procedures and activities which will facilitate the introduction of soft skills in the EFL classroom at South East European University. The article also aims to discuss the need of including soft skills in undergraduate studies curricula and to provide arguments in favour of including soft skills. The article will also present participants’ views and perceptions, collected via survey, of the importance and necessity of soft skills for their future careers and workplaces. The conclusion will offer some practical suggestions regarding soft skill inclusion in the EFL classroom. (shrink)

The present paper addresses the issue of determining the best international practices for developing soft skills among students of different specialties through carrying out a theoretical review. Basing on literature on present-day theory the authors make an attempt to explain soft skills dichotomies, summarize existing approaches to classifying soft skills, consolidate and document best international practices for soft skills development among potential employees of different specialties including bachelor students, master students, doctoral and (...) postdoctoral students. The data obtained in the theoretical analysis reveal that the possible ambiguities in the interpretation of the concept of “soft skills” are caused, on the one hand, by the dichotomic perception of their nature by present-day researchers and educators and, on the other hand, by the absence of the common language which makes it difficult to provide a more unified definition most satisfactory to all concerned. The authors are convinced that soft skills have a cross-cutting nature and regard them as personal and interpersonal meta-qualities and meta-abilities that are vital to any potential employee who is going to make positive contributions not only to his/her professional development but to the development of a company he/she is going to work for. The results of the conducted theoretical review clearly indicate that the absence of the unified understanding of the concept of “soft skills” is reflected in the existence of different approaches to classifying soft skills, let alone, the selection of didactic tools for developing soft skills among potential employees. (shrink)

Since the beginning of the 21st century, soft skills have long been advocated in education. However, the interpretations of soft skills are heterogeneous, and the relevant educational interventions...

This paper focuses on the topic of “soft skills” as an intrinsic part of successful leadership. The first part of the paper presents a literature review about the shift in perspective in recent years on what matters in leadership, and the significant changes this prompted in some areas of education and corporate recruitment. In the second part, the findings of a year round study conducted among Los Angeles based workforce members in an MBA program are presented. By utilizing (...) a multi-method approach, consisting of a survey model with three open ended, interview style questions, and data analysis in phenomenological trend, a number of interesting findings emerged, supporting the literature reviewed, that soft leadership skills, such as self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills, are steadily on the rise, and that greater attention should be apportioned to strengthen these skills in future leaders. (shrink)

Today, after the family, the school is the first institution in which children experience the implementation of social rules and the behaviors that follow from them. It is useful, therefore, to insert paths that favor the consolidation of a system made up of rules, inspired by the principles of transparency, fairness and solidarity, which can be the first and most effective lesson of democratic legality. In this perspective, teaching activities can appropriately refer to the programmatic contents of the disciplines which, (...) not only with regard specifically to civic education and law, but also with regard to other cultural areas, are bearers of explicit information and formative experiences. Particular attention is paid today to the planning of “Percorsi per le Competenze Trasversali e l’Orientamento” [Paths for Soft Skills and Guidance] (PCTO), which will also have an implicit educational value, that consisting in showing, through field experiences, the convergence of multiple cultural interests towards the purpose of education to legality. (shrink)

Engaging in physical activity and sports has been associated with various cognitive abilities and other personal characteristics. The contemporary link between doing sports and personal attributes such as soft skills and an individual’s cognitive abilities have yet to be investigated, however. This study aims to analyze the association between years of practicing a sport, cognitive abilities, and personal attributes. A large sample of 1,115 individuals completed the Cattell test and answered a questionnaire measuring six soft skills. (...) A multivariate regression analysis show that, after controlling for age and gender, participants’ years of practicing a sport were positively associated with three soft skills and with fluid reasoning. No differences emerged between team and individual sport practitioners. Our findings suggest an association between practicing sports, which entails more than just physical activity, and both cognitive abilities and other important personal characteristics, such as soft skills. (shrink)

WINDSOR C, DOUGLAS C and HARVEY T. Nursing Inquiry 2012; 19: 213–222 Nursing and competencies — a natural fit: the politics of skill/competency formation in nursingThe last two decades have seen a significant restructuring of work across Australia and other industrialised economies, a critical part of which has been the appearance of competency based education and assessment. The competency movement is about creating a more flexible and mobile labour force to increase productivity and it does so by redefining work as (...) a set of transferable or ‘soft’ generic skills that is transportable and is the possession of the individual. This article sought to develop an analysis of competency based clinical assessment of nursing students across a bachelor of nursing degree course. This involved an examination of a total of 406 clinical assessment tools that covered the years 1992–2009 and the three years of a bachelor degree. Data analysis generated three analytical findings: the existence of a hierarchy of competencies that prioritises soft skills over intellectual and technical skills; the appearance of skills as personal qualities or individual attributes; and the absence of context in assessment. The article argues that the convergence in nursing of soft skills and the professionalisation project reform has seen the former give legitimacy to the enduring invisibility and devaluation of nursing work. (shrink)

This article deals with mediation in language teaching, focusing on how the practice of mediation – as a specific language skill – can be incorporated in the syllabus. The chapter defines the skill of mediation as an emerging concept in language education, and discusses its potential for effective teaching of English for Specific Purposes in general and English for Legal Purposes in particular. The first part of the text seeks to answer several questions, aiming to determine whether mediation is relevant (...) in the context of legal practice and whether it has a place in an English for Law syllabus. The second part addresses a more practical concern of how the skill of mediation can be practiced by students. The article makes a case for assigning mediation a much more central place in the classroom, giving a number of specific examples of how this soft skill can be developed in the teaching of ESP and ELP. (shrink)

Advanced biological brains are by nature open-ended opportunistic controllers. Such controllers compute, pretty much on a moment-to-moment basis, what problem-solving resources are readily available and recruit them into temporary problem-solving wholes. Neural plasticity, exaggerated in our own species, makes it possible for such resources to become factored deep into both our cognitive and physical problem-solving routines. One way to think about this is to depict the biological brain as a master of what I shall dub ‘ecological control’. Ecological control is (...) the kind of top-level control that does not micro-manage every detail, but rather encourages substantial devolvement of power and responsibility. This kind of control allows much of our skill at walking to reside in the linkages and elastic properties of muscles and tendons. And it allows much of our prowess at thought and reason to depend upon the robust and reliable operation, often in dense brain-involving loops, of a variety of non-biological problem-solving resources spread throughout our social and technological surround. Are the complex distributed systems that result in some sense ‘out of control’, beyond the reach of useful governance? I shall argue that they are not, although understanding them requires us to re-think some key ideas about control and the nature of the self. To make this case, I shall first examine some strategies for efficient, external opportunity exploiting control in simple systems. I shall then argue that many of the same lessons apply to the case of higher-level human problem-solving. (shrink)

Advanced biological brains are by nature open-ended opportunistic controllers. Such controllers compute, pretty much on a moment-to-moment basis, what problem-solving resources are readily available and recruit them into temporary problem-solving wholes. Neural plasticity, exaggerated in our own species, makes it possible for such resources to become factored deep into both our cognitive and physical problem-solving routines. One way to think about this is to depict the biological brain as a master of what I shall dub ‘ecological control’. Ecological control is (...) the kind of top-level control that does not micro-manage every detail, but rather encourages substantial devolvement of power and responsibility. This kind of control allows much of our skill at walking to reside in the linkages and elastic properties of muscles and tendons. And it allows much of our prowess at thought and reason to depend upon the robust and reliable operation, often in dense brain-involving loops, of a variety of non-biological problem-solving resources spread throughout our social and technological surround. Are the complex distributed systems that result in some sense ‘out of control’, beyond the reach of useful governance? I shall argue that they are not, although understanding them requires us to re-think some key ideas about control and the nature of the self. To make this case, I shall first examine some strategies for efficient, external opportunity exploiting control in simple systems. I shall then argue that many of the same lessons apply to the case of higher-level human problem-solving. (shrink)

Vocational Education and Training programs are fuelled by technical and practical educational modules. The teaching staff adopts both traditional and innovative pedagogical frameworks to increase the generalization and maintenance of practical skills. At the same time, VET teachers and trainers have a few occasions to promote and include disciplines and educational programs for enhancing students' soft skills, e.g., critical thinking skills and media literacy. Following the European VET framework and literature of the field, CT and ML (...) represent a social challenge that requires even more efforts by academics, practitioners, and policymakers. Thisstudy situates into this context with the aim of introducing a novel educational approach for supporting the teaching staff in the promotion of students' CT and ML. This educational approach has been realized by the team of researchers and trainers of the NERDVET project, an Erasmus+ KA3 project devoted to the promotion of new tools and policies for enhancing CT and ML in VET. To pursue this aim, the team has employed the self-nudging model which regards the individuals' set of cognitive and behavioral strategies that individuals can develop to target a specific objective. By framing pedagogical strategies into this perspective, the team realized an initial approach for educational activities and teaching strategies to promote students' CT and ML. (shrink)

This study aims to explore the role of digital education in the development of skills and employability for engineering students through researching the role of big data analytics courses. The empirical study proposes the hypothesis that both soft and hard skills have positive effects on human capital, individual attributes, and the career development dimensions of engineering students. This is achieved through constructing a framework of three dimensions of engineering students’ employability and two competency development dimensions of big (...) data analytics courses. A questionnaire survey was conducted with 155 college engineering students and a structural equation model was used to test the hypotheses. The results found that courses on big data analytics have a positive impact on engineering students’ abilities in both hard skills and soft skills dimensions, while soft skills have a more significant impact on engineering students’ employability. The study has practical and theoretical implications that further enriches the knowledge base on engineering education and broadens our understanding of the role of digitalization in enhancing the skills and employability of engineering students. (shrink)

In this essay, I argue that an analysis of the mind-control skills exhibited by Buddhist meditation experts may be used to formulate a theory of mental freedom, Buddhist Soft Compatibilism, that includes not only freedom of the will but the freedoms of emotion, attention, perception, the self, and all voluntary phenomena. BSC is compatible with determinism, indeterminism, the various Buddhist conceptions of causation, and the Buddhist conception of the self.The structure of my essay is as follows. First, I (...) review the major terms, positions, and arguments in the Western debate on free will, contrasting the strongest pessimistic and optimistic views, framing the... (shrink)

The present qualitative study analyzes how a group of young people already involved in STEM fields perceive the prototypical person working in STEM. Gender differences between participants in technological and non-technological STEM fields were analyzed. A total of 27 young people (59.3% women) took part in the interviews (Mean Age = 25.48 years). Of them, 16 participants were working in STEM professions, and 11 were enrolled in the final courses of STEM degrees. The results of the content analysis were examined (...) in light of social role theory and the multidimensional structure of gender stereotypes. Men in these fields were therefore attributed an unappealing and weird physical appearance. Some female participants linked STEM professionals’ intellectual abilities to the stereotype that men have higher abilities in these fields. Whereas females attributed effort and perseverance to STEM professionals’ intellectual aptitudes, males referred to the development of soft skills. Participants in technological STEM fields connected the stereotype of being a ‘weirdo’ to a boring job, whereas those in non-technological fields linked it to their unconventional character. Some participants were disappointed by a lack of correspondence between expectations and the actual job STEM professionals do. Moreover, females in technological STEM fields commented on the job’s low social impact, while males mentioned low attainment of technical qualifications. Most referents in STEM fields were masculine, some of whom were present in the mass media. The practical implications of the findings are discussed. (shrink)

This paper reports on a preliminary investigation of the pedagogical uses and possibilities of interactive ethics audit simulations. We want to foster experience-based learning in business ethics and examine how simulated social audits of corporations can be useful supplements to traditional textbook-oriented pedagogy. We argue that social audit simulations may offer many benefits for business ethics instruction, especially when it comes to developing ethical literacy for institutionally complex and morally complicated multi-stakeholder scenarios. We conclude that ethics education based on broadly (...) accepted standards of social accountability should be advanced through audit-simulation technology. Thus certain decision-making problems, which students might encounter in the real world, can be studied in the classroom. Our research contributes to the field in several ways. It describes a new avenue for self-directed learning that encourages critical thinking about ethical issues and complex stakeholder scenarios in an enjoyable, interesting and safe way. Moreover, it emphasizes “soft” skill development, and empowers students to advance their skills through exploration, practice, and learning from their mistakes. By advancing the pedagogical toolkit of educators, this new interactive technology can improve awareness of how codes of business ethics should work in the real world and inspire further scholarly debate and research. (shrink)

Practical Ethics in Architecture and Interior Design Practice presents the basics of design practice through ethical scenarios, ushering design students into real-world experiential learning. Each chapter begins with a detailed story involving a complicated set of practical and ethical dilemmas, exemplifying those encountered each day in the world of professional practice. Practice-based topics such as contracts and project delivery methods, marketing design services, cross-cultural collaboration, virtual connectivity, social justice and sustainable design, soft skills, and other related professional practice (...) themes are anchored in realistic scenarios. While all the stories are fictional, in writing them the authors drew from over 75 combined years of professional experience in architecture and interior design, as well as many years of academic experience in teaching professional practice and ethics to architecture and interior design students. Each story is followed by discussion questions and suggested additional resources. This book provides a unique integrated perspective into the allied fields of architecture and interior design with topics relevant to both fields as well as specific to each profession. It prepares students of both disciplines for the broad issues of professional practice and encourages them to become ethical practitioners ready to contribute effectively to design teams and to ask the right questions. (shrink)

This paper challenges a pervasive curricular justification for educationally acquainting young people with stories of genocide and other moral horrors from history. According to this justification, doing so favours the development of psycho-social soft skills connected with interpersonal awareness and the establishment and maintenance of positive relationships. It is argued that this justification not only renders the specific historical content incidental to the development of these skills. The educational intention of promoting such psycho-social soft skills (...) by way of studying moral horrors in history constitutes an ethically problematic instrumentalisation of the historical material itself. (shrink)

The Faculty of Law at Masaryk University in Brno, the Czech Re- public, offers several fields of studies, one of them being the three-year Bachelor’s degree programme of International Trade Law. This programme includes two semesters of English for specific purposes which the students take in their first year of studies. However, as the programme is offered as a part time study, there are only 10 lessons of English taught within two days per semester. Preparing a course which would develop (...) the students’ language abilities and skills in the international trade law environment appears to be rather challenging under such conditions. In the paper I would like to share the ideas and experience from re- designing the syllabus for this course of English for international trade law. I describe the process from the original syllabus to a new one in which the teaching situation and students’ needs are taken into account. The course in- tends to include both product and process oriented goals and helps to improve general professional needs. In order to cover the field specific vocabulary, language practice and soft skills development within the above mentioned limited time frame, the students need to work both before and after the classes. The course is going to be piloted this year and we expect further modifications after its evaluation. (shrink)

Is the ability to start and stay in dialogue a hard or a soft skill? Is it a courageous risk to stay in dialogue within an organization? Or is dialogue, interaction, the building block of organizing, and does its neglect lead to disorganizing? Organizations in their broadened context, riveted at state regulations, technology and environmental contingencies, are changing. Under the influence of far-reaching digitalization processes and redesign, management layers disappear in favor of personal responsibility. But are we, as human (...) beings, ready to take up high-risk and ultimate responsibilities? After all, not everyone is a whizz kid with extraordinary qualities. Moreover, can we deal with an economy that is no longer in need of traditionally skilled employees? An economy running out of paid labor because of—among other things—the growing amount of light, fast and IT-steered production processes? Societal issues that cannot be solved from one single point of view, the so-called boundary objects, need a lot of debate and dialogue with many stakeholders involved before a clear direction can appear. What, then, does dialogue actually mean, how can we implement it and what can it create and bring about in an organization? Can it manage the gap between system-oriented control and coercive power on the one hand and a growing fragmentation of high-skilled expertise and creativity on the other? Organizing randomly provokes and neglects resistance at the same time, but how does this dynamic work? In this chapter, the above questions will be addressed and the concept of criticism as ‘counter-conduct’ linked to dialogue as the turntable of organizing will be introduced. (shrink)

Over the last decades, consistent research showed that voluntary work could be considered as a tool for professional development and concrete employment: volunteering could be either experienced as a desire to improve career opportunities or to acquire new skills. The study aimed to investigate voluntary work as a context of informal and non-formal workplace learning and vocational guidance, useful to develop skills and abilities, namely the capital of personal and social resources, that could promote future employability. Participants were (...) 38 young volunteers who experienced the Universal Civil Service, a national Italian program addressed to young people aged up to 28 years, giving them both the opportunity to engage in social activities useful for the community and have the first contact with a working context. In line with the objectives of the study, participants were invited to describe their volunteering experience in a diary, highlighting if and to what extent this context contributed to enhancing their employability capital, namely the asset of skills, knowledge, and networks acquired, that they could transfer to a future professional domain. The narrative data collected were examined through diatextual analysis, a specific address of discourse analysis designed to catch the relationship between enunciators, text, and context of the talk. This qualitative analysis allowed us to investigate the meanings young people attributed to these activities. In light of these results, the paper contributed to investigate volunteers’ perceptions about the conditions that could best foster this specific kind of workplace informal and non-formal learning and at proposing a qualitative perspective on the analysis of the employability capital they developed. (shrink)

Can philosophers be good activists? This essay defines activism for the philosopher and then provides a normative conception of a good philosopher-activist that is grounded in rational integrity and sound rational deliberation. I argue that because philosophers have been trained in reasoning and argumentation, they can contribute these skills to an activist movement. An activist with rational integrity exhibits five skills or virtues: they are honest, rational, logical, deliberative, and respectful. Conversely, bad philosopher-activists display five vices: they are (...) dishonest, manipulative, obfuscating, thoughtless, and insulting. Next, I argue that rhetorical and reasoning skills are only part of what define good activism, and describe the soft skills needed for effective activism. Philosophical training sometimes works against the development of these soft skills, but they are critical to the success of the philosopher-activist. I conclude by describing activism within the context of academic life and argue that philosophers who engage in activism can do so in an intellectually responsible way. (shrink)

Employability is a vital aspect for human development in career fields. In order to explore the factors affecting the employability of finance and trade graduates in higher vocational colleges, the researchers focused on human development in educational settings and conducted a piece of quantitative research within nine higher vocational colleges. The study uses descriptive statistical analysis to demonstrate the sample structure, using t-test, rank sum test, and chi-square test to assess the variables. It also adopts exploratory factor analysis to identify (...) the classification of both educational practice and employability. Then, a multivariable linear regression model was adopted to examine the relationships between three main factors as well as the employability and career development of finance and trade graduates. The findings imply that the soft skills and basic skills of finance and trade college graduates have immensely improved through educational practice; graduates with high motivation for learning could enhance their soft skills and more internships or club engagement brings stronger professional skills. Based on these results, higher vocational colleges, enterprises, policymakers, teachers, and finance and trade graduates will benefit from the findings related to the reform of educational practice for strengthening graduate employability and human development. The originality of this paper is the conceptual evolution of finance and trade college graduate employability, as well as the empirical analysis on educational practice, student engagement, and family background affecting their human development. (shrink)

Over the past few years we have seen an increasing number of legal proceedings related to inappropriately implemented technology. At the same time career paths have diverged from the foundation of statistics out to Data Scientist, Machine Learning and AI. All of these new branches being fundamentally branches of statistics and mathematics. This has meant that formal training has struggled to keep up with what is required in the plethora of new roles. Mathematics as a taught subject is still based (...) in decades old teaching specifications and has not been updated centrally as a curriculum to include new technologies, coding or ethics. This subject area is firmly split between ICT and Mathematics in secondary school, continuing on to be split between Computer Science and Mathematics at University. As we move forwards with technology we see these once seperate fields becoming increasingly intertwined. We propose that existing provision for concepts such as ethics and societal responsibility in analysis currently exist but have not been incorporated into the mainstream curriculum of School or University. This is partially due to the split between fields in an educational setting but also the speed with which education is able to keep up with Industry and its requirements. Principles and frameworks of socially responsible modelling beginning at school level means that ethics and real-life modelling are introduced much earlier than normal. Integrating these concepts with philosophical principles of society and politics ensures a suitable background for future modellers and users of technology to draw on. Modelling is currently undertaken in technical sciences at University but the Subject Benchmark Statements are not current (Subject Benchmark Statements describe the nature of study and the academic standards expected of graduates in specific subject areas. They show what graduates might reasonably be expected to know, do and understand at the end of their studies). Even in 2019 the UK did not yet have Benchmark Statements that discuss the learning to be done in Higher Education around AI and advanced Machine Learning. Where there is provision for AI and Data Science within degree courses ethics is not generally highlighted as a key concept. As such there can be a lack of focus on the teaching of modelling or ethics as specific skills. The skills required to use a basic statistical model, for example would not be sufficient to start from scratch and build an ethical model reflecting real-world scenarios with which to inform policy or organisational decision making. This is a skill in itself and includes such aspects as awareness of data quality, ethics, user implementation problems, context and an understanding of the environment that the model is being created in. As the field of analytics has progressed so quickly in the last decade modules such as those covering AI have simply been bolted on to Maths or Computing degrees rather than being fully detailed as key areas of study or driving new, more integrated courses of study. This paper posits that gaps at primary, secondary and tertiary educational levels need to be addressed. Implementing and integrating key concepts from school level is essential so that areas such as assumptions, caveats, quality assurance and answering the right questions with constructive challenge become a cultural fixture. This not only helps developers of technology but users of rapidly developing technology also. In addition, leadership and soft skills as part of this education will ensure that a cultural shift can take place and promote continuous improvement in analysis within organisations. The addition of key concepts throughout the educational system and the updating of potentially outdated curriculums is key to ensuring a functional society. A society where every citizen is a user of tech and those that develop it can be ethical and socially responsible in its development. (shrink)

Education is the basis for the economic and spiritual development of any society. Modern education system places demand on the teacher, such as professionalism, soft skills, mobility, and the ability to process creatively an ever-increasing flow of information and apply it competently in practice; thus, the preparation of a future teacher is a social order in relation to higher pedagogical education. Nowadays the development of the concept of lifelong education is being strengthened, and university training turns into an (...) extremely important stage with the main goal when the student must be prepared not only for practical activities, but also for further systematic improvement of their professional qualifications. Consequently, preparing a future specialist for self-education is a requirement of the modern education system of the country. It is obvious that the objective need of society is determined by the competitive ability of specialists in the world market, their adaptation to changing socio-economic conditions. The paper is devoted to the methodological approaches of the future teacher’s formation of the innovative competence. (shrink)

There are indications of a positive trend in education. International comparative investigations on academic achievement (Programme for International Student Assessment, PISA) and longitudinal studies on life courses prove the need for and the importance of children’s high intellectual knowledge. At the same time, new research initiatives and projects comply with the demand that aesthetic/cultural education1 be “more” than a marginal complement to intellectual education and instead be “fundamental for thinking and acting.”2 Aesthetic education is to provide soft skills, (...) to shape children’s characters, and to improve their social competences, representing “the Other of school.”3 The text below deals with poetry for .. (shrink)

Understand the challenges faced by university based EAPs and the strategies to effectively meet needs&#;and discover what works and what does not Academia is a diverse workplace unlike any other, and subsequently, employee assistance program issues are unique. Employee Assistance Programs in Higher Education focuses on the unique challenges of employee assistance service delivery in a university setting. This handy resource discusses the evolution, development, and strategies in managing an EAP in academia while comparing the substantial differences in program application (...) between academic settings and corporate settings. Discussions include outsourcing, support groups, implementation of services, and effective model frameworks. Employee Assistance Programs in Higher Education explores in depth how the difference of being an academic institution influences the administration of an EAP. Reducing costs, assessing the value of an EAP, faculty resistance to accessing EAPs, organizational and interpersonal problems, manager support groups to reduce stress, developing ’soft skills’, and addressing the deaths of faculty, staff, and students are examined in detail. This unique resource is extensively referenced and includes tables to clearly present data. Topics in Employee Assistance Programs in Higher Education include: the evolution of the IAEAPE university EAP response to traumas on campus enhancing faculty access university EAPs and outsourcing creating a specialized EAP program comparison between academic and corporate cultures case study of the University of Saskatchewan EAP _and more! _ Employee Assistance Programs in Higher Education is a comprehensive resource for academic administrators; benefit plan managers; university based EAP managers and directors; EAP, work/life, and wellness professionals; members of International Association of Employee Assistance Professionals in Education; Employee Assistance Professionals Association; Employee Assistance Society of North America; Association of Work Life Professionals; Society for Human Resource Management Schools of Social Work; educators in schools of social work, psychology, counseling education, and business. (shrink)

Though judges and lawyers encourage claimants to settle disputes out of courts, lawyers may struggle managing out-of-court dispute resolution processes. Some of the dispute management struggles are related to emotions of clients. One of the reasons why it may be difficult to manage a client’s emotions is because out-of-court disputes require a different communication skillset from lawyers. The following note features some advice for law students on how to incorporate compassionate communication methods in personal injury disputes. Personal injury disputes may (...) be emotionally challenging for clients. Such challenges may manifest in communication issues and prolonged suffering of clients. Yet, both students and academics may dismiss the importance of soft-skill development in due course of legal education. As lawyer-socialization institutions, law schools have a duty to foster skills that are necessary to successfully assist clients in emotionally challenging disputes. This contribution discusses the notion of human suffering and compassion-based counselling scholarship in relation to personal injury disputes. The paper advocates for normalizing emotions in personal injury disputes, and through testimonials of Michigan lawyers, presents real life examples of how lawyers can communicate compassionately with their clients. Law students can benefit from learning about real-life examples of communication patterns between lawyers and clients to have better conversations with their clients. (shrink)

For courses covering professionalism in any nursing or health program offered in colleges or universities, vocational schools, hospitals, high schools, or through on-the-job training. A balanced introduction to the standards and skills needed to succeed in health care Professionalism in Health Care: A Primer for Career Success is a full-color, engaging, conversational text that helps students understand the common professional standards that all healthcare workers need to provide excellent care and service. It brings together complete coverage of these and (...) other crucial soft skills: work ethic, character, relationships, teamwork, communication and etiquette, honesty, cultural competence, personal image, personal health and wellness, and more. (shrink)

Applying Fineman’s vulnerability theory, this paper will explore the role of emotions within the legal profession and the specific vulnerabilities that arise from their traditional and contemporary treatment within law. It will consider how the notion of professionalism in law has traditionally disregarded or excluded emotions as irrelevant or even dangerous in a manner which is philosophically and psychologically flawed as well as damaging to mental health and wellbeing. This approach has created longstanding unacknowledged vulnerabilities for the profession as a (...) whole and individual practitioners. It will then explore how the shifting legal services landscape, and the resultant evolution of the profession, has led to a growing contemporary interest in the use of emotional competencies (often characterised as ‘soft skills’ or ‘emotional intelligence’). These are now increasingly exploited as tools to enhance profitability. However, this leads to a dichotomy as, despite their increasing utilisation, emotions are still not fully acknowledged or incorporated within law’s core professional values. This generates further individual and institutional vulnerabilities around mental health and wellbeing which require urgent attention to ensure the health of the contemporary profession. The paper concludes with suggestions for reforms to alleviate these vulnerabilities and promote greater future resilience within law. (shrink)

Communication can be defined as the process of sharing ideas, experiences, attitudes and knowledge by transmission of symbolic messages. Dental medicine is an area where technical skills are not the only prerequisites for being a good health care provider. Soft skills, such as active listening to the patient, appropriate verbal and non-verbal communication, empathy, and respecting ethical rules are significant in the dentist–patient communication process. Consequently, they influence patients’ attitudes, satisfaction, and ongoing health-related behaviour. Therefore, a training (...) course on communication skills has been introduced at the Faculty of Dental Medicine of the Medical University in Sofia. The aim is to improve students’ soft skills, and to form a behavioural design pattern concerning dentist–patient interactions. (shrink)

The article describes the possibilities of using and modifying existing machine learning technologies in the field of natural language processing for the purpose of designing a system for automatically generating control and test tasks (CTT). The reason for such studies was the limitations in generating theminimumrequired amount ofCTtomaintain student engagement in game-based learning formats, such as quizzes, and others. These limitations are associated with the lack of time resources among training professionals for manual generation of tests. The article discusses the (...) applied research of the Large Language Model (LLM) and Generative pre-trained transformer (GPT) technologies for the development of a system for automatic generation of tests for the purpose of its implementation in the BoxBattle gamified learning platform. The result of such applied research can be a system for automatic generation of tests, which will reduce the time for developing tests. As a result, this will allow teachers to free up time to implement a personalized approach to teaching and develop students’soft skills. (shrink)

This paper examines the International Student Competition on Place Brand­ing and Mediterranean Diet held in Fermo, Italy, in the context of the devel­opment of rural areas. This one-week food-related educational programme was organised by the University of Macerata’s Department of Education, Cultural Heritage and Tourism in collaboration with The Piceno Laboratory on the Mediterranean Diet, a local network of public and private stakehold­ers committed to the promotion of Fermo area as a touristic destination based on traditional gastronomy. The aim of (...) this study was to understand how and to what extent such food-related educational events may con­tribute to providing students with the knowledge, expertise and soft skills needed for careers in the food tourism sector. Of interest also was how such events may benefit the development of rural areas. The ISC was founded in 2016 and continued in 2017, 2018 and 2019. In order to assess students’ perceptions about the experience, specifically regarding what they felt they had learned about food tourism, and which soft skills they had acquired or honed, 13 students who participated in the 2017 event were interviewed for a qualitative study. Moreover, the authors drew upon information gleaned from interactions with students and teachers, as well as with several important actors of the local food and tourism sector, in­cluding tourism and hospitality entrepreneurs and representatives of gov­ernment agencies, with whom they collaborated in the context of planning, running and evaluating the events. The findings show that the ISC can provide students with a good general understanding of the territory and practical knowledge about place branding and food tourism. In terms of career preparation, the combination of fieldwork activities with traditional lectures and group activities was particularly fruitful in promoting soft skills such as communication, efficient use of social media, teamwork, problem-solving and decision making. (shrink)

L’articolo mira ad indagare le trasformazioni che stanno subendo le istituzioni formative sotto la pressione delle direttive europee secondo modelli aziendali di stampo neoliberale. L’analisi genealogica e il confronto con la documentazione istituzionale europea e nazionale suggeriscono che le riforme scolastiche degli ultimi trent’anni, centrate sulla logica delle competenze e sul modello dell’impresa, siano elaborate per essere un supporto fondamentale alle pratiche di soggettivazione neoliberale. La centralità della nozione di competenza e l’insistenza sulla necessità di sviluppare ed applicare un numero (...) sempre maggiore di strumenti di misurazione dei saperi portano a definire un orizzonte educativo che si pone come scopo principale la formazione di individui utili al sistema produttivo, tanto sul piano delle capacità tecniche quanto sul piano valoriale. Un sistema educativo con questi obiettivi comporta lo snaturamento e la svalutazione di tutta una serie di ambiti del sapere, uno su tutto quello filosofico. La didattica delle competenze sta trasformando lo studio della filosofia da sapere critico a semplice adattamento a quei sistemi di valutazione che rispondono alle logiche del mondo dell’impresa: nella migliore delle ipotesi un insieme di soft skill, nella peggiore una vera e propria ancella della cultura aziendalista. (shrink)

Background eHealth was widely used during the COVID-19 pandemic. Much attention was given to the technical aspects of eHealth, such as infrastructure and cost, while the soft skill of compassion remained underexplored. The wide belief in compassionate care is more compatible with in-person interactions but difficult to deliver via e-platforms where personal and environmental clues were lacking urges studying this topic. Purpose to explore the experience of delivering compassionate care via an eHealth platform among healthcare professionals working to contain (...) the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods A qualitative study design with an interpretative phenomenological analysis approach was used. Twenty healthcare professionals (fifteen nurses and five physicians) who provided care using technology platforms, such as telephone hotlines, mobile apps, and social media, were interviewed individually. Ethical considerations Permission to conduct the study was obtained from the Institutional Review Board. Results Participants stated that “eHealth enabled compassionate care during the pandemic” by ensuring patient care availability and accessibility. They shared experiences of “communicating compassionate care via eHealth” with suggestions of addressing patients’ needs with empathy, adopting a structured protocol to guide eHealth communication, and using more advanced visual-media methods to promote human-to-human interaction. They recommended “setting realistic mutual expectations” considering the limitations of eHealth in handling complex health situations and staffing shortages. Participants considered “low eHealth literacy hinders compassion.” Additionally, they recommended the need for “institutional/system-level support to foster compassionate care.” Conclusion Participants recognized the importance of integrating compassion into eHealth services. Promotion of compassionate care requires standardization of eHealth services with institutional and system-level support. This also includes preparing adequate staffing who can communicate compassionate care via eHealth, set realistic expectation, and adjust communication to eHealth literacy level while meeting the needs of their patients. (shrink)

This paper extracts the findings of the impact study on the Learning Facilitator programme’s study, a 6-month blended learning professional programme accredited by the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt (Germany) and delivered by Jesuit Worldwide Learning to teachers in context of marginalisation. Focused on elucidating how the Learning Facilitator programme nurtures graduates' soft skills in teaching and fosters their servant-leadership, this paper underscores how the programme redefines the temporal horizons for its participants, enabling them to transcend established frames of (...) reference and cultivate inclusive and conducive learning environments both within and beyond the confines of traditional classrooms. This contribution seeks to bring the seldom heard voices at the centre of the discussion on “time for education”, echoing graduates’ critical exploration in reevaluating conventional frames of reference in pedagogical contexts. (shrink)

The article describes the possibilities of using and modifying existing machine learning technologies in the field of natural language processing for the purpose of designing a system for automatically generating control and test tasks (CTT). The reason for such studies was the limitations in generating theminimumrequired amount ofCTtomaintain student engagement in game-based learning formats, such as quizzes, and others. These limitations are associated with the lack of time resources among training professionals for manual generation of tests. The article discusses the (...) applied research of the Large Language Model (LLM) and Generative pre-trained transformer (GPT) technologies for the development of a system for automatic generation of tests for the purpose of its implementation in the BoxBattle gamified learning platform. The result of such applied research can be a system for automatic generation of tests, which will reduce the time for developing tests. As a result, this will allow teachers to free up time to implement a personalized approach to teaching and develop students’soft skills. (shrink)

Applying Fineman’s vulnerability theory, this paper will explore the role of emotions within the legal profession and the specific vulnerabilities that arise from their traditional and contemporary treatment within law. It will consider how the notion of professionalism in law has traditionally disregarded or excluded emotions as irrelevant or even dangerous in a manner which is philosophically and psychologically flawed as well as damaging to mental health and wellbeing. This approach has created longstanding unacknowledged vulnerabilities for the profession as a (...) whole and individual practitioners. It will then explore how the shifting legal services landscape, and the resultant evolution of the profession, has led to a growing contemporary interest in the use of emotional competencies (often characterised as ‘soft skills’ or ‘emotional intelligence’). These are now increasingly exploited as tools to enhance profitability. However, this leads to a dichotomy as, despite their increasing utilisation, emotions are still not fully acknowledged or incorporated within law’s core professional values. This generates further individual and institutional vulnerabilities around mental health and wellbeing which require urgent attention to ensure the health of the contemporary profession. The paper concludes with suggestions for reforms to alleviate these vulnerabilities and promote greater future resilience within law. (shrink)

The aim of the paper is to identify and describe some specifics of intercultural competence development at the tertiary level in the framework of language and culture. Different views on intercultural competence development in higher education are presented as well as intercultural competence development in different countries and many scholars’ points of views. The results show certain specifics of intercultural competence development including linguistic competence, linguistic and cultural competence, as well as the components of intercultural competence development: the knowledge of (...) foreign languages, cultural background knowledge, and basic soft skills. It is stated that knowing foreign languages, understanding the national culture of the target language, and having universal soft skills are necessary for successful intercultural competence development. Some soft skills are developed too, such as: tolerance, a sense of responsibility for one’s actions, the ability to empathy, understanding and acceptance of a foreign culture, the ability and desire to understand the difference and unity of one’s culture and the country culture of a target language, a sense of adequate and friendly perception of a foreign language and its realities. It is concluded that it is important to know a theory and have a practice for intercultural competence development and intercultural communication, since a foreign language, culture can only be acquired through activities. As for the specifics of intercultural competence development at the tertiary level in national universities, an indirect character of its development and patterning during intercultural communication are characterized. (shrink)

The promise of this book is simple: if you buy this book on Friday, you will be better at your job on Monday. Do you ever find yourself: Prioritizing the demands of work over your personal needs? Struggling to build positive and collaborative energy with your team? Watching others gain opportunities while you remain stagnant and overlooked? Every future goal, complicated task, and healthy habit can be broken down into simple, measurable, and tiny skills that can be easily practiced (...) and mastered by removing obstacles, overcoming assumptions, and maximizing your potential at work and in life. In MicroSkills, Harvard-trained physicians Dr. Landry and Dr. Lewiss assert that your success does not require absolute self-sacrifice. You'll learn microskills of prioritizing your health, support systems, and personal boundaries. They encourage a collaborative mindset as opposed to an individualistic one. You'll learn microskills of sponsorship, upstanding, and collaboration. They argue the 'good enough is good enough' mentality can stall your career. You'll learn the microskills of building expertise, organizing tasks, and screening new opportunities. (shrink)

The widespread adoption of new technologies has led to changes in worldview that impact the effectiveness of education and require new forms of teaching. This article demonstrates that the loss of academic motivation, growing pragmatism, and emerging new ethics characteristic of the current generation of students, loosely referred to as millennials, contradict the fundamental principles of research activities. The author notes that research-based education with the creation of a generative environment and problem-based learning is the most reasonable strategy in the (...) natural sciences, engineering, and applied research. However, creating an analogue of this type of education in the humanities appears problematic due to the specifics of the studied objects. Although philosophy cannot be reduced to research, research-based education in its goals and declared educational ideals largely converges with philosophy. However, this convergence risks an unjustified pragmatization of philosophical knowledge, understanding philosophy only as a method and tool for better mastering other disciplines. This is most clearly demonstrated by a teaching strategy based on the use of philosophical games. The article analyzes the strategy of two types of philosophical games and other features of these games that develop critical thinking; it compares the educational goals declared by the developers (including the rationale for their relevance and compliance with the chosen teaching methodology) and the results obtained, according to the participants’ feedback. It also argues that, although philosophical games develop imagination and the ability to precisely formulate and defend theoretical positions, they do not presuppose a research position either from the point of view of the object (which turns out to be random and changes during the game) or from the point of view of the subject. The author introduces the concept of “natural generative environment,” emphasizes the importance of the axiological aspect of philosophy, and suggests paying attention to a number of existing strategies for teaching philosophy that are oriented toward this environment and partially solve the problems associated with the formation of a new type of worldview. (shrink)

La sociedad actual requiere que la universidad prepare profesionales que estén formados en todas las dimensiones de la persona. En este trabajo se muestra una estrategia didáctica que ayuda a fomentar el aprendizaje significativo en los estudiantes de educación superior. Partiendo de la realización de una dinámica de grupos se generan las condiciones de trabajo colaborativo necesarias para involucrar a los alumnos en la construcción de los contenidos propios de una asignatura, así como desarrollar competencias transversales necesarias para la vida (...) académica y personal. (shrink)

Journal of Philosophy of Education, Volume 56, Issue 1, Page 29-40, February 2022.

El objetivo de este proyecto es implementar una metodología de aprendizaje cooperativo en el entorno universitario con una estrategia de gamificación que promueva cambios conductuales en los estudiantes. La herramienta de estímulo es una innovada práctica de doble corrección que incorpora el concepto de diversión. A los datos obtenidos se les aplicó el estadístico Chi-cuadrado. Además, se realizó a los estudiantes un cuestionario, sobre las competencias adquiridas, al que se aplicó el test U de Mann Whitney. Tras el análisis de (...) los datos resultantes se corrobora que la estrategia implementada mejora las habilidades interpersonales y el rendimiento académico. (shrink)

El emergente paradigma educativo del aprendizaje ubicuo está dando lugar a nuevos entornos virtuales de aprendizaje. El objetivo de este estudio es contribuir a esta transformación en los procesos de aprendizaje para avanzar en el dominio del inglés, con un diseño didáctico innovador inspirado en el concepto de ‘entorno personal de aprendizaje’, con el uso de vídeos de YouTube. Los resultados demuestran el potencial pedagógico de los PLE, su eficacia no sólo a nivel cognitivo sino también como experiencia emocional. Este (...) diseño también se ha mostrado de utilidad para promover la autonomía y la motivación intrínseca del estudiante. (shrink)

Escuchamos hablar con frecuencia de la importancia de las competencias blandas en la educación y en el mundo laboral. Sería primordial que la educación, en todos sus niveles, se plantee un cambio de paradigma y que las incluya en los planes de estudio, dándole el mismo valor que a las competencias duras. Sería conveniente que el alumnado las desarrolle para que los prepare en el ámbito laboral y en su transitar en este mundo cada vez más cambiante. El Coaching Educativo (...) permite desarrollar estas competencias en el alumnado, un cambio de observador, un modo distinto de ser y de hacer. (shrink)

El artículo es producto de un estudio de enfoque mixto cuyo propósito fue analizar y comprender el valor del arte en la formación profesional en Educación, a partir de las opiniones de estudiantes, y los desafíos curriculares en torno al arte que implica las innovaciones. La muestra estuvo formada por estudiantes de Educación Primaria de una Universidad Nacional de Lima y para recoger información sobre la valoración del arte en la formación docente se aplicó un cuestionario cerrado de actitudes hacia (...) las actividades de expresión artística en la formación profesional en Educación y para los desafíos curriculares se administró un cuestionario abierto. Los resultados reflejan un significativo valor asignado al arte en la formación docente y la necesidad e importancia de incluir el arte como un área longitudinal en el currículo para que contribuya con la formación de competencias artísticas y habilidades blandas de los futuros docentes en el nivel. (shrink)

Although many organizations around the world have engaged in corporate social responsibility programing, there is little evidence of social impact. This is a problematic omission since many programs carry the stigma of marketing ploys used to bolster organizational image or reduce consumer skepticism. To address this issue and build on existing scholarship, the purpose of this study was to evaluate a socially responsible youth employability program in the United Kingdom. The program was developed through the foundation of a professional British (...) soccer team to bolster employability and life skills for marginalized London youth. Program funding was provided by a large multinational bank as part of their CSR agenda. This evaluation was undertaken to understand the beneficiary impacts associated with program deployment. Results from the pre-intervention/post-intervention, sequential mixed-method evaluation show statistically significant differences among several “soft” beneficiary outcomes. However, results are mixed regarding whether the “hard” outcome of employment was achieved by program participants. Qualitative findings buttress these results, indicating a high level of motivation for work, attitude enhancement, and satisfaction with program delivery. (shrink)