CRITIQUE ARTICLE 1: THE SOFT SKILLS EDUCATION FOR THE VOCATIONAL GRADUATE: VALUE AS WORK READINESS SKILLS

ARTICLE 1:

THE SOFT SKILLS EDUCATION FOR THE VOCATIONAL GRADUATE: VALUE AS WORK READINESS SKILLS

By:

Md. Abdullah-Al-Mamun

Islamic University of Technology (IUT), Department of TVE, Boardbazar, Gazipur-1704, Bangladesh.

(British Journal of Education, Society & Behavioural Science 2(4):326-338, 2012)

ARTICLE REVIEW:

The author has discussed about the importance of soft skills education as a value of work readiness skills for the vocational graduate. Soft skills are defined as defined as non-technical skills, abilities and traits required functioning in a specific employment environment and that pertain to personality, attitude and behavior (Conrad and Leigh, (1999) and Moss and Tilly (1996). Therefore, the author mentioned that the soft skills are particular abilities that can improve one's employment performance and career prospects. It may also help students to develop their employability skills and make them confident to work in a performance oriented work environment as a critical lifelong learner.

As the employers demand from the graduates are changing with soft skills replacing technical ones, soft skills have strategic roles in determining someone success in his works:

1.      Can think on their feet.

2.      Think critically and creatively.

3.      Can solve the problems on their own.

4.      Help people make informed decision.

5.      Communicate effectively.

6.      Lead a group through teamwork exercise.

7.      Give critical feedback.

8.      Motivate fellow employees.

9.      Build healthy relationships.

10.  Set an example for the rest of the workforce.

11.  Allow individuals to deal effectively with the challenges of life.

However, two main issues raised in involved the soft skills in the vocational education. The author described the issues and suggestions as follows:

NO.	ISSUE	SUGGESTION
1.	Soft skills seems to be difficult to teach and even harder to assess.	·     Classroom teachers can promote the highly sought skills by requiring professional behavior in the classroom/lab/workshop, modeling appropriate interpersonal skills with students and peers, designing lessons that incorporate teamwork and problem-solving activities, and using case studies to examine the impact of ethical behaviors and positive/negative attitudes. (Philpot, 2010)
2.	Academic content that the nature of Education in itself leads to the development a series of skills that may not be explicitly listed in the curriculum yet result acquired by the students through the participation within the different activities making up an academic course.	·     Provide a model of the desired skill. In support of several soft skills, a short video is an outstanding method to instruct. Videos are great at presenting body language, facial expressions and for transmitting emotions. ·     Provide opportunity for the student to apply those skills with feedback. ·     ICT based assessments are able to generate rapid reliable data about the progress being done by learners. (JISC, 2012)

            Furthermore, the author also mentioned about the argument of the employers about the graduates that are not equipped with the right set of soft skills whereas they tend to see most new graduates as somewhat self-centered, unable to integrate within an existing team and expecting to be placed in a senior position without demonstrating the right qualities for leadership. This was the issue where the lack of competencies leads to a new issue of unemployed graduates. In addition, the author also mentioned that the issue of mismatch is also happened between skill supply from school and skill demand of workplace. Hence, it was also discussed that the competences gap between vocational education and industry sector was that vocational high school graduation is weak in soft skills which could put their employability on stake.

DISCUSSION

The roles of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in providing the knowledgeable workforce of technical skills expertise especially those that need hands on experience become important in order to support the country’s economic transformation. However, due to the challenging situation of today’s economy, many approached to education for works are monotonous which based on models, and have been shaped by practice but not to the skills which will enhance their prospect of good employment.  Thus, this paper shows that students with soft skills like positive attitude, effective communication, problem solving skill etc. have much more better chances of survival in the critical corporate world compared to the students who are lacking in these skills. Furthermore, it was agreed that people who are extroverted, who are good in marketing themselves, and who are socializing easily are rated superior to others who lack those attributes. Therefore, it is recommended to revising the curriculum structure to adopt these soft skills in enhancing the graduate employability. Teaching and learning also must be based on the student centered pedagogy by adopting the project-based learning approach, extra-curricular activities, stand-alone soft skills module and guidance on job-getting skills through career services. 

REFERENCE

1.      Conrad C.A. and Leigh W.A. (1999). Soft Skills: Bridge or Barrier to Employment? The monthly magazine of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

http://www.stanford.edu/group/scspi/_media/pdf/softskilltrainingfocusarticle.pdf.

2.      Joint Information Sytems Committee (JISC). (2012. Effective Practice with E-Assessment: An Overview Of Technologies, Policies And Practice In Further And Higher Education.

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/themes/elearning/effpraceassess.pdf.

3.      Moss P. and Tilly. C. (1996). Soft’ Skills and Race: An Investigation of Black Men’s Employment Problems. Work and Occupations. 23(3):252–276.

4.      Philpot D. (2012). Soft Skills: More Important Than You Might Think.

http://cte-unt.blogspot.com/2010/10/soft-skills-more-important-thanyou.html.

Prepared By: Nurihah Mohamad Saleh (MP 111227)