Higher education and the new role of the teacher: the relevance of soft skills to enhance the professional identity

Maria José Varadinov; Luís Miguel Cardoso

doi:10.31637/epsir-2024-1146

Autores/as

Maria José Varadinov Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0308-2000
Luís Miguel Cardoso Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3748-5593

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31637/epsir-2024-1146

Palabras clave:

educación superior, rol docente, mercado de trabajo, soft skills, design thinking, STEM, sensibilización profesional, Teach-BEASTs

Resumen

Introducción: El mercado laboral se define hoy por cambios permanentes que están transformando los currículos en las Instituciones de Educación Superior (IES). Los profesores se están convirtiendo en profesores-mentores para mejorar la percepción de la identidad profesional de los estudiantes. Cuatro universidades europeas crearon el programa “Teach-BEASTs – Teaching to BE Aware STudents (Teach-BEASTs)”, un programa Erasmus+ centrado en esta redefinición. Los objetivos son demostrar el valor de los conocimientos y habilidades transferidos en materias STEM. Metodología: se basa en una sólida revisión de la literatura sobre el marco teórico del artículo y los conceptos clave. Por otro lado, se centra en el análisis del papel de los docentes académicos, profesores, funcionarios encargados de las direcciones de carrera académica y del proceso educativo, así como de los decanos y directivos. Resultados y discusión: se centran en las Píldoras de Conciencia Profesional, módulos que alientan a los estudiantes a reflexionar sobre el material desde la perspectiva de sus intereses, pasiones, aptitudes y el valor de mercado de las habilidades y la información obtenida y constituyen el núcleo de la metodología. Conclusiones: las primeras conclusiones corroboran los objetivos, concretamente resaltando el valor de las actividades de desarrollo de habilidades sociales.

Descargas

Los datos de descargas todavía no están disponibles.

Biografía del autor/a

Maria José Varadinov, Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre

Profesora Asociada de la Universidad Politécnica de Portalegre, es Doctora en el área de Administración de Empresas con la especialidad de Logística Inversa por la Universidad de Extremadura (Badajoz, España). Imparte docencia en diversas unidades como Operaciones y Logística, Introducción a la Gestión, Economía, Contabilidad de Gestión y Economía Agraria. Ha sido Directora de la Oficina de Relaciones Exteriores del Departamento de Ciencias de la Empresa y es revisora de varias revistas científicas internacionales; Miembro de la Red EUCLIDES- red de Universidades Europeas de Ingeniería y Tecnología y Coordinadora Institucional de varios proyectos internacionales en el campo de la innovación pedagógica, metodologías de enseñanza y aprendizaje y también en Optimización y Sistema de Ayuda a la Decisión para la Cadena de Suministro.

Luís Miguel Cardoso, Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre

Luís Miguel Cardoso es Doctor en Lenguas y Literaturas Modernas, en la especialidad de Literatura Comparada por la Universidad de Coimbra, Portugal. Fue Decano de la Facultad de Educación y Ciencias Sociales del Instituto Politécnico de Portalegre, Portugal (2010 - 2018) y Presidente de ARIPESE, Asociación de Reflexión e Intervención en la Política Educativa de las Escuelas de Educación Superior en Portugal (2015 - 2018). Profesora Adjunta del Departamento de Ciencias del Lenguaje y de la Comunicación de la Facultad de Educación y Ciencias Sociales del Instituto Politécnico de Portalegre, Portugal, actualmente es investigadora del Centro de Estudios Comparados de la Universidad de Lisboa y del CARE - Centro de Investigación en Salud y Ciencias Sociales, Portalegre.

Citas

Alegado, P. J. E. (2018). A qualitative investigation of the effects of mentoring: teachers’ narrative from Tianjin, China. J. Teaching & Training, 5(2), 112-126. https://doi.org/10.5296/jet.v5i2.13285 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5296/jet.v5i2.13285

Beckingham, S. (2023). Baseline skills—scaffolding soft skills development within the curriculum. In J. Carter, M. O'Grady, & C. Rosen (Eds.), Higher Education Computer Science (pp. 253-274). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-29386-3_17 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-29386-3_17

Bridgstock, R. (2009). The graduate attributes we’ve overlooked: enhancing graduate employability through career management skills. Higher Education Research & Development, 28(1), 31-44. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360802444347 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360802444347

Clarke, M. (2018). Rethinking graduate employability: the role of capital, individual attributes and context. Studies in Higher Education, 43(11), 1923-1937. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2017.1294152 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2017.1294152

Damoah, O. B. O., Peprah, A. A., & Brefo, K. O. (2021). Does higher education equip graduate students with the employability skills employers require? The perceptions of employers in Ghana. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 45(10), 1311-1324. https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2020.1860204 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2020.1860204

Ellis, N. J., Alonzo, D., & Nguyen, H. T. M. (2020). Elements of a quality pre-service teacher mentor: A literature review. Teaching and Teacher Education, 92. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2020.103072 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2020.103072

Fogleman, D. (17 de mayo de 2019). Why we should start calling soft skills “employability skills”. Training Industry. https://acortar.link/aZ6iCy

Ghani, E. K., Rappa, R., & Gunardi, A. (2018). Employers’ perceived accounting graduates’ soft skills. Academy of Accounting and Financial Studies Journal, 22(5), 1-11. https://acortar.link/lJ3Mjw

Gray, D., & Kleinschmit, K. (2022). Mentoring and career counseling for residents. In M. Macaluso, L. J. Houston, J. M. Kinzie, & D. S. Cowley (Eds.), Graduate Medical Education in Psychiatry (pp. 321-331). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-00836-8_20 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-00836-8_20

Guo, Y., Zhao, Q., Cao, Z., & Huang, S. (2023). The influence of tourism and hospitality students’ perceived effectiveness of outcome-based education on their VUCA skills. Scientific Reports, 13, 8079. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-35186-5 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-35186-5

Heikkinen, H. L., Jokinen, H., & Tynjälä, P. (2012). Teacher education and development as lifelong and lifewide learning. In H. L. T. Heikkinen, H. Jokinen, & P. Tynjälä (Eds.), Peer-group mentoring for teacher development (pp. 19-46). Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203115923

Hudson, P. (2016). Forming the mentor-mentee relationship. Mentoring and Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 24(1), 30-43. https://doi.org/10.1080/13611267.2016.1163637 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13611267.2016.1163637

Jackson, D., & Li, I. (2024). Perceived skill outcomes among coursework and research graduates and evolution over time. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 48(4), 449-466. https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2024.2346742 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2024.2346742

Kamarudin, M., Kamarudin, A. Y., Darmi, R., & Saad, N. S. (2020). A review of coaching and mentoring theories and models. International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and Development, 9(2), 289-298. http://dx.doi.org/10.6007/IJARPED/v9-i2/7302 DOI: https://doi.org/10.6007/IJARPED/v9-i2/7302

Lin, L., Shadiev, R., Hwang, W. Y., & Shen, S. (2020). From knowledge and skills to digital works: An application of design thinking in the information technology course. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 14(6), 100646. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2020.100646 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2020.100646

Modrea, A. F., & Ban, A. R. (2023). The importance of mentoring for the profession of an engineer. In L. Moldovan, & A. Gligor (Eds.), The 16th International Conference Interdisciplinarity in Engineering, Inter-Eng 2022. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, Vol. 605, pp. 475-485. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-22375-4_38 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-22375-4_38

Moloney, M., Pope, J., & Donnellan, A. (2023). What is mentoring and who mentors? In M. Moloney, J. Pope, & A. Donnellan (Eds.), Professional Mentoring for Early Childhood and Primary School Practice (pp. 15-37). Springer Texts in Education. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-37186-8_2 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-37186-8_2

Mullen, C. A., & Klimaitis, C. C. (2021). Defining mentoring: a literature review of issues, types, and applications. Ann N Y Acad Sci., 1483(1), 19-35. https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.14176 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.14176

Nghia, T. L. H., Anh, N. P., & Kien, L. T. (2024). English language skills and employability: a theoretical framework. In T. L. H. Nghia, L. T. Tran, & M. T. Ngo (Eds.), English Language Education for Graduate Employability in Vietnam. Global Vietnam: Across Time, Space and Community (pp. 71-93). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-4338-8_4 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-4338-8_4

Rausch, A., Abele, S., Deutscher, V., Greiff, S., Kis, V., Messenger, S., Shackleton, J., Tramonte, L., Ward, M., & Winther, E. (2024). Designing an international large-scale assessment of professional competencies and employability skills: Emerging avenues and challenges of OECD’s PISA-VET. Vocations and Learning, 1-40. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12186-024-09347-0 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12186-024-09347-0

Scheuring, F., & Thompson, J. (2024). Enhancing graduate employability – exploring the influence of experiential simulation learning on life skill development. Studies in Higher Education, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2024.2334837 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2024.2334837

Scott, F. J., & Willison, D. (2021). Students’ reflections on an employability skills provision. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 45(8), 1118-1133. https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2021.1928025 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2021.1928025

Scott, F. J., Connell, P., Thomson, L. A., & Willison, D. (2019). Empowering students by enhancing their employability skills. Further and Higher Education, 43(5), 692-707. https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2017.1394989 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2017.1394989

Soe, H. Y. (2018). The impact of teachers’ professional development on the teachers’ instructional practices: an analysis of TALIS 2013 teacher questionnaire, Finland. World Voices Nexus, 2(3). https://acortar.link/NfGXeq

Soundararajan, G., Aro-gordon, S., Ravikumar, A. y Jesrani, D. (2020). Employability skills needed in the emerging global job market: Stakeholders’ perception. Proceedings of the 36th International Business Information Management Association (IBIMA), pp. 4578-4584. https://acortar.link/yofXPg

Stewart, B., Khare, A., & Schatz, R. (2016). Volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity in higher education. In O. Mack, A. Khare, A. Krämer, & T. Burgartz (Eds.), Managing in a VUCA World (pp. 241-250). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16889-0_16 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16889-0_16

Ter Beek, M., Wopereis, I., & Schildkamp, K. (2022). Don’t wait, innovate! Preparing students and lecturers in higher education for the future labor market. Education Sciences, 12(9), 620. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci12090620 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci12090620

Tomlinson, M. (2021). Employers and Universities: Conceptual dimensions, research evidence and implications. Higher Education Policy, 34(1), 132-154. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41307-018-0121-9 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41307-018-0121-9

Tsirkas, K., Chytiri, A., & Bouranta, N. (2020). The gap in soft skills perceptions: A dyadic analysis. Education + Training, 62(4), 357-377. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1108/ET-03-2019-0060 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/ET-03-2019-0060

Tuononen, T., Parpala, A., & Lindblom-Ylänne, S. (2019). Graduates’ evaluations of usefulness of university education, and early career success – a longitudinal study of the transition to working life. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 44(4), 581-595. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2018.1524000 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2018.1524000

UKCES. (2015). Sector insights: skills and performance challenges in the digital and creative sector. https://acortar.link/kclG88

Universities UK and UKCES. (2014). Forging Futures: building higher level skills through university and employer collaboration. https://acortar.link/tKpBwM

Van der Baan, N., Nuis, W., Beausaert, S., Gijselaers, W., & Gast, I. (2024). Developing employability competences through career coaching in higher education: supporting students’ learning process. Studies in Higher Education, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2024.2307976 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2024.2307976

Vogler, J. S., Thompson, P., Davis, D. W., Mayfield, B. E., Finley, P. M., & Yasseri, D. (2017). The hard work of soft skills: augmenting the project-based learning experience with interdisciplinary teamwork. Instr Sci, 46(3), 457-488. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11251-017-9438-9 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11251-017-9438-9

Waller, R. E., Lemoine, P. A., Mense, E. G., Garretson, C. J., & Richardson, M. D. (2019). Global Higher Education in a VUCA World: Concerns and Projections. Journal of Education and Development, 3(2), 73-83. https://doi.org/10.20849/jed.v3i2.613 DOI: https://doi.org/10.20849/jed.v3i2.613

Zanchett, M. S., Bailey, A., Kolisnyk, O., Baku, L., Schwind, J., & Osino, E. (2017). Mentors’ and mentees’ intellectual partnership through the lens of the transformative learning theory. Nurse Education Practice, 25, 111-120. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2017.05.009 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2017.05.009