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

Authors

DOI:

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

Keywords:

higher education, teacher´s role, labor market, soft skills, design thinking, STEM, professional awareness, Teach-BEASTs

Abstract

Introduction: The labor market is defined today by permanent changes that are transforming the curricula in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). HEI professors are becoming teacher-mentors who focus on improving students' perception of professional identity. Four European universities created the “Teach-BEASTs – Teaching to BE Aware STudents (Teach-BEASTs)”, an Erasmus+ program focused on this redefinition of the role of the teacher. The objectives are to demonstrate the practical value of transferred knowledge and skills in STEM subjects. Methodology: is based on a solid literature review of the article's theoretical framework and key concepts. On the other hand, it focuses on the analysis of the role of academic teachers, professors, officials in charge of academic career directions and the educational process, as well as deans and directors. Results and discussion: focus on Career Awareness Pills, which are modules that encourage students to reflect on the material covered from the perspective of their interests, passions, aptitudes, and the market value of the skills and information obtained that will be examined and constitute the core of the methodology. Conclusions: the first conclusions corroborate the objectives, specifically highlighting the value of activities to develop social skills or interpersonal skills.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Maria José Varadinov, Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre

Associate Professor at the Portalegre Polytechnic University, holds a PhD in the field of Business Administration with the specialization in Reverse Logistics from the University of Extremadura (Badajoz, Spain). She teaches several units such Operations and Logistics, Introduction to Management, Economics, Management Accounting and Agricultural Economics. She was Director of the Foreign Relations Office for the Department of Enterprise Sciences and she is Peer reviewer at several international scientific journals; Member of the EUCLIDES Network- network of European Engineering and Technology Universities and Institutional Coordinator for several international projects in the field of pedagogical innovation, teaching and learning methodologies and also in Optimization and Decision Support System for the Supply Chain.

Luís Miguel Cardoso, Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre

Luís Miguel Cardoso holds a PhD in Modern Languages and Literatures, in the speciality of Comparative Literature from the University of Coimbra, Portugal. He was Dean of the School of Education and Social Sciences of the Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre, Portugal (2010 – 2018) and President of ARIPESE, Association of Reflection and Intervention in the Educational Policy of Higher Education Schools in Portugal (2015 – 2018). Adjunct Professor at the Department of Language and Communication Sciences at the School of Education and Social Sciences of the Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre, Portugal, is currently a researcher at the Centre for Comparative Studies at the University of Lisbon and CARE – Research Center on Health and Social Sciences, Portalegre.

References

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

Downloads

Published

2024-10-30

How to Cite

Varadinov, M. J., & Cardoso, L. M. (2024). Higher education and the new role of the teacher: the relevance of soft skills to enhance the professional identity. European Public & Social Innovation Review, 9, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.31637/epsir-2024-1146

Issue

Vol. 9 (2024)

Section

INNOVATING IN PSYCHOLOGY AND TEACHER TRAINING: THE BASIS OF A CONSTANTLY EVOLVING ADAPTATION

License

Copyright (c) 2024 Maria José Varadinov (Autor de Correspondencia); Luís Miguel Cardoso

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under Creative Commons Non Commercial, No Derivatives Attribution 4.0. International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.), that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).