Generic skills: Understanding vocational education and training teacher and student attitudes

The aim of this project was to find out the attitudes students undertaking vocational education and training (VET) courses and their teachers have about generic skills. Specifically, the project investigated:

• the extent to which generic skills are valued by students and VET teachers, and why

• how generic skills are being facilitated through VET subjects and courses, and in traineeships and apprenticeships.

Methods

The research involved collecting data through:

• interviews with a sample of 25 technical and further education (TAFE) senior managers and teachers in four States (New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia)

• three focus groups with a total of 25 students on TAFE campuses in Queensland

• a survey of teachers in nine TAFE institutions which resulted in 105 responses

• a survey of students in nine TAFE institutions which resulted in 755 responses.

Main findings

Awareness of generic skills

While teachers had no agreed-upon definition of generic skills, more than three-quarters of them knew and fully understood the terms generic skills, transferable skills, work skills, life skills and employability skills. They indicated considerably lower levels of recognition of terms such as Mayer competencies, soft skills and hard skills (about 40%).

At least three-quarters of the student sample had heard of the terms key competencies and employability skills. The 'top-of-the-mind' generic skills mentioned by students in the focus groups included the need to have good communication and team skills and an ability to work with others.

Attitudes about generic skills

The vast majority of teachers believed that they explained to students the importance of learning generic skills and how they were to be assessed; and they believed students understood this information. In the survey, 80% of teachers, however, believed that students were more focussed upon learning skills directly related to the industry in which they wanted to work than on learning generic skills. In the interviews, teachers considered that traineeship and apprenticeship students were more likely than other students to have this greater focus on developing technical skills. They also believed that full-time students straight out of Year 12 understood that future employers wanted employees with broad general or people skills as well as good technical skills.

Most students surveyed said they wanted to learn broader skills that would allow them to change jobs. But more than half of them also said they wanted to learn only skills that were relevant to the industry they wanted to work in. This finding generally supports the opinions among teachers that students are often narrowly focussed upon the more technical skills, and do not fully appreciate the value of generic skills.

The importance of generic skills

When interviewed, teachers said that employers want graduating students who have core skills that are transferable from one job or position to another, and good interpersonal and team skills so that they can add value from their first day at work. Most teachers believed that employers are most dissatisfied with the interpersonal, team and general communication skills of recent graduates from the VET system, as well as with their job attitudes.

The surveyed teachers and students generally agreed that generic skills that industry judged to be important included the ability to read, spell and write well, to solve problems, to collect and analyse information, to use information technology, to speak and communicate well with people and to work in teams. These groups also agreed that being motivated, self-confident and adaptable to change were considered by industry to be important.

The teaching of generic skills

The teachers and students who were surveyed generally agreed that the generic skills that were taught well included the ability to solve problems, to collect and analyse information, to speak and communicate well with other people, to work in teams, and to plan and organise. There was also agreement that attributes that were taught well included being self-confident, being motivated and having a practical focus.

There was also agreement among teachers and students generally that the generic skills that were taught poorly were reading, spelling and writing; using mathematical ideas; communicating with persons from other cultures; building and managing a team; resolving conflict; being able to change; dealing with incomplete information; and challenging how things are done.

Facilitation of generic skills through VET subjects and courses

The interviews with teachers revealed the view that four main factors facilitated the learning of generic skills: the learning strategies used with students; access to highly experienced teachers; training packages; and the assessment.

Most of the teachers believed that teachers in existing programs taught generic skills through assessment techniques and by using learning strategies that involved hands-on, or 'learning-by-doing', types of activities. Many teachers believed that the principles of adult learning offered a better set of guidelines for teaching generic skills than did more traditional approaches to teaching. These principles provide for more interactive, flexible learning arrangements in which learners are active rather than passive participants who are encouraged to develop their ideas about how to use their skills and knowledge on the job.

In the focus groups students talked about the importance of having teachers with real life experience, who inspired them to get a job in their chosen profession. They believed that good teachers helped them develop their technical as well as broader generic skills and showed them how generic skills supported the development of technical skills.

Many of the teachers thought that the training packages used in vocational education and training had the teaching of generic skills successfully embedded into the content, but others thought that the generic skills needed to be made more explicit. All interviewees believed that there was considerable variety across training packages and across industries, but the consensus was that more recent training packages were 'doing a better job' in successfully including generic skills-either in the content, or in the assessment activities or the processes described in the package. Teachers were quite critical of the performance of training packages in embedding generic skills, and in helping students to be employable in a range of jobs in different industries.

Some of the teachers thought that more experienced teachers had more positive attitudes about training packages: that experienced teachers with solid backgrounds in industry 'knew where the training packages were coming from'. As many of the skills (for example, team-building skills) were implicitly presented in packages, the person delivering the package was seen as responsible for deciding 'how to bring those skills forward'. Students supported a portfolio model of assessment of generic skills, and a student-support approach to the teaching and learning of generic skills. As some teachers observed, students preferred a portfolio model of assessment for generic or hard-to-quantify skills.

Strategies for the advancement of generic skills

There was strong agreement that generic skills need to be more widely promoted within the VET sector. There is a need for greater promotion of the value and importance of generic skills to teachers and students. There is currently some confusion about the wide range of terms being used, and students do not recognise the term generic skills as well as do teachers. On the other hand, teachers and students tend to agree about which generic skills are taught well, which are taught poorly and which are important to industry. This information should be used as input into frameworks being developed to identify the generic skills that need to be built more strongly into VET programs and training packages.

According to teachers who were interviewed and surveyed, an improved focus could be achieved by strategies including:

• separate modules for teaching generic skills

• better promotion by teachers of the importance of generic skills

• development of teachers who have higher levels of knowledge and experience in teaching generic skills

• more explicit profiling of generic skills within training packages

• improvements in how generic skills are explained and assessed.

Both trainee and current teachers need improved training in the use of a wider range of models of teaching and learning, including student-focussed and flexible learning modes in which the teacher is an enabler or coach rather than the expert. Teachers in this project reported that, in order to successfully introduce the concept of generic skills, teachers need to be more flexible and skilled in using learning strategies that help them identify students' needs in relation to developing generic skills. Teachers also need to have more regular contact with industry to determine the generic skills that are required, and the learning and assessment processes on and off the job that can be used to develop those skills in students.

Finally, a more planned and strategic approach is needed towards embedding the development of generic skills in training packages. Guidelines need to be produced for training package developers that state which skills are important and how generic skills can be built into the training package. Guidelines are also needed about the assessment and reporting of generic skills achievement by students. In addition, there needs to be a planned approach to targeting and updating existing training packages in order to improve the identification of important generic skills and their development in the training packages.