Core Skills assessment set for level of proficiency Core Skills ...

CoreSkillsassessmentsetforlevelofproficiency

CoreSkillsfor21stCenturyProfessionals

2017-1-ES01-KA203-038589

IntellectualOutput2

Leadpartner:ISCAP-IPP

ThisprojecthasbeenfundedwithsupportfromtheEuropeanCommission.Thispublicationreflectstheviewsonlyoftheauthor,andtheCommissioncannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of theinformationcontainedtherein.


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Contents1 Introduction 6

1.1TheneedoftheprojectCoSki21 6

1.2IntellectualOutputs 6

1.3TheOutput2:coreskillsassessmentsetforlevelofproficiency 7

1.4Thestructureofthecoreskillsassessmentsetforlevelofproficiency 8

1.5Theteachingandlearningofthesoftskillsanditsassessment 9

1.6Theroleofthestakeholdersinvolved 12

1.7ManagementSimulationusedatISCAP-IPP 13

2 TheCoreSkillsfor21stCenturyMethod 15

2.1Framework 16

2.2SoftSkillsselectionandplan 16

2.3Training 17

3 Backgroundofteaching,assessingtodesignsoftskillstrainingmethods 18

3.1Context 18

3.2Learningskills 20

3.3Assessingskills 23

4 Assessment-set:trainingsoftskills 26

4.1Theimportanceabouttrainingskills 26

4.2TheManagementSimulationModeltotrainandassesssoftskills 27

4.3Examplesoftheactivitiescarriedoutbystudents 31

5 Teachingmethodsvsassessmentforsoftskills 37

5.1Teachingmethodvssoftskill 41

5.2Relationsbetweentables 42

6 Proposal:skillboxes 44

6.1Boxoverview 44

6.1.1 Inspiration 45

6.1.2 Action 45

6.1.3 Reflection 45

6.2Skillboxesassessment 46


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6.2.1 Self-Evaluation 46

6.2.2 Externalevaluation:usingupdatedBloom’staxonomytoevaluatesoftskills 47

5.2.3 Rubricstoevaluate 49

6.2.3 Commonrubricsproposed 50

7 Anexampleofskillbox:leadership 53

7.1Skillboxdescription 53

7.2Inspiration 54

6.3Action 54

6.4Reflection 55

8 Conclusions 57

9 Annex1 58

10Annex2 59


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FiguresFigure1.StructureoftheCoreSkillsassessmentsetforlevelofproficiency. 8Figure2.CriteriaGridtoAssessOralCommunication. 33Figure3.TechnicalCriteriatoAssesstheWrittenreport. 34Figure4.Skill-basedpointofview:proposedmethod 44Figure5.Skillboxcomposition. 46Figure6.AProductdoneinthereflectionstepofthe“Self-Confidence”SkillBox 47Figure7.AnanalysisofthescalesusedtoevaluateSkills:fromthedichotomy(yes/not)totheLikertbasedscale 51Figure8.Skillsboxleadershipcoverpage. 53Figure9.InspirationfromtheSkillBoxLeadership 54Figure10.Instructionstostudents'actionphase. 55Figure11Resultofanaction(Portfolio) 56


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TablesTable1.SkillssetusedoriginallyatIPP......................................................................................11Table2.Exampleofself-evaluationoftheskill:Adaptabilityandflexibility..............................35Table3.Exampleofself-evaluationoftheskill:Motivation......................................................35Table4.TeachingmethodvsSoftSkill(1/2)..............................................................................38Table5TeachingmethodvsSoftSkill(2/2)...............................................................................38Table6.TeachingmethodvsAssessmentmethod(resume).....................................................39Table7.AssessmentmethodvsSoftSkills(1/2)........................................................................40Table8.AssessmentmethodvsSoftSkills(2/2)........................................................................41Table9.Recommendedmethodstoteachsoftskills.................................................................42Table10.Relationbetweentablesandthelevelofaffinityconcept.........................................43Table11.Rubricstoevaluatesoftskills.....................................................................................52


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1 Introduction1.1 TheneedoftheprojectCoSki21ThebackboneofCoSki21project is tobridgetheskillsgapwhich is reported (e.g.Mourshed2014;WEF2015, Jones2017)betweeneducational institutions andworking life. A skill gapmeansthatgraduates/employeeshave lacks intheirskills inrespecttotheskillsneeded inaworkingpositionorworkingenvironment.Inespecial,gapsseemtoexistinsocalledsoftskills.

Theseskillsgapsareperniciousforallthestakeholders,whichmeansgraduates,companiesandhigher education. For graduates, lack of some essential skills will probably decreaseemployabilitychancesaswellaspreventcareersuccess.Asrecruitedprofessionalsincompaniesare considered as investments, an optimized staff performance is desired. For businessuniversities, skilledandcompetitivegraduated isagoal for several reasons,oneof themostimportant being that they are measured by the employment rate of graduated. Highemployment rates of graduates provide a competitive advantage to business universities inrelationtootheruniversities.

Whatcanbedonetosolvetheproblemofskillsgaps?Webelievethathighereducationhasbothamissionandacapacitytoprovidetheirstudentswithadequateskillstomatchwiththerequirementsof21.centuryorganizations.Todoso,theyneedamoreaccurateunderstandingonthesoftskillsneededinthedifferentprofessionalfields.

From the point of view of companies, they have assumed different applications of CMS(competencemanagementsystem)inordertoadministertheirhumanresourcedevelopmentactivities. These particular systems usually include skills maps to be used in the clientorganizations.However,thereisnotnecessarilyanyconnectionbetweentheskillmapsandtheskillsexistinginhighereducationcurricula.

This isonefundamentalorigin for theskillsmapsand it formsanobstacle for thediscussionbetweeneducationalinstitutionsandworkinglife.A‘firststep’tosolvethissituationistocreatecommonframeworkofskillsregardingprofessionalfieldsinvolved.

1.2 IntellectualOutputsInordertoprovidesolutionstotheskillsgapsproblem,theCoreSkillsfor21.Centuryprojecthassetfollowinggoals(seealsofigure1):

1. To create a common framework for soft skills, which includes both the ‘needed byorganizations’andthe‘educational’aspect.Thecreationoftheframeworkisenabledbya)anextensivestudyonexistingskillssystemsandb)aquestionnairedesignedfordetectingtheneedsofcompanies

2. as soft skills are ‘newcomers’ in curricula, provide guidelines for evaluating andassessingthem


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3. tocreateanddisseminatepilotingmethodsforfosteringandself-empoweringsoftskills

Figure1.TheintellectualoutputsofCoSki21enablebridgingthesoftskillsgap,addressingallstakeholders

Theintellectualoutputsarebyalldesignatedtoallstakeholdersintheprocess.Forteachersandcurriculaplannerstheywillprovideanupdatedstate-of-artoncompetencesandskillsneeded,while studentsandgraduates takeadvantage in formofhighermatch forworking life. Formanagers and recruiters, who do not yet apply a competence management system, theseoutputs offer a detailed insight on skills-sets andmethods for fostering them. All practicaldeliverablesarepresentedonthee-Platformoftheproject.

1.3 TheOutput2:coreskillsassessmentsetforlevelofproficiencyThis section is intended tobeusedby thestudents, teachers,andemployers toassess foraspecificsoftskilltheirlevelofproficiency.

SoftSkillsAssessment:considersandvalorisestheexperienceoftheperson,suchaslearningprocessandpersonalgrowth,especiallyintheacquisitionandstrengtheningofthosesoftskillssoughtbycompanies,favouringthustheirrecognition,enhancementandpromotion.

Thesoftskillsassessmenthastwoaims:1)aretheuseofthe“CommonFrameworkSoftSkillsReport” from the IO1 to apply themat universities by enabling teachers and staff to assessstudents,companiesandassociatedpartnerstoimproverecruitingprocessanddevelopmentactionsofpersonnel(CEOS,Alumni,GEE–allinvestigationandadministrativesupportatISCAP;


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andintheassociatedpartners)and2)thedevelopmentofanassessmenttool–validforbothstudentsandorganizations.

1.4 ThestructureofthecoreskillsassessmentsetforlevelofproficiencyAssessmentandfeedbackaretwomajorcomponentsofthelearningexperience:toshapethestudents’understandingofthecurriculumandtodeterminetheirproficiencylevelinasetofskills.

Theproficiencylevelisunderstoodastheprogressionthatastudenthasonhispathoflearning,thisis,theabilityachievedbythestudentintheperformanceoftheactivitiesproposed.

The academicmark is the combinationof theproficiency level achievedby the student in aspecificskillandthegradeattributedbytheteachertothe“setofresults/products”resultedfromtheteachingandlearningprocessinaperiod.

Figure2.StructureoftheCoreSkillsassessmentsetforlevelofproficiency.


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CEOneedstoknowifthefutureemployeeselectedbyHR,hasthecorrectlevelofproficiencyinorderforthemtodevelopefficientlyhis/hertasksintheorganization.Toensurethis,basedonthemeetingsof theproject staffwith stakeholdersofeach socio-economicenvironment,bymeansoffocusgroups,conferences,andsoon;wedesignedanddevelopedtheassessmentsetbasedonvideoCV,asapresentationofthestudent/graduated/employeeandtheportfolioasthesetofevidencesthathe/sheachievedtherequiredlevel.

Portfoliocreated fromthesection“Reflection”obtained fromtheskillbox.A skillbox is themethodtoteachthesoftskillsdesignedby IPP,UPV,andTUAS.Todesigntheskillboxesweneedtoselectthemostappropriateteachingandassessingmethodtoeachsoftskill.

1.5 Theteachingandlearningofthesoftskillsanditsassessment

The development of an assessment toolwith a dual goal to assess students and to provideorganizationsthe“studentprofile”regardingtheskillslevelofproficiencyisoneoftheaimsoftheproject.Thisisexplainedindetailfurtherinthisreport.

Theassessmentofthesoftskillsattheeducationalsystemisnecessary inordertovaluetheprocessoflearningandthepersonalgrowthandempowerment.

The perception that the students and employers have about the acquisition and thestrengtheningoftheirsoftskillsisgoingtogenerateinthemtheself-awarenessoftheirlevelofcognitive development in each soft skill. Thus, the appreciation and the recognition byemployerswillenhancethepromotionofthepersonandtheprofessional.

Theconnectionbetweentheinstitutionsoftheeducationalsystemwiththecommunity,mainlythecompaniesthatwillreceivethestudentsinanearfutureisoneoftheaspectsthatshouldemphasizetheimportanceoftheprocessofthesoftskills’assessment.

Theeducationalinstitutionsmustensurethesoftskillscorrectassessment,usingpedagogicalandactivemethodsintheprocessoflearning/teaching,inordertocopewiththeneedsofthecompanies.

Theroleoftheparticipantsintheprocessofteachingandlearning,suchasteachers,directorsandstaffisveryimportantbecausetheyaretheforefrontinthisprocess.However,asuitabletraining should be provided to those participants, giving them the necessary tools to assesscorrectlythesoftskillspotentiated/developedduringtheacademicprocess.

ThecreationofaframeworkoftheCoreSkillsneededforthe21stcenturyprofessionalsthatcanbetaughtatschoolandthataretheonesthelabourmarketneeds,enablestohaveastrong“two ways path” between what the companies need and what the school can provide. Inaddition,pedagogiesandtheassessmentofthesoftskillsmethodsofteaching/learningisaninnovationbroughtupbythisproject.


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Theresearchaboutthissubjectislargebutthereisn’tacommonframeworkofthesoftskillsneededtobepotentiatedatschoolinordertopromoteinthestudentahighermotivation,aself-awarenessoftheimportanceofownstudentbeingthecentreofthelearningprocess.

Thediscussionarisesfromthenecessarychangesneededineducationtocopewiththeworlddevelopment.

Fromseveral studies carriedoutby internationalorganizations, suchas theWorldBank, theUnited Nations Organization, and the European Union Committees, the framework for aneducationforthefuturemustengagethedevelopmentandtheassessment,whileatschool,ofthehardandthesoftskills.

Thehardskillsstudiedalongtheyearsandschoolsaroundtheworldteachthemwell.Itisafact.However,theissueofsoftskillsonlynowisarisingintheeducationfield.Itisalsoafactthatthedevelopmentofseveralsoftskillsamongstudents,atayoungageisquiteimportantto“bringup” the person inside the student and to better prepare them to a future in a dramaticallychanging world, such as the work in a multidisciplinary and transnational context with thepermanentuseoftheprocessesdigitalizationinorganizations.

Therefore,thecreationofanassessmenttooltoevaluatethelevelofproficiencyforaspecificsetofskillshasaparticularimportancetothestakeholdersinvolved,students,companiesandotherparticipants.

Theuseoftheassessmenttoolforaspecificsetofskillsgeneratesquiteanimpactdirectlyonstudents.Studentsaretheprimarystakeholderstounderstandtheusabilityofthetoolandtohavetheperceptionoftheneedtopotentiateanddevelopsuchsoftskills.

Soft skills assessment considers and values the experience of the person, such as learningprocessandpersonalgrowth,especiallyintheacquisitionandstrengtheningofthosesoftskillssoughtbycompanies,favouringthustheirrecognition,enhancementandpromotion.

FollowingthepurposeoftheIO2anditsaims,wehavestartedthework,togetherwithIO1,bythedefinitionoftheSoftSkillswiththemainpurposetocreateaFrameworkof“thesoftskills”toworkon.

Thestartingpointofthestudyreliedonthecreationofasetofcoreskills,studiedinseveralresearchesandEuropeanprojects,underthetransformationofthejobsinthe21stCentury.

Thesetofthe21skillsemergedfromthestudypreviouslyreferredandfromseveralsurveysnamelybyMOSSAEuropeanProject,BarcelonaACTIVA,ESCOandTuningEuropeanProject.

BasedonaqualitativesurveycarriedoutonthreeofthecountriesinvolvedintheProject,Spain,PortugalandFinland,andontheliteraturesurveyatEuropeanlevel,theprojectpartnershiphasidentified the topeight soft skills considered themost important for theprofessional careerdevelopmentofstudents,andtomanagetheworkinglife.


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Theyarethefollowing:

Table1.SkillssetusedoriginallyatIPP.

Nº. CoreSkillDesignation

1 AdaptabilityandFlexibility

2 Motivation

3 ManagingResponsibility

4 TimeManagement

5 CommunicationSkills

6 Teamworking

7 ConflictManagement

8 ServiceSkills

9 Decisionmaking

10 ProblemSolving

11 CreativityandInnovation

12 CriticalandStructuredthinking

The21softskillspresentedonthesurveyaregroupedintotwelveskills.Itisimportanttomakesomeconsiderations:

• Thefirstsoftskills’groupcomposedbyskills8,9and11–AdaptabilityandFlexibility(self-control, flexibility and changemanagement, and self-confidence). Self-control istheabilitytomaintainemotionsundercontrol; flexibilityandchangemanagement isthe ability to adapt to different people and circumstances, accept organizationalchangesand,eventually,thechangeofresponsibilities;andself-confidenceistobelievethatyoucansuccessfullyexecuteatask,knowingthatyouwillchoosethebestapproachtosolveaproblem.Thesetofthesethreesoftskillsisadaptabilityandflexibility.

• Motivationisthesecondsetofsoftskills–initiative:beproactiveinfaceofchangesandnewopportunities.Conceiveinnovativeideas/plans.Knowhowtomakedecisionsandactaccordingly.

• The third soft skills set ismanaging responsibility (skills 5, 6; 15 and 16): peoplemanagement – know the reality of eachworker in order to persuade them towork


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together aiming to achieve a common goal: the goodperformanceof the company;leadership – know how to communicate and work in team. Promote workers’autonomy;Networking–establishcontactnetworksthatbringbenefitstotheinvolvedparts; customer orientation – show willingness acting to help to satisfy the clients’needs.

• The fourth soft skills set is timemanagement (skill 3): planning and organization –elaborateplansofaction-orientedtotheoptimizationofresources.

• Thefifthsoftskillssetarecommunicationskills (skill12):communication–abilitytotransmitinformationclearly.

• The sixth soft skills set is team working (skills 7 and 10): work in a team and incooperation–knowhowtointeractwithothers;useactivelistening;acceptdifferentopinions;mutualhelpasanenginetothecompany’sdevelopment;commitmenttotheorganization – have as priority the needs of the company and orient its interestsaccordingly.

• Theseventhsoftskillsetisconflictmanagement(skill14):negotiation–havetheabilitytogatherconsensusinordertoreachanagreement.

• Theeighthsoftskillsetisserviceskills(skill4and13):concernaboutorderandquality–careabouttheworkconditions,withtheirownresultsandthoseofothers;empathy–sensitivitytounderstandthefeelingsandconcernsofothers.

• Theninth soft skills set isdecisionmaking (skills2,3and19):orientation togoals–define clear and realistic goals, which contributes to his/her self-motivation. Orienthis/her performance to his/her personal and professional growth; planning andorganization(skill3);strategicorientation–havetheabilitytoconnectalongtimevisionwithcomprehensiveconceptsinday-to-daywork.

• Thetenthsoftskillssetisproblem-solving(skill17):creativity–solveproblemsthroughmethodsthatarenotnecessarilytraditional.Beflexibleintheapplicationofknowledge,inotherwords,“dare”to“thinkoutsidethebox”.

• TheeleventhsoftskillssetiscreativityandInnovation(skill18).• The twelfth skills set is critical and structured thinking (skills 20 and 21): analytical

thinking–havetheabilitytounderstandasituationthroughthesystematicorganizationofitsparts;conceptualthinking–havetheabilitytoidentifykeyissuesandpatternsinsituationsandrelationships.

1.6 TheroleofthestakeholdersinvolvedCompanies and organizations from the surrounding communitywere involved through theiranswertothesurveyappliedinPortugal.

Thecompaniesandorganizationshadasignificant role in the identificationof theirneeds interms of skills required to the new environment in business. The Alumni organizationparticipated actively on the survey and in the gathering of data that was essential for thecreationof theassessment“tool”, see through theeyesofmanagersandHR recruiters.The


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associatedpartner,cityhallofthecityofMatosinhoshadanimportantrolebyhelpingonthecreationofthebondbetweenstudentsandthelabourmarketthroughthecreationofprotocolsforinternships.

TheinformationsuppliedbytheDepartmentofEmployabilityandInternshipsrelatedwiththefiguresofemploymentofstudentsatlocalornationalcompaniesororganizationswerevaluabletosetupaframeoftheskillsrequiredinstudentsinorderforthemtoachievetheirgoalinthelabourmarket.

The students both from TURKU University of Applied Sciences, from UPV and ISCAP-IPPparticipated on the survey released through the community of each one of these HigherEducationInstitutions.

Alongthisprocess,studentsandteacherscalledtoparticipate inmeetingsanddointerviewswiththeaimofhavingtheiropinionabouttheimplementationofthe“skillbox”methodologyin order to support the design of the “Skill Boxes” related and to implement the necessarychanges.

1.7 ManagementSimulationusedatISCAP-IPPAt ISCAP-IPP, the students of the last year of the first cycle of studies from the Course ofAccountingandManagementwereaskedtobeapartoftheprojectinaspecificrole:toassessthe “assessment tool” using it in the classroom context on the subject designated byManagementSimulation.

ThesubjectManagementSimulationallows the intervenient toworkwithactivemethodsofteachingand learningduringacompleteyear.This subject substitutes the internship for thestudentsoftheAccountingandAdministrationCourse.Theaimistoputstudentsdealingwithproblemsofreal(virtual)organizationswheretheyareemployersandmanagers.

Thus,thestudents,byapplicationofthetheoreticalmodelstothefactsofreallife,areledtodevelopandputintopracticethecompetenciesprogressivelyacquiredanddevelopedthroughproblem-situations introduced in the model, using new information and communicationtechnologiesandintegratedsystemsofinformationmanagement.

In each session, and based on a script (guide) the students create and develop all thebureaucraticactivitiesofacompany,organizedingroups,whatpromotesagreatoperationaldynamic,withhighreactivity.Thelearningmodelisbasedonthegroupwork,andstudentsareresponsibleforcarryingoutthetasksframedinthebusinessplanoftherespectivecompany.Theexecutionofthetasksbythestudentsisperformedinbusinessenvironmentlaboratoriesand controlled in person by the teachers. It is a teaching strategy crucial to developcompetencies.

Thesestudentsarelearningaprocessthatwillbeanessentialpartoftheirworkasprofessionals.Theability to thinkautonomouslyand incooperationwith theotherstudents isanessential


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characteristicforstudentstodevelop.Thetasksandactivitiesconceivedandplannedforthesecurricularunitsmustrelatethestudenttotherealworld,sothathe/herhasaninterestinsolvingtheproblem-situationsplaced.

The assessment system used is the motor for the development of self-regulated studentlearning.Thisisexplainedindetailfurtherinthisreport.


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2 TheCoreSkillsfor21stCenturyMethodBasedontheresultsofthepreviousintellectualoutput,amethodologywasdesignedthatwouldallowsequencingalldecisionsaboutsoftskills.Thismethodologyhasbeenproposedtocoverallprojectstakeholders.Theglobalvisioncanbeseeninthefollowingfigure.

Figure3MethodtodetectCoreSkillsfromSoftSkillstoimprovetheprofessionalperformanceoftheorganizations

Intheproposedmethod,threestartingpointsareraiseddependingonthetypeofstakeholderinvolved.Specifically,threemainprofileshavebeenraised:

• Academic:itiscomposedofresearchers,andprofessors,whoshouldtrytobeupdatedaboutthesoftskillsthatarebeingdevelopedinsociety.


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• Business:itismadeupofhumanresourcesspecialists,orcompanyCEOs.Thesepeopleareinterestedinknowingwhichsoftskillsarethemostrelevant,andhowtheycanbeappliedintheircorrespondingorganizations.

• Social:studentsandemployees.Itisreallythemostinterestedsector,becausetheyaretheoneswhomustusesoftskillsintheirdailyperformance.

Toensurethatthesethreetypes,orprofiles,ofusersmaybeupdated,themethodisdividedintothreestages.Ineachofthem,enter(start)eachofthetypes.Thestagesareasfollows:

• Phase I: Theoretical concepts. Soft Skills involved, educational environment, socio-economic environment. This stage needs the analysis of skillsmaps, and as a resultselectaconcreteskillmapinordertoaskcompaniestodeterminethecoreskills

• PhaseII:Diagnosisandtroubleshooting.DecisionmakingabouttheSoftSkillstoworkinlearningandtoprovidetocompanies.

• PhaseIII:Intervention.ActionstotakeinordertoincreasetheSoftSkillsinstudentsandorganizations.

2.1 FrameworkThefirststageconsistsindefiningtheframeofreference.Thisstageisenteredattheinitiativeof the researcher, or because organizations consider that the soft skills obtained from thepreviousstagesshouldbereviewed.Thisstageistheclassicreview,stateoftheart,orstrategicstudy.Hereresearchersmustcollectthesoftskills,checkifnewoneshaveappearedorevengeneratethesoftskills.

Inthislaststep,youhavehowtheskilldesignersarepossiblypartoftheresearchenvironmentofthefuture.Theresultofthefirststageismadeupoftheskillmaps.Thesemapsmayhaveasmany soft skills as deemed necessary. However, the economics of skills implies that not allpeople,norallorganizations requireahighnumberof skills.Nor should theyhavea limitednumber.Intheanalysisofpreviousintellectualoutputcompetencies,itwasconsideredthatafigurebetween10and20isusuallyadequateforamedium-sizedorganization.

2.2 SoftSkillsselectionandplanOnceyouhavethenecessarysetofcompetenciesforanorganization,youmustperformthecorrespondinganalysis.Forthis,thecorrespondingquestionnaire3Siproposedinthepreviousresultmustbecarriedout.ThisquestionnaireprovidestheCoreSkillsoftheorganizationforaspecific job.CoreSkill isdefinedas the soft skill that thecompanyneeds, theuniversity canprovide and students can acquire. From the questionnaire, and the corresponding selection(classification)process,thesetofcoreskillsisobtained.

The last stage is especially interesting since it involves the completion of the training orimprovementplan.Inthiscase,atoolwillberequiredtoteachasoftskill,perblock.Inthisway,the"custom"designforthetrainingofthecompany'speoplewillbeapriority.


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2.3 TrainingThe final stageof themethod is that inwhich the trainingoccurs.At this stage students,oremployeesinthecaseoforganizations,areformedwiththe"softskills"blocksthattheyneed.Inthiscase,onlyemployeesneedtoreceivepersonalizedtraining.

Finally, the validation that allows to obtain feedback about the process is important. Thisvalidationmustprovideashort-termresult,aboutwhetherthetraininghasbeencorrectandamedium-term result aboutwhether the selected soft skills really constituted thecoreof theorganization'sneeds.

Thecontinuousimprovementcycleisperformedattheendofthevalidation.Regardlessoftheresult,theframeworkmustbeupdated.


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3 Background of teaching, assessing to design soft skillstrainingmethods

3.1 ContextSkillsmaybebroadlydefinedas“action incontext”andtheycanbe learnedanddeveloped.Indeed,skillsarestrictlylinkedtobehaviourandtoitssurroundingcontextthatinfluencestheirpotentialofactivationandtheirpoweroftransference.Morespecifically,transversalskillsareseenasa setofpersonaland interpersonal skills–generally called“soft skills”–butalsoastechnicalskillsthatcanbeusedandthatareimportantforworkplaceperformanceinmultipleprofessions,regardlessoftheacademicsubjectarea.1

Theapproachbycompetencesinschoolhasasmainpurposetodevelopinstudentsthecriticalreflexivethinking,makingthemabletoanalyse,decide,planandcommunicatetheirideas.Inthissense, it isfundamentalthedevelopmentofteaching-learningandassessmentstrategiesthatpromotetheachievementofthedesiredlearningresults.2

The“greatclassicalthinkerswhohavestudiedtheproblemsofeducation,saidandrepeatedit:itisuptotheteachertopasstothestudentwhatMankindhasalreadylearnedaboutherselfandnature,allshehascreatedandinventedofessential”.3Accordingtothesamedocument,“oneofthemainpapersreservedtoeducationconsists,firstofall,inendowingHumanityofthecapacitytodominateherowndevelopment.Shemust,indeed,makeeachonetakehisdestinyin his hands and contribute to the progress of the society in which he lives in, basing thedevelopmentintheresponsibleparticipationofindividualsandcommunities”.

UNESCO –UnitedNations Educational, Scientific and CulturalOrganization, defines the fourpillarsofEducation:Learningtoknow;Do;Liveinsociety;andtobe.

1Vieira, D., Marques, A. (2014). Preparados para Trabalhar?, Lisboa: Consórcio MaiorEmpregabilidade/FórumEstudante.

2 Bastos, S., De Oliveira, H., Azevedo, L. (2016). “How to embrace the new challenges ofEducation?TheUseofanInnovativeMethodologyintheteaching-learningprocess,intheintheassessmentandintherelationteacher-studentvs.student-teacherBasedontheSimulatorofBusinessEnvironmenttechnology”.

3Delors, J. (2001).Educação:umtesouroadescobrir.RelatórioparaaUNESCOdaComissãoInternacionalsobreaEducaçãoparaoSéculoXXI.SãoPaulo:CortezEditora,pp.19e82.


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“Toapproachtheuniversalproblem,stillunsolved,ofthetypeoftrainingthateverybodyneedstosuccessfullyperformacertainjob,thecomponentsofcompetenceareexplained:knowing,knowinghowtodo,knowinghowtobe,wantingtodoandbeingabletodo.”4

Definitionofcompetenceisthecombinationofknowledge,skillandbehaviour(attitudes).Theconceptofcompetence,advocatedbysomeauthors5,referstothecapacitytomobilizeseveralcognitiveresourcestocopewithvarioussituations.

P. Perrenoud, one of the authors thatmobilized the idea of competence as an overhaul ofeducationintermsoftheir improvement,definescompetenceasa 'knowledgeinuse'.6Thisnotionisveryclosetothecentreofanotherauthorinthisfield,onprofessionalskills.7Theseauthorsrefertovariouscognitivecapacitiestomobilizeresourcestomeetdifferentsituations.Skills are not themselves knowledge, attitudes, butmobilize, integrate andorchestrate suchresources.

The Project Tuning Educational Structures in Europe (2003) defined competences as “acombination of dynamics of attributes, in relation to knowledge, skills, attitudes andresponsibilities,whichdescribethe learningoutcomesofaneducationalprogramorthatthestudentsareabletodemonstrateattheendofaneducationalprocess.”

TheEuropeanUnionas“Asetofknowledge,skillsandabilitiesrelatedtothetrainingprogramthat allows the student to develop the professional tasks included in the degree programprofile.”

TheEducationWhitePaperasa“Setofknowledge,skills,attitudesappliedintheexecutionofaprofession.Itimpliesbeing,knowledge,initsvariousapplicationsandknow-how”.8

This “knowledge in use” assumed to be the opposite of “inert knowledge”, i.e., speaking ofcompetence refers to the knowledge that translates into effective usability and handling(intellectual,verbalorpractical)andnotcumulativewithwhichcontentisunknowntoactinthe

4Caggiano,V.(2019).Hardworkonsoftskills.TeachingandLearningwaystobehappy.Roma.Anicia,pp.17-21).

5Le Boterf, G. (1997). De la compétence à la navigation professionnelle. Paris: Les Éditionsd'Organization.

6Perrenoud, P. (1999). Avaliação. Da Excelência à Regulação das Aprendizagens. Entre duasLógicas.PortoAlegre:ArtmedEditora.

7Rey,B.(2002).AsCompetênciasTransversaisemquestão.PortoAlegre:ArtmedEditora.

8Caggiano,V.(2019).Hardworkonsoftskills.TeachingandLearningwaystobehappy.Roma.Anicia,pp.17-21).


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present,norsolveanysituationorthinkaboutit.Indeed,andasrelated"Developmentofskillsinvolves access to knowledge in its various dimensions and, subsequently, the progressive,integrated and dynamic mobilization of this knowledge, a perspective of continuousreconstruction”.9Despitediscussionsandlackofconsensusintheliteraturearoundtheconceptofcompetence,inthisstudyweconsidertheconceptsofskills,abilities,knowledge,attitudes,traitsandmotiveswithinthecontextofdeliveryofindividual,veryclosetothetriaddesignatedKSA:knowledge,skillsandattitudes.

3.2 LearningskillsLearning isacomplexprocess,which leads to theconstructionofmemories. It isachangingprocess,causedbyseveralstimuli,mediatedbyemotionsthatmayormaynotmanifestintheperson’s behaviour. Theways of learning are numerous, and each person is unique in thatprocess.10

Themainlearningmodels,thebehaviouristandthecognitivist,refertothisprocessinoppositestrands.Thefirstbasedonbehaviour,oncethisisobservableandpassibleofbeinganalysedandmeasured.Thesecondintendstobemorecomprehensive,seekingtointegrateintothisprocessthemostcomplexphenomena,involvingtheemotionalpartoftheindividual(thesubjective).

Therearetwocurrentsthatjustifydivergentlytheunderlyingaspectsoflearning,namelytheschoolsoflearningbyassociationandtheonesofcognitivelearning.Thetheoristsofthefirstdefendthatthelearningprocessmadebytheassociation,thatis,istheresultofconnectionsbetweenstimulusandresponses.Thetheoristsofthesecond,thecognitivists,defendthatthisprocess is based on a structured set of perceptions, that allows who learns to realize theexistenceofseveralrelationsandsolvetheresultantsituations.

Amongmanydefinitionsoflearning,itiscommonlyacceptedKimble’s,whodefends11thatitisa process that, prevailingly after an experience produces change, relatively stable, in thebehaviourandorinthesubject’sabilitytooperate.

It is necessary to point out five different social cognitive approaches: the theories of sociallearning,defendedbyBandura(UnitedStates);thetheoryofsociocognitiveconflict(France);

9Costa,N.,Martins,I.,&Candeias,I.(2010).Aavaliaçãoeregulaçãodedesempenhoprofissional(Vol.ColeçãoSituaçõesdeFormação).Aveiro:UniversidadedeAveiro.

10Azevedo,L.(2012).AvaliaçãodasAprendizagensnoEnsinoSuperior:estudodeumsistemadeavaliação das Unidades Curriculares de Projeto de Simulação Empresarial. (Tese deDoutoramentonãopublicada).UniversidadedeAveiro:Aveiro.

11Kimble,G.A.(1969).Foundationsofconditioningandlearning.NewYork:AppletonCenturyCrofts.


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the socio-historical theory, proposedbyVygotsky (Russia) and the cooperative teaching andlearningtheories12.

Thestartingpointofsociocognitivetheory isbasedontheawarenessoftheteachersoftheneedoftakingintoaccountthesocialandculturalconditionsoflearning.Secondly,thereisagreat interest inenvironmental influences (environment, social classes, regional culture, andpopular culture)on learning, to theextent that theverynatureof learning is fundamentallysocioculturalandmusttakeintoaccountthelinksbetweenlearningandlife,i.e.,learninginasituation.

Considering that, the school organization should provide learning situations based onexperience and allow students to work in groups so that they acquired democratic socialbehaviour.Elementssuchassociety,knowledgeandtheindividualwerefundamentalandthecentreofcooperativelearning.13

It is important tomention someof theprinciples of the socio cognitive theory, such as it isdescribed mainly by several authors14: mutual influence, indirect learning, symbolicrepresentation,theperceptionofitseffectiveness,self-regulationandmodelling.

Takingtheseprinciplesintoaccount,itisdifficulttoelaborateateachingtheory,andtherefore,pedagogical strategies, as social cognitive theories of learning insist on mutualinterdependenciesamongalargenumberoffactors.

However,wecanpointout some,as suggest15 theseauthors: thepresentationofbehaviourmodelstostudents,totheextentthatstudentsliketoadoptbehavioursofsomepeopletheyconsiderrolemodels;theassessmentandthejustificationofthevalueofbehaviours;totheseauthor, the learning of a behaviour varies according to the value given to the result, and,therefore, it isnecessarytodemonstratethestudentstheinterestofeachlearning.Studentslearnbetteriftheycanseeforwhatitcanservetheminlifeorinthenextlearning;strengthenthe student inhisbehaviour is fundamental to showapositive reaction to the studentwho

12Cooper,J.,etal.(1990).CooperativeLearningandCollegeInstruction:EffectiveUseofStudentLearningTeams.LongBeach:CaliforniaStateUniversityFoundation.Johnson,D.,&Holubec,J.(1988).CooperationintheClassroom.Edina:InteractionBookCo.

13 Kohn, A. (1991 (Fev.)). GroupGradingGrubbing Versus Cooperative Learning. EducationalLeadership,Vol.48.n.º5,83-87.

14Schunk,D.H.,&Zimmerman,B.(1994).Self-regulationofLearningandPerformance–IssuesandEducationalApplications.Hillsdale:LEA.

15Gredler,M. E. (1992). Learning and instruction: Theory into Practise. 2ª Ed. Nova Iorque:MacMillan.


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progressesinlearning,asthisreactionallowshimtobuildapositiveimageofhimselfandfeelcompetent to carry out a task; practice, Bandura recommends to join the practice to theexplanation. Often a socio cognitive teaching strategy is very theoretical and is always bestunderstoodwhenonehasexamples, and, includes fourphases: analysisof thebehaviour tomodel;descriptionoftheadvantageofabehaviour;selectionofabehaviourmodeltoteach;andpreparationofthelearningsequenceanditsimplementation.

Thehumanbeinghasacertain“plasticity”whichdependsonwhatheis,whathedoes,whathewants to do and what he thinks he could do; has ideas, communicates them and actsaccordingly16.

The pedagogical strategies proposed by the defenders of cooperative education may beenunciatedasfollows:toholdthestudentsaccountable,thestudentmustfeelresponsibleforthe group operation. Students commit more if they know they will be rewarded by theirindividualefforts,soitisnecessarytorewardaccordingtothegroupperformanceandgiveextrapointstothestudentandinsistonindividualresponsibilitywheneverthegroupsincludemorethanthreeelements17.

Programmeactivitiesandtasks:thestudentmustbeactiveandunderstandcorrectlywhat isexpectedofhimand,therefore,theteachermuststructureactivitiesforalltheclasses;clearlystatetheobjectivesandprocedurestofollowandstartbysimpleactivities;moveontomorecomplexactivitieswhenstudentshavelearnedeffectivelyfromtheirteammates.

Studentsshould learntocollaborateoncommontasks,beingoneofthemainobjectivestheacquisitionofsocialskills.Therefore,theteachershouldtrainthestudentstointeracteffectivelybeforestartingcooperativelearning;givecluestofacilitateinterventions;organizecollaborativepracticesandleadstudentstoreflectontheeffectivenessoftheircooperativeactivities.

Theteacherisnotonlyapersonwhotransmitsinformationbutperformsseveralfunctionsoffacilitation of individual and group work, and should, in the performance of those same

16Bandura,A.(1986).SocialFoundationsofThoughtandAction:aSocialCognitiveTheory.NewJersey:PrenticeHall.

17 Slavin, R. (1990 (Jan.)). Research on Cooperative Learning: Consensus and Controversy.EducationalLeadership.Vol.47,n.º4,52-54Johnson,D.,&Holubec,J.(1988).CooperationintheClassroom.Edina:InteractionBookCo.


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functions,resorttoreactionstoexplainsuccessesorfailuresinlearning;avoidreactionsmerelyorientedtosuccessandshouldnotabandongroupsthatexperiencemalfunctions18.

Thisauthorconceivedaninductiveapproachtoteachingconsistingofthreeessentialfactors:cooperativeworkbetweenstudents;theresolutionofsignificantproblemsforthestudentandanevaluationfromthestudentdossier19.

Learning theorists of different scientific disciplines, framed in learning paradigms or“worldviews”havebeendebatingthemainkeyconceptsoflearning20.

3.3 AssessingskillsAssessmentshouldbeanintegralpartofthelearningprocess,shouldbeincludedinitscurriculardesign,asitinfluencesthelearningitself.

Someauthorsconsiderthefollowingaspectsshouldtakeintoaccountsothatthereisprogressin evaluation: “enable students tomonitor their ownprogress; give regular feedback to thestudents;enableevaluationand learningbypairs/ingroup,and,at last,drawself-evaluationpractices21”.

Accordingtotheseauthors,theassessmentmustbeactive,participated,sharedandcontinuous.New forms of assessment are required to promote interaction (between students, betweenstudents and teachers, always based on retroactivity), and putting the student and his/herlearningexperienceatthecentreoftheprocess.

Assessment is also part of the training process. Training assessment “(…) constitutes anassessmentwayconductedbytheonewholearnsandisaninstrumenttoconstructknowledge

18Cooper,J.,etal.(1990).CooperativeLearningandCollegeInstruction:EffectiveUseofStudentLearningTeams.LongBeach:CaliforniaStateUniversityFoundation.Johnson,D.,&Holubec,J.(1988).CooperationintheClassroom.Edina:InteractionBookCo.

19Mclean, L. (1988). AchievementMeasuresMade Relevant to Pedagogy.McGill Journal ofEducation.Vol.23,n.º3,243-252.

20 Millwood (2014). The Design of Learner-centred, Technology-enhanced Education,phd.richardmillwood.net.

21Figueiredo, J., & Veloso,M. (2010). Avaliação em Ambientes Online. Universidade Aberta.Retirado de http://www.prezi.com/bxvp0epnkerd/cael. McLoughlin, C., & Luca, J. (2001).Quality in online delivery: What does it Mean for assessment in E-learning Environments?ASCILITE 2001 Conference proceedings. Retirado de http.//ascilite.org-au/conferences/melbourne01/pdf/papers/mcloughlinc2.


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thatthestudentneedstoacquire22.”Formativeassessment“(…)makesavailabletotheteachermoreprecise andqualitative informationabout the learningprocesses, attitudes andall thestudentshaveacquired23.”

“Whentheteacherreallyassesses,withtheobtainedresults,heisable“tohost”thestudent(…)totheextentthatwhenthestudentcannotlearn,theproblemisnotonlyhisbuthisandtheteacher's24.”Accordingtoanotherauthor,“(…)assessmentwillonlybeefficientandeffectiveifitoccursinaninteractivewaybetweentheteacherandthestudent25.”

Educationalassessmentdefinedasanactofgatheringsystematicinformationconcerningthenatureandthequalityofeducationalobjects26.Assessisanorganizedsetofprocessesthataimtheregulatoryfollow-upofanyintendedlearning,andwhichincorporate,forthisreason,theverification of its achievement.Nevertheless, in order to assess it is indispensable to createmechanisms formonitoring the process to understand it, nailing it and reorienting it in thedesired direction27. To manage the progress of learning, periodic balances of studentacquisitionsaremade.Theseareessentialtosupportapprovalorguidancedecisionsthatlaterare necessary. Contrary to what is the belief, sometimes, continuous assessment fulfils acumulative function,andevena certifyingone,becausenothing replaces theobservationofstudentsatwork,whenyouwanttoknowtheircompetencies.

The assessment of competencies must respect all the characteristics that all authenticassessmentshouldrespect28:includeonlycontextualizedtasks;addresscomplexproblems;help

22Nunziati, G. (1990). Pour construire un dispositif d’évaluation formatrice. CahiersPédagogiques,280,47-64.

23Perrenoud,P.(2000).ConstruirasCompetênciasdesdeaEscola.PortoAlegre:ArtmedEditora,p.21.

24Luckesi,C.(2003).Avaliaçãodaaprendizagemnaescola.Reelaborandoconceitoserecriandoaprática.Salvador:MalabaresComunicaçãoeEventos.

25Sant'Anna,I.M.(1995).PorqueAvaliar?ComoAvaliar?CritérioseInstrumentos(9ªEdição).Petrópolis:EditoraVozes.

26Nevo, D. (1995). School-based Evaluation. A dialogue for School Improvement. Oxford:Pergamon.

27Roldão,M.C. (2003).GestãodoCurrículo eAvaliaçãodeCompetências -AsQuestõesdosProfessores.Lisboa:EditorialPresença..

28Tardif,J.(1996).Letransfertdescompétencesanalyséàtraverslaformationdeprofessionnels.In Meirieu, Ph., Develay, M. Durand, C., & Mariani, Y. (Eds.) Le concept de transfert deconnaissancesenformationinitialeetenformationcontinue(pp.31-45).Lyon:CRDP.


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studentstodeveloptheirskills;requiresthefunctionaluseofdisciplinaryknowledge;thereisnotimelimitarbitrarilyfixedwhenitcomestoassessingskills;thetaskanditsrequirementsareknown before the evaluation situation; requires some collaboration between peers; thecorrection considers the cognitive and meta-cognitive strategies used by students; thecorrectiononlyconsiderstheimportanterrorsintheconstructionofcompetencies;correctioncriteriaaredeterminedbyreferencetothecognitiverequirementsofthecompetenciessought;self-assessmentispartoftheassessment;correctioncriteriaaremultipleandprovidevariousinformation on the skills assessed; should determine students’ strengths; the informationextractedfromtheassessmentshouldconsiderthestudents’skills,theirpriorknowledgeandtheircurrentdegreeofdomainofthecompetenciessought;thesameassessmentproceduresare required to all students and the necessary support is available for those who havedifficulties;inaddition,assessmentfollowstherequirementsofecologicalvalidity.

Toassesscompetenciesintheschoolistomarkarupturewiththeassessmentpracticeswhichfavouredtheacquisitionofdisciplinaryknowledge,arisinginthislogicthedefenceofaformativeassessment,whichplacesinthecentreofitsconcernsthestudent,who,throughhis/herquesttolearn,becomestheprotagonistofhis/herownlearning29.

Theassessmentprocedurestouse,havetobewelldelineatedinthepedagogicalpractices,beframedinaformativelogicandshouldbeorientedtowardsaself-regulatoryassessment,asthestudent builds his/her academic coursebasedon the referential of the educational process.Assessmentinacompetency-basedcurriculumorganizeddependingonthemanifestationoftheintended competency. Although Higher Educational Institutions are already aware of theimportance of developing and assessing the soft skills among their students, a minority ofinstitutionshaveformalpracticessuchasCurricularUnitsintegratedintotheofficialcurriculainordertoreachthisaim.InareviewofHigherEducationInstitutionsinitiativesandprojectsaimedat promoting students’ soft skills, only 9%were formal practices30.However, itmay also beachievedbyusingpedagogicalpracticesthatmayfostertheseskillsandwebelievethattheuseofskillboxesmethodologyistherisingsolution.

29Alves,M.P.&Machado,E.(2002).DarSentido(s)àformaçãodeprofessores:ocontributodaavaliaçãoformadora.Lisboa.

30 Vieira, D., Marques, A. (2014). Preparados para Trabalhar?, Lisboa: Consórcio MaiorEmpregabilidade/FórumEstudante.


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4 Assessment-set:trainingsoftskills4.1 TheimportanceabouttrainingskillsThe training of Soft Skills by using the methodology “Skills Boxes” in the learning processpresentsgreatadvantages.Ononehand,thestudentbecomestheactiveagentinthedecision-making process, which makes him feel motivated, facilitating the process of acquiringcompetencies.

On the other hand, there is the time factor, to the extent that the use of the “Skill Boxes”methodologyallowsthestudentstoobtainandtorepeatcertainresultsandtasks inashortperiodoftime-relatedtopractice,whichallowsstudentstoexperienceasmanysituationsaspossibleinreallabourlife.

Theuseofthismethodologyalsoallowsthestudenttorelatetheknowledgeacquiredintheothercurricularunitsatthedecision-makinglevel,andapplythem,alwayswiththesupportoftheteacher.Theautonomyofthestudentsandtheirself-regulationarefundamentalaspects,asstatedbynumerousauthors.However,theseauthorsagreethattheteacher/coachshouldleadstudentsintheirteachingandlearningprocess.

Assessmentmustbeactive,participated,sharedandcontinuous.Theassessmentmustpromoteinteraction (between students and between students and teachers, always based onretroactivity) and must place the student and his learning experience in the centre of theprocess.

Itisacontinuous,formative,pro-activeevaluation,inwhichthestudent,inpossessionoftheevaluationcriteria,mayself-assesshisownprogressintheproposedtasks.Itisanintegratedevaluation,whichisbasedonself-regulationandonstudent́sautonomy.

Thecontextoftheconcernsmovestothedomainofthelearningprocessandtotheproceedingscapable of improving it, moreover, makes the student aware of his own learning, bytransformingtheerrorsintoamomentofsolvingaproblem.Thefactthatitdoesnotinterruptthe process of teaching and learningmakes it an integral part of the process and gives it aregulatoryfunction.

Nevertheless,evenbeforeregulating learning,evaluationregulateswork,activities,authorityrelations,andcooperationamongstudents.TheideaunderlyingthisEvaluationSystemisthatthe student learns best if the environment is able to give him answers and regulations indifferent ways, such as the identification of errors, suggestions and counter-suggestions,complementary explanations, revision of the basic notions andwork on themeaning of thetask/project/activity.


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4.2 TheManagementSimulationModeltotrainandassesssoftskillsManagementSimulationenablesthestudentstoacquireskillsprogressively,throughpracticeandfromaknowledgebase.

However,assessingskillsand,mostimportantsoftskills,impliesthatstudentsareobservedinthe performance of tasks as close as possible to real situations, authentic, using a set ofinstrumentsthatallowthecollectionofevidenceonthedevelopmentofcompetenciesinthestudentsandaboutitsdemonstrationinthesituation.

Thedevelopmentofauniquemodelofassessmentforthissubjecthasgeneratedanawarenessonstudentsof theirownprocessof learning.Why?Becausethemodelofassessment inusepromotes a continuous feedback and communication between teachers and students. Also,studentsareencouragedtodotheirself-evaluationandtheevaluationoftheirpeersinsomeactivities,suchas,thepresentationofareporttoallthecolleaguesoftheclassroom.

Theorganizationandimplementationofeachsessionofworkisquiteimportantanddefinedinthebeginningofeachsemester.

Studentsorganizedingroupsofthree,thusformingacompany.

Eachcompanythereforehasat itsdisposaltheappropriatetools(computers,printers,scans,phones, fax, etc.) as well as professional software, which includes modules that allow themanagement,inasystematicandintegratedperspective,ofallthesubsystemsofinformationtosupportmanagementdecisions.

Worksessionsareconditioned/orientedbyaspecificscript(guide),throughwhichthenecessaryinputstothefunctioningofthemarketareintroduced(orders,supplies,acquisitionoftangiblefixedassets,collection(billing),paymentoftaxes,etc.)andtheactionactionstobetakenduringthesessionaredetermined.

As it happens in companies in the labour market, the students (here managers, partners,collaborators) have to meet a schedule, mark the point at the entrance and exit of theclassroom;onceathis/herworkstation (secretarywitha computer andall themeansabovementioned,inadditiontothenecessaryofficesuppliessuchasstamps,stapler,puncher,paper,physical file) and having the script (guide) of the respective session with the tasks to beperformed,theymake ingroup, theirworkdefinedforthatday(session).Theycheck if theyhavemailinthelockersplacedintheclassroomforthateffect,sendthemail,ifitisnecessary,placingitintherespectivelocker(bank,socialsecurity,finances,…)andproceedtothephysicalarchiveofthedocumentsgeneratedinthesession.

Itisaworkdynamicthatisverysimilartoday-to-dayworkinacompany,withthedifferencethatheretheyhavetheteachertoleadthemintheirteaching-learningprocess;thathere,atthebeginningofeachsession,thesystemitselfgivesthemfeedbackfromtheprevioussessionanditsoutcome,inthesensethattheycancorrectthemistakesandthattheylearnbycorrecting


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them; here continuous assessment is the lever in their process of construction andreconstructionofknowledge.

Thestudents’motivationasanessentialpsychologicalnoteofthenewsystemofeducationandtrainingbasedontheManagementSimulationModel:itisworthmentioningthespontaneousstimulationof theperceptionof self-efficacyof andby the students themselves. In fact, thepersonalevaluationoftheirperformancewillalwaysleadtotheirconsequent(in)satisfaction.Thus,thisprocesscanprovetobeanimportantfactorofmotivation,determiningthedegreeofperseveranceinthesuccessivetasksthattheyface,followingtheproposedproblems31.

Thiscurricularunitisnotmandatory;thestudentshavetoregistertoattendthem,inthethird(last)yearofthecourse.Thefactthatinallthesemestersthereareaboutsixtoeightclassesinoperation,withanumberofstudentsthatmayvaryfrom180to240,beingthisnumbervariableaccordingtothenumberofregistrations,issynonymousofgreatmotivation.

On the other hand, the eminently practical and applicable real-life content functions as anexternal factor tomotivation. Students are involved in theprocess, they are themotor thatdevelopsthesystem,iftheydonotcreatetheinputsnecessaryforthefunctioningofthemarket,andthisdoesnotdevelop.

The fact that students can see and realize practical aspects of how to constitute their owncompany,completetheforms,constitute“thecompanyontime”,issuecheckstoemployees,paybillsofelectricityandwater,makeorderstoothercompanies,selltheirproducts,inshort,a whole series of activities of the real companies, gives them confidence, instils in themresponsibility,andthenotionthattheirroleandfunctionarevital.Itislearningbydoinganddoingwell.

TheEvaluationSystemhasasetofcharacteristicsthatmakesitunique:evaluationiscontinuous(sessiontosession);hasacomplementofbehaviouralperformanceevaluation; isbasedonastrongcomponentoftheethicsandattitudesofallparticipants;issupportedbytheelectronicmeansinvolved;includingthatoftheagentsinvolved,responsibilityofthestudents.

TheEvaluationSystemisstructuredintheperspectiveoftheacquisitionofcompetencesanddirectedtothedegreeofsatisfactionandsuccessofthestudent.Assessmentisanintegralpartof the teaching and learning process and contributes to the development of students’autonomy, enhancing their professional skills, through the valuation of the knowledgepreviouslyaccumulatedbytheappropriationof“knowinghowtodo”,of“knowinghowtobe”and“knowinghowtoact”,thatshapetheshowncompetence.

31Oliveira,M. L. (2003). ProjetodeModernizaçãodoEnsinoSuperiordaContabilidadeedaGestão(PECRESC).


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Thereflectionthatthissystemencouragesleads,ononehand,thestudenttotakeconscienceofwhathe/shedoesandwhyhe/shedoesit,promoting,ontheonehand,changesinthepursuitofthedefinedobjectivesand,ontheotherhand,mayworkasaninternalfeedback,whichallowsthemtoself-assesshis/herlearning.

Theroleoftheteachersistopromotethewell-beingofthestudentsduringthehourstheyspendintheclassroom.Teachersarethecoachesforthestudents’pathoflearning.

Teachersofcurricularunitsofapracticalandinterdisciplinarynatureshouldbeendowedwithpedagogical and technical skills, which enable them to fully comprehend the assumptionsinherenttothecurricularunitsunderanalysis.

To“(…)teachincludestheprofessionalknowledgeandtheperformanceoftheactofteaching,conceiving,planning,developingandreorientingstrategies.Becompetent istoknowhowtomobilizeprofessionalknowledgetoorganize,developandevaluatetheactofteachinginordertorespondtochallengescreatedbythestudents'andthecurriculum’sneedsandbuildnewknowledgethatallowsfindinganswerstonewprofessionalchallenges32.”

Thatiswhyweconsiderfundamentaltheexistenceofaneffectiveandinclusivecoordinationinorder to guide the role of these teachers throughout this process of teaching and learning.Otherwise,wewillhavetheoreticalteachersteachingcurricularunitsofpracticalnature,whichmay result in demotivation of the students and consequently the non-achievement of thecompetencies that are intended to be developed with these practical and interdisciplinarycurricularunits.

Bybeingacomplex,recursiveandinnovativemodelthatpresentspositiveresultscomparedtoexistingtraditionalmodels,ithassomelimitations,sinceitisorientedonlyinasimulatedplan.

TheexistenceofthismodelintheCourseofAccountingandAdministrationandothersinsocialsciences,isimportant,butsothatitcanpourmorecloselytothebusinessrealitythenecessaryknowledgetothefutureprofessional,itwouldbeimportantthecoexistencebetweenthismodeland theobservation internship in several companiesalong thecourse.This internshipwouldallowthestudenttowitnessthebusinessactivitiesincompaniesofdifferentfieldsofactivityandreflectcriticallyontheobserved incontrastwiththe learned inthecurricularunits.Thiscombination results from the fact that the development of competencies in a virtualenvironment is different from its real professional development. Thus, the graduate whenarrivedatthelabourmarketwouldbeacarrierofasetofspecificandgenericcompetenciesthatwould allow him tomake a difference in the destinies of organizations and contributedirectlytothequalityofthese.

32 Costa, N., Martins, I., & Candeias, I. (2010). A avaliação e regulação de desempenhoprofissional(Vol.ColeçãoSituaçõesdeFormação).Aveiro:UniversidadedeAveiro,p.23.


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Asexplainedaboveeachthree,ourlessoniscompulsorytothestudentstoattend.Thestudentshavetwolessonsina5days’week,inalternateddays,theyworkinateam,manageasimulatedcompany, with a specific business plan. The company must achieve a certain performanceimpliedonthebusinessplangiventothestudentsatthebeginningofthesemester.Everylessonthecompanyhasseveraltasksoractivitiestodothatthe“coordinationandtheteachers”studypreviouslyandbuilda“script”thatthestudentshaveattheirdisposaltwosessionsinadvanceinordertopreparetheworktobedone.

Ineachlesson,thestudentsorganizethemselvestodelivertheactivitiespredictedinthescriptandalreadypreparedbeforethelesson.TheyuseanERPsoftwarethatisinuseinthelabourmarket,theyhavetocomputers,onescanner,oneprinterandaphone.

Theactivities/taskscreateddependingontheskillsthat“weunderstand”thefutureprofessionalmusthaveattheendoftheCourse.Technicalskillsinaccounting,management,financialissues,law,auditing,taxestreatment,etc.arealwayspresentineachlesson.Also,atthesametimesome skills like communication, leadership, teamwork, resilience, achieving goals, researchinformationandtakedecisions,makeplans,etc.,treatedinspecificactivities/tasks.

Thesessionguideandthetasks:wherearetheactivities/tasksandwhy?

Tothegroupofallthedecisionsandtaskscorrespondsthegeneralguide(ofallthecompanies),whichinturnissubdividedintoatotalguidepercompany,intoaguidepercompany/session(tothestudents)andintoaguideperclassroom/session(totheteachers).

Itisfromtheguidepercompany/sessionthatthestudents,withinthescopeoftherespectivebusinessplan,becomeawareofthetasks,whichtheyexpectedtoperformineachsession.

Theinstructionsindicatedintheguideofeachsessionprevailoveralltheotherinformationofgeneral and specific character, presented in other documents, namely in the curricular unitsupportnotebookandintheBusinessPlan.

Thetaskstoperformareofvarioustypes:

• Expresslyindicatedintheguidetobeeffectivelyperformedinagivensession;• Performedinagivensessionbytheimpositionofthecomplianceoflegaldeadlines(for

instancethedeliveryoftheperiodicVATDeclaration,amongothers);• Performedinagivensessionbytheimpositionofthegoodrules(forinstance,payment

ofadebtontheappropriateterm,attendinadeterminedmomentforthecollectionofadebt,amongothers);

• Resulting of a decision made by the group in reaction to some kind of event, orconsideredbythegroupassuitableforthepursuitoftheproposedobjectives.


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4.3 ExamplesoftheactivitiescarriedoutbystudentsThe conceptionofmore than400 tasks/activities on theManagement Simulation takes intoaccountthestudytowardsthedevelopmentofspecificcompetencies/skills.

Eachtaskasamaingoalinadualperspective:First,theonewiththeimplicitapplicationoftheknowledgelearnedtorealsituationsandthesecondthedevelopmentofsoftskillsinstudents.

Allyearstudentsworkinteams.Byputtingtogetherthreestudentstoworkeverysession,duringthreehoursintheenvironmentoftheclassandthepreparationoftasksandactivitiesoutsidetheschool, thedevelopmentof theskillTeamwork isessential. Inaddition, thecooperation,communication, leadership, organization, self-control and other soft skills are required topotentiateordevelopineachstudentinordertoachievethemaingoalofthecompanyownedbythestudents:profit.

In the followingpages, therearepresentedandexplainedsometasks/activities studentsareaskedtodo.

Activity1:TodoareportabouttheVATTaxanditsappliancetothecompany

Thestudentshavetheinstructionstoperformtheactivityasfollows:

InstructionforthethemeIVA(ValueAddedTax)topresenttothecolleaguesintwoweeks.

1. Thedevelopmentofthethemewillbepresentedinawrittendocumentcomposed,atmost,by eight pages (type of letter Arial or Times new roman, size 12, space one and a halfbetweenlines),distributedasfollows:

1stpage:Cover

2ndpage:Index

3rdpage/8thpage:Introduction,DevelopmentoftheTheme,andConclusions

Attachments

Attention:

• Thenon-complianceofthenumberofpageshereindicatedwillleadtoapenalizationintheworkassessmentof40%;

Thethememustapproachthefollowingaspects:

1.Financialsettlement

2.IntraCommunitytransmissions

3.Exports


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4.Exempttransactions

5.IntraCommunityacquisitions

6.Deductions

7.Investments

8.Inventories

9.Othergoodsandservices

10.Regularizations

11.Reports

12.Liquidationsanddeductionswiththeislands

13.Reimbursements

14.Paymentstothestate

15.RecapitulativeMaps

This Activity, intends to potentiate/develop in students the gathering of information; thesummary must be presented by written and with an oral presentation of the information;differentiatetheessentialfromtheaccessory;reachaconsensusamongthegrouptoaddthemost import informationonthethematic inquestion;divisionoftasksandrolesoftheteammembers; organizationofwork;Monitoring the tasks and time;Write the reportwithin therules;Presentation:writtenreportandOralpresentation.

Theactivitiesabovementionedrequiresfromthegroupofworkadiversionofsoftskillsinordertoaccomplishtheultimateresult:theoralpresentation.

ThesoftskillsintendedtodevelopwiththisActivityare:Communication,Criticalandstructurethinking;Adaptabilityand flexibility;Motivation;TimeManagement;Teamworking;Decisionmaking;Creativityandinnovation;ManagingResponsibility.

Thequestionremainsonhowtoassessthoseskills?Or,howtoassessthelevelofproficiencyineachofthoseskills?Theassessmentoftheskillcommunication,writtenandoralpresentationisframedonthefollowingcriteria.


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Figure4.CriteriaGridtoAssessOralCommunication.

Teachers, after the oral presentation discuss with the classroom the assessment of thecommunication–oralpresentation,madebythegroup,intermsofbodypostureandlanguage,voice,andthesevencriteriapresentedinthefigureabove.

Each student assessment regarding his personal oral presentation (voice, presentation,argumentation,posture,andotheraspects).

Afterwardstheteacherdoestheassessmentofthewrittenreportwiththedefinedcriteria(atthedisposaloftheteamworkwhenthestudentshavetheinstructionsfortheactivity).


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Figure5.TechnicalCriteriatoAssesstheWrittenreport.

Inordertohavethepossibilityforthestudenttodohisself-assessmentandpeerassessment,thepresentation is recordedand later,after thestudentwatches themovie,eitherwith theteacheroralone,inordertodohisownevaluationandpeerevaluation,usingthesamegridthatisusedbyteachers.Also,afterthepresentationinadeterminedlesson,eachstudentsendstheteachersanemailwithhisself-assessment:thestudentisonlyaskedtothinkofabouttheoralpresentationmadeandtheonethathehadpreparedbefore.

Therelationbetweenteacherandstudentisveryimportantinthisprocess.Thereisameetingwiththegroupofthestudentsandtheteacherinorderforthemtodiscusstheselfandpeerassessmentandtoconfronttheirownassessmentwiththeonethattheteacherhasmade.Onlyin the meeting the teacher reveals the evaluation of the written report and the individualevaluationoftheoralpresentation.And,mostofthetimes,theself-assessmentislowerthantheassessmentmadebytheteacher.

Aself-assessmentisalsoaskedforthestudentstomakeinabroadercontextrelatedtoaspecificskill,afterthedevelopmentofseveraltasks/activities.

For example, to be aware of the self-assessment of the adaptability and flexibility, andmotivationskills,thestudentsanswertothosequestions:

A. SOFTSKILLSSELFEVALUATIONTABLE

Thisinstrumentiscomposedby5series(orsets)ofaffirmations.Eachoneoftheseaffirmationscorrespondstooneofthe12softskillsdefined.Thestudentgiveshisanswerwithoutknowingwhicharethesoftskillsandtherespectivescores.Thistoolservestocollectthescoresachieved


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bythestudentforeverysoftskill.Foreachstatementpresentedchoosetheonethatbestsuitsyouropinion(youmaychooseonlyoneofthefivestatements),thescoreyoumightuseis:0–25–50–75–100(fivestatements–fivescores).

Table2.Exampleofself-evaluationoftheskill:Adaptabilityandflexibility

NormallyIseechangeswithapprehensionandIhavesomedifficultiesinadjustingmydailyroutineatwork.So,whensomeonere-allocatestasksandclosingdatesIfinditdifficulttomanage.

IfstimulatedIadjusttochangesatworkandIcanrecommendre-assignmentofchoresandclosingdatesthroughtacticssupportedonpastsuccesspractices.

IknowthemotivestoadjusttochangesandIamcapabletoallocateorreallocatetasksandclosingdatesbymyselfineverydaywork.Indifficultcircumstances,Iliketohaveothers’commentstoadapttochanges.

Ifnecessary,Icanadjustmytacticeasily.IadjusttochangeswithoutdifficultyandifneededIamabletochangetheprecedenceoftasksandobjectivesbymyown.

In my field of action, I am able to act as a change agent and I can make othersunderstandchanges.

Table3.Exampleofself-evaluationoftheskill:Motivation

IfIdon’tlikethetaskassignedtome,Ihavedifficultiesinfindingthemotivationtofulfilit.Imaynotfeelencouragedtoperformthegiventasks.

I need feedbacks or encouragement to seek new learning opportunities and toproposemyownideas.Igenerallyexpecttobemotivatedbymychiefatwork.

Ioftenreflectonmyownperformanceasanoccasionfor further jobandpersonalimprovement. I can find self-motivation forces, but I generally prefer to beencouraged.

Igenerallyhaveapro-activeattitudeandask for feedback fromothersonmyownstrengthsandweaknessestoimprovemyself.Ireflectonmyownperformanceandjobexperienceasanoccasiontoimprovemyselfandlookforlearningopportunities.Iamabletomotivatemyself.

I am engaged in a continuing self-improvement and I am able to motivate otherpersonsworkingwithme.


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Duringtheprocessofapplicationofthismethodtoassesssoftskillssomeissuesaboutthe“real”assessmentofasoftskillbytheuseoftheManagementSimulationModelduringaschoolyearisnotenough.


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5 TeachingmethodsvsassessmentforsoftskillsTherelationbetweenteachingandassessmentmethodsandthe“learning”ofSoftSkillsisaninterestingviewtoexplore.TheteachingmethodsidentifiedbytheintervenientintheIO1andIO2aredescribedbelow.

TheTM1designatedbyMasterClass,considersthathumanscanassimilateandpayattentiononly for about 20minutes to a presentation, a lecture, so, it is important to determine thesuitabletoolstouse.Typically,masterclassesaretheoretical,soit isnecessarytomakesurethat the students absorb most of the subject by all necessary means. Teachers must beinnovative,dynamicandcreative.Teachingtoolsarefundamentaltoteaching-learning-process.Theonlywaywehavetomeasureassiduityisthroughtheattendancerate.Althoughinmanyschools, thecurricularunitsof theoreticalnaturearenotmandatory, studentswould indeedhaveanadvantage inparticipating inall classes: listeningaboutacertainsubject isdifferentfromreadingaboutitforthefirsttime.Theteacheristheonewhoassessesandmostofthetimetheteacheralsodecideswhatisgoingtobeevaluated,ifanexam,assiduity,teamwork,orothersituation.

TheTM2namedLaboratoryClassisconsideredbecauseoftheimportanceimplicitinthisTMofthetimemanagementtoexecutealltheplannedactivitiesinaperiod.

TheTM3designatedbyManagementSimulationISCAP-IPPisaparticularcasewherestudents’assiduityiscontrolledbyatimecard,asincompanies,whentheyenterclasstheyhavetocheck-in,andwhentheyleave,theyhavetocheck-out.Absenceshavetobejustifiedandthestudentsonlymaymissuptosixclasses.Iftheymiss,moretheyflunkthecurricularunit.Theclasseshaveadurationofthreehoursandthestudentshavetomanagetimeinordertocompletealltheproposed tasks. It is important to emphasize the active role of the student in his learningprocess, individuallyandinthegroup,astheassessment isaresultofthesetwoworktypes.Therefore,thestudenthastoberesponsibleand inchargeofhisteammates.Onlythen,thecompanyhas theexpected successandeach studentaswell. Theassessment ismutual: theteacherassessesthestudentandthestudentassessestheteacherandtheirpeers.

The next table presents the relation between teaching and assessment methods withcharacteristicsrelatedtotheSkillstoassess.

The columnshave somecharacteristics that canorientus todecide (or justify) the relationsbetween the Soft Skills and the Teaching Method, and between the soft skills and theassessmentmethod.


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Table4.TeachingmethodvsSoftSkill(1/2)

Teachingmethod(TM)

AdaptabilityandFlexibility

Motivation TimeManagement

Communicationskills

Teamworking ConflictManagement

TM1MasterClass

Realworksituations–expositivemethod






TM2LaboratoryClass

Tasksandactivities–activeanddemonstrativemethods






TM3Simulation(ISCAPMethod)

Tasks;activities;casestudies;teamwork–activemethod






Table5TeachingmethodvsSoftSkill(2/2)

Teachingmethod(TM)

Serviceskills Motivation Decisionmaking

Problem-solving

Creativity andinnovation

Critical andstructuredthinking

TM1MasterClass

Real worksituations –expositivemethod






TM2LaboratoryClass

Tasks andactivities –active anddemonstrativemethods






TM 3Simulation(ISCAPMethod)

Tasks;activities;casestudies;teamwork –activemethod







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Thesetasksarepartoftheassessmentprocess,astheyareobjectofassessmentinallsessions(feedback)andareatthesametimeteachingmethods(active,demonstrativeandexpositive):

1st:anexplanationofthetheorybehindthesubjectinwhichthetasksareintegrated;

2nd:anexplanationofsometasks;

3rd:therealizationofthetasksproposed.

The connection between teaching and assessment method must exist, otherwise it is notpossibletoassessskills–hardorsoft,theonlyassessmentpossibleisto“assesstheknowledgeapprehendedbystudents”,andevensoitisnotpossibletoassesstheirlevelofproficiency,oncethereisnot,usually,aclearidentificationofthemaingoalsintendedtoachievewithaspecificsetofinformationworkedwithteachersandstudents.

Table6.TeachingmethodvsAssessmentmethod(resume)

Teachingmethodvs Assessmentmethod

AM1: Multiplechoice

AM2:Problem-solving AM3:Management Simulation ISCAP-IPPMethod

TM1MasterClass Evaluationtest/exam

Distribution of tasks(individualandingroup)

Distributionoftasks(individualand ingroup)

TM2 LaboratoryClass

Evaluation test;oral presentations;groupwork

Activities to develop in labclasses

Activitiestodevelopinlabclasses

TM 3ManagementSimulation(ISCAPMethod)

Evaluation test atclassn.º30

Activities and tasks todevelopinclasses-Creationand development of all thebureaucratic activities of acompany

Activities and tasks to develop inclasses – continuous evaluation (allsessions are evaluated, so that thestudentsknowandareabletocorrecttheir mistakes and understand theerrors)

Throughtheexplanationoftheabovetable,wecanseethattherelationbetweenTM1andAM1results inauniqueevaluationmoment: thedayandhourof theexam.ByrelatingTM1withAM2,itisimplicitthatthestudentscanworkindividuallyorinagroupandthat,asetoftasksdistributedamongstudentstosolvetheproblem.Therightsolutionistheonethathasamark.

ThemainconclusionoftheresultsoftherelationbetweenTM1–MasterClasswithAM1,AM2andAM3isthattherearespecificmomentsofevaluationanditresultsinanacademicmarktothestudent.

WhenweanalysetherelationofTM2–Laboratoryclass,theassessmentmethodsanditsresultsare quite different. There is a wide range of “ways to evaluate or to assess” such as oral


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presentations,groupwork,developmentofactivitiesattheLaboratoryinthescheduleoftheclass.

The Assessments methods related with TM 3 result in an exam, several activities/tasks toaccomplishbythestudentsduringtheperiodoftheclassandacontinuousevaluationbythegatheringoftheresultsobtainedbythestudentsontheirperformanceoftheactivitiesmadeineachsession.

Table7.AssessmentmethodvsSoftSkills(1/2)

Assessmentmethod

AdaptabilityandFlexibility

Motivation Managingresponsibility

TimeManagement

Communicationskills

Teamworking

AM1: Domorethana task in adefinedperiod oftime(activities)

Positivethinkingandattitude(tasks;activities)

Delegation oftasks enhancesself-confidence(tasks;activities)

Do a largenumber oftasks inashortperiod of time(tasks;activities)

Writtencommunication(reports…)

Organizationability (tasks;activities)

AM2: Behaviour*(activities)

Immediatefeedback(tasks;activities)

Meetingtoreviewthe tasks alreadydone and thosethat have not yetbeen done (tasks;activities)

Division ofwork(teamwork)(tasks;activities)

Oralpresentation(Theme,reports)

Delegationoftasks (tasks;activities)

AM3. Self-confidence(tasks;activities)

Beproactive(tasks;activities)

Giveresponsibilities toothers (tasks;activities)

Manage oralpresentation(tasks;activities)

Knowing how tobeinaclassroom(behaviour)

Activelistening(tasks;activities)

AM3: --- --- Promote workers’autonomy(teamwork)

Make actionplans(task)

Transmitinformationclearly(task)

Acceptdifferentopinions

AM3: --- --- --- --- --- Mutual help(tasks)

*Behaviour:Thestudenthastobehavewithintherulesofthecurricularunit.Ifhebreakstherules,hehasapenalizationonhisclassification(individualassessment).

Setofthesevenbehaviours:Notanswerorusethephoneinclasses;arriveontime;keeptheworkplace clean and organized; ethics and attitudes; collaboratewith the colleagues in theteam’sbestinterest;organizeanddividetheteamworkbetweenallmembers.


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Table8.AssessmentmethodvsSoftSkills(2/2)

Assessmentmethod

ConflictManagement

Serviceskills Decisionmaking

Problem-solving

Creativityandinnovation

Criticalandstructuredthinking

AM1: Knowhowtonegotiate(activities)

Organizationofworkandoftheworkplace(teamwork)

Defineclearandrealisticobjectives(self-motivation)(tasks;activities)

Analyticalandstructuredthinking(tasks;activities)

Solveproblemsinnon-traditionalways(tasks;activities)

Developanalyticalthinking(activities)

AM2: Controlemotions(activities)

Efforttogetgoodresults(individuallyandingroup)(teamwork)

Takeinitiative(tasks;activities)

Criticalanalysisofsituations(tasks;activities)

Dothingsdifferently(tasks;activities)

Developconceptualthinking(activities)

AM3: Becordialintherelationshipwithothers(activities)

Empathy(feelingsandconcernsofothers)(teamwork)

Personalandprofessionalgrowth(tasks;activities)

Identifytheproblem(whatiswrong)(tasks;activities)

Discussideaswithothers(tasks;activities)

Scrutinyofonethingineachofitsparts(activities)

AM3: Activelistening(activities)

--- Makeplansofaction(plans;activities)

Enunciatevarioussolutions(tasks;activities)

Askandlistentoothers’opinions(tasks;activities)

Identifykeyissuesandpatternsinsituationsandrelationships(activities)

AM3: Assertivecommunication(activities)

--- --- Decidequickly(tasks;activities)

Think“outsidethebox”(tasks;activities)

---

AM3: Gatherconsensus(activities)

--- --- Applythesolutions(tasks;activities)

--- ---

5.1 TeachingmethodvssoftskillThemainissuehereishowwecanrelatetheteachingmethodwithadeterminedsoftskill.Aswecanseeonthetablebelow,usingTM1andTM2,theprocessofteaching/learningofthesoftskillsbasedonexpositive,activeanddemonstrativemethods.


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TheuseofactivemethodstoteachsoftskillispresentinTM3.Thequestiontobeanswerediswhatisassessedbyusingtheseteachingmethodsandwhatisnotpossibletobeassessed.

Tohavethecertainthat“Motivation”skillorothersoftskill,arecorrectlyevaluatedtheremustbetheparticipatingofthestudenthimselfintheirownprocessoflearningbytheuseofactivemethods in the process a part is guaranteed but, only a small part. The need to have atransparent process of assessment of the soft skills we need to have evidences such asdocuments,videos,discussionamongstudents,reports,evensmallexamsinordertogivethestudent the possibility to practice the knowledge obtained in a school environment. Also,teacher has to change role and must be a coach in this process to create in students theawarenessoftheexistenceofsomeonethat,whileatschool,istheretohelpthem.Moreover,this “help” from teachers ismaterializedby the constant feedback givenby teacher toeachstudentinordertoallowstudenttoreflectandtocorrectthemistakes.

Table9.Recommendedmethodstoteachsoftskills.

5.2 RelationsbetweentablesTheestablishmentofhowateachingmethodcontributestothedevelopmentofaspecificsoftskillisahardprocess.Itisfeasibletorelatepercentagesofacquirementofsoftskillsthroughtheassessmentperformedonthatsoftskill.Forexample,bygivingastudentatasktodevelop

1-AdaptabilityandFlexibility

2–Motivation 3-ManagingResponsibility

4-TimeManagement

5-CommunicationSkills

6-Teamworking

TM1: Expositivemethod

Expositivemethod

Expositivemethod

Expositivemethod

Expositivemethod

Expositivemethod

TM2: Activeanddemonstrativemethod

Activeanddemonstrativemethod





TM3: Activemethod Activemethod Activemethod Activemethod Activemethod Activemethod

7-ConflictManagement

8-ServiceSkills 9-DecisionMaking

10-Problem-solving

11-CreativityandInnovation

12-CriticalandStructuredthinking

TM1: Expositivemethod

Expositivemethod

Expositivemethod

Expositivemethod

Expositivemethod

Expositivemethod

TM2: Activeanddemonstrativemethod






TM3: Activemethod Activemethod Activemethod Activemethod Activemethod Activemethod


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inaperiod,bythedefinitionofthemaingoalstoachieveandtheoutputrequireditispossibletodefineapercentageof5%ifthestudentpresentedthecorrectoutputandfollowedtherules.Inaddition,theinterventionofthestudentintheprocessofassessmentthroughselfandpeerevaluation allows teachers to have a clear idea of the level of proficiency achieved by thestudent.

Table10.Relationbetweentablesandthelevelofaffinityconcept.

TeachingMethods

Setofthe12SoftSkills

Skill1

Skill2

Skill3

Skill4

Skill5

Skill6

Skill7

Skill8

Skill9

Skill10

Skill11

Skill12

TM1: 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25%

TM2: 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25%

TM3: 50% 50% 50% 50% 50% 50% 50% 50% 50% 50% 50% 50%

ThestudycarriedoutatISCAP-IPPhasasmainconclusions:

- ThemethodtoassessAM3isnotenoughtoassesssoftskills;- ThelinkagebetweenTM,AMandSoftskillshastobedeveloped;- Thesolutionliesonanewmethodologytoteachandassesssoftskills.


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6 Proposal:skillboxes6.1 BoxoverviewAskillboxisthemethodologyproposedtotrainandassessthesoftskillsduringtheprocessofteaching/learning.

ThismethodologyisaninnovativeoneandbringsinitsomeaspectstoconsiderintheteachingandlearningprocessatHigherEducationInstitutions.

Thediagnosisofthesoftskillsneededtodevelop/promoteinformaleducationisanimportantstepinordertocopewiththelabourmarketexistentneeds.Bythisdiagnosis,itismandatorytotraintheteacher/coachonthesesoftskillsbecausetheuseoftheskillsacquiredisrequiredtobeexcellentintheprofession.

Theskillboxmethodologyemergesinthiscontext.Itisfundamentaltohavethe“material”totrainsoftskills.Therearecontents,books,mediaandothermeanstoteach/trainhardskills.

Figure6.Skill-basedpointofview:proposedmethod

In summary, and to clarify the figure above, we can see the parallel between theteaching/learningprocessesforthehard/technicalskillsandthecore/softskills.

Theskill-basedprocessdefinedinaperiod,duringwhichteachersandstudentsdevelopabroadrangeofactivities,wherethestartpointcalled“inspiration”relatedwiththeclassicalmethodusedtoteachhardskills,“preparation”phase,thenaction,whenitisaskedforstudentstodo,basedontheprevious“inspiration”.Thisactionconcernsthedifferentsoftskillinquestion.

Inaclassicalperspectivetheactionistakenduringthesessioninaclassroom,thenstudentsarerequiredtostudytheinformationgatheredtodoanexam(oralorwritten)thatwillresultinafinalmetricthatwillbereflectedonthecurriculumofthestudent.


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Reflectionimpliesactionandinspirationinthisskill-basedprocess.Studentsarecalledupontoreflectontheactionstaken,thisreflectionmomentisessentialintheallprocess.

Theproductionisthegatheringofalltheresultsstudentshaveachieved,tasksmade,activitiespromoted.Theconceptionofaportfolioistheultimateresultintheprocess.

TheIntellectualOutput4“EmpowermentandSelf-PromotionPlan”inthefinalreportpresentsindetailtheconceptionofaportfolio,thusthestudentisguidedtopreparehisSelf-Promotion“tool”.

A “skill box” is created to teach and assess soft skills, such as: leadership, decisionmaking,communication, and others. The steps defined in a “skill box” are related in order to train,potentiate,developandassessthelevelofproficiencyofaspecificskill.

The inspiration, action, reflection, together create a triangleof significant importance in theprocessofteachingandlearningofsoftskills.Thesethreepartsofthetrianglearepreparedforeachsoftskillinordertopromoteaneffectivemethodontheirtraining.

6.1.1 InspirationInspirationbringsupthequestionofhowtoelevatethemotivationinstudentssothattheygiveimportancetowhattheyaremeantto“learn”.Therefore,thetrainerhastoinspirethelearnertolearn.Themeansofhowtodoitisfullydescribedonthe“skillbox”.Theagenda,thebookstoread/consult,videosandothermethodologiesimpliedinthisactivemethodaredefinedforeachskill.

6.1.2 ActionActionistakenbytheresultofthepreviousinspirationalsetof“contents”spreadbydifferentmeans.Thisactionisthecombinationofadeterminednumberofactivities,whichhasasmaingoaltoobtainaspecificresult,regardingthesoftskillsthatareunderconsideration.

6.1.3 ReflectionReflectionistheultimatepointofthetrianglewhereitisintendedthatthestudentreflectsontheactionstakenanddoesareflexivethinkinguponit.

The“Inspiration”,“Action”and“Reflection”arethemainstepstotrainandassessaspecificsoftskillpresentedinthe“SkillBoxMethodology”.

Thecontentsdesignintendstocopewiththesoftskilldescription.Theactivitiesplacedtothestudents impliesahigh levelofstudyandpreparationbyteachers inorderto“knowhowtotrain”thesoftskillrequired.

Thefinalassessmentimpliesasevereandhardjourneyfromtheinvolvedpartsinthisprocessofteaching,learningandassessthesoftskillsthroughtheuseofthe“SkillBox”Methodology.

TheDemingcycle is impliedduring thisprocess, toplan, todo, toactandto reflectare inaconstantinterplay.


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The information provided to the students is given in a broad range of displays, such asquestionnaire, documents, data, presentations, videos and others. The first input is thedocumentwheretheactivitiesaredescribedforthestudenttostarttheprocess(filesstartwitha0.).This inputwill result inothers typesofdisplays,but thosearecreatedby thestudentsduringthe“Inspiration”(files1.),“Action”(files2.)andReflection(files3.).

Figure7.Skillboxcomposition.

Theassessmentcarriedoutthroughseveralactivitiesperformedbythestudents.Theyareaskedtoreflectabouttheactionsdoneinthepreviousstagesdependingontheactivitycarriedout(files 4.). Any production of the previous stages and the text wrote in the reflectionquestionnairewillbeincorporatedtothestudentportfolio.

Thefunctioningofthiscyclemustbeclearforbothstudentandteacherfromitsbeginninginordertogenerateunconsciouslytoperformthenecessaryadjustmentsduringtheprocess(skillboxperiodoftime).

6.2 Skillboxesassessment6.2.1 Self-EvaluationTheportfolioistheresultoftheself-evaluationsetforthe“skillboxes”.Theself-evaluationistheresultofthereflectionofthe“skillbox”.Inthisphase,studentsmustwriteatextexplaining


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their learningprocessatthepreviousphaseattheskillbox.Thistext isnotonlyaplaintext,studentisaskedtoincludepictures,videosorproductsresultedfromthepreviousphases.Forexample,oneoftheskillboxhasasresultamanifestowiththedistinctionsofthevaluesforthestudents.

Thetextboxoftheself-evaluation isonlyaremindertothestudentthatheneedstoreflectabouttheskillbox.Weaskthestudenttousea“blog”toexpresshisreflectionsabouteveryskillboxes.

Whenastudentjoinsallthereflections,text,images,videos,“blogs”,ofalltheskillboxeshehadattended,thestudentobtainstheportfolio.Theportfolio,theCVandthevideoCVwillbepreparedandusedtoempowerthestudent’ssoftskills(IntellectualOutput4).

Figure8.AProductdoneinthereflectionstepofthe“Self-Confidence”SkillBox

6.2.2 Externalevaluation:usingupdatedBloom’staxonomytoevaluatesoftskillsThe external evaluation of the soft skills,made by teachers, is performed by using Bloom’staxonomy.


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InBloom’staxonomythecognitivedomainisthecentralaspecttoreflectupontheexistenceoflevelsofhighcomplexityintheprocessofacquireanewskill.

Thistaxonomyhelpsustogofromthesimpletothecomplexactivitiesortaskstobedevelopedby the student. The acquisition of a specific levelmeans that the student hasmastered thepreviousone.

Bloom’s Taxonomy gives us the possibility to organize hierarchically the cognitive processaccordingtolevelsofcomplexityandmaingoalsofdesiredandplannedcognitivedevelopment.

Thecognitivelevelacquiredbystudentsisorganizedinaframeoflearningobjectives,inorderof complexity, such as knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis andevaluation.

InMasterylearningproposedbyBloom,thestudentsarehelpedtomastereachlearningunitbeforeproceedingtoamoreadvancedlearningtask.

Forinstance,ifwetake“Knowledge”,thereareanumberofwords(verbs)whichindicatethelevelofproficiencyinwhichthestudentiswhenheisperformingadeterminedtask.Thewords(verbs)startfromthesimpletothecomplex:tolist,todiscuss,tocompose,toexplain,tochoose,todeem,toremember,toassemble,todebate,tomanipulate,toinvestigate,toreaffirm.Forthestudentto“explain”acertainsubject,hehastohavealreadyacquiredandapprehendedthepreviousknowledge.Withoutunderstandingasubjectheisnotabletoexplainit.

Theteacherassessestheself-evaluationmadebystudentsandtheirportfoliosinordertogetanacademicclassification(theaverageofallthedocuments,reflections,videos,andother).

Toassessaskill-thelowestlevelconsideredbyBloom’staxonomy,istobeabletomemorizeatext, forexample, and them tobeable to talk about it.But if the studentdidn’tmanage tomemorizethefulltexthecan’ttalkaboutallthetext,onlyabouttheparthememorized.So,hisassessmentwouldberelatedwithaspecificlevelontheskill“tomemorizeatext”.

Ifourgoalistoteachastudent“howtodiscussaboutathemethathehadalreadyreadonatext”wewouldliketoseethestudentdiscussingfreelyaboutthesubjectanddoingagoodjob.Thequestionliesonhowtoassessagoodperformance?Whatisagoodperformanceinthesoftskill“communication”,forinstance?

Bloom’sTaxonomyusedinthe“SkillBox”methodologytoevaluate,allowstheteacherstodotheassessmentbyusingthekeywordsorverbsdescribedbyBloom.

ThesixcategoriespresentedinBloom’staxonomyareorderedbylevelofcomplexity,asfollows:

Knowledge - the student’s ability to remember, define, recognize or identify specificinformation,fromsituationsofpreviouslearning.


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Comprehension - the student’s ability to demonstrate he/she knows and understandsinformation,beingabletoreproduceitbyhis/herownideasorwords.

Application - the student’s ability to gather and apply information in specific situations orproblems.

Analysis-thestudent’sabilitytostructureinformation,byseparatingthepartsofthelearningsubjectsandestablishconnections,explainingthem,betweentheconstituentparts.

Synthesis-thestudent’sabilitytogatherandrelateinformationfromseveralsources,givingrisetoanewproduct.

Evaluation-thestudent’sabilitytomakejudgementsaboutthevalueofsomething(products,ideas,etc.)takingintoaccountknowncriteria.

The first three - Knowledge, Comprehension and Application - imply a determinate level ofproficiencyinaskill.Theanalysis,synthesis,evaluationbelongtoahighestlevelofproficiencyandherewecanassesssoftskills.

5.1.3 RubricstoevaluateThecreationofgeneralcriteriatoevaluatetheresultsofeachactivityperformedbystudentsthroughtheuseofthe“SkillBox”methodology,reliesontherubrics:remember,understand,apply,analyse,evaluateandcreate.

Inordertohaveanequityintheassessmentofthe“Skillbox”differentsteps-inspiration,actionandreflection,“rubrics”wereidentifiedwithlowandhighrangetoevaluate.

This“rubrics”arepresentedtothestudentsatthebeginningofeachactivitydescribedinthe“SkillBox”,otherwisetheprocessofassessmentwouldn’tbefair.So,fromthefirststepoftheperformanceofeach“skillbox”foraspecificsoftskill,studentshavethenecessaryinformationtocopewithatransparentprocessofassessment.

These rubrics used by the “Skill Box” Methodology are related with Bloom’s taxonomycategories,abovedescribed.

Remember intends to assess the process developedby students during the timedefined toaccomplishaspecifictaskoractivity.Theassessmentpresentedinthisrubricintendstoclarifyifthestudentdevelopedhisstudyadditionallytowhathewasgivenintheclassroomcontext.In addition, the way found to present the necessary information for the completion of theproposedactivityisalsoconsideredtoassess.

Understand implies that students explain/present to the teacher/coach and peers, the“knowledge transmittedby the teacher”withother informationand factsdifferent fromtheones that were given in the classroom context, in order to promote the active role of thestudentsintheirownprocessoflearning.


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Applytheconceptsacquiredandpresentedinthecontextoftheclassroomtorealsituationsbygivingexamplesandrelatingtheconceptswiththeirlifecontext,forinstance.

Toanalysetheinformationstudiedpreviouslyandtorelateitinordertocreatenewknowledge,is essential in the student mind-set to assess the level of proficiency in a specific givensituation/problemcontextualizedinanidentifiedsoftskill.

Theabilitytoevaluatetheactivitiesandresultsimpliedisoneofthe“rubrics”thatrequiresthestudenttobeawareofhisability,motivationandinvolvementduringthecourseoftimefromthemomentheisaskedtoperformaparticularactivityortasktothemomenthecompletesitandpresentsittohisteacherandpeersintheclassroom.

The “evaluate” rubrics intends also to promote the discussion among the students of thesubjectsofanalysis.Thepresentationofeachpointofview,theargumentationandthereachingofsolutionimpliesacompromisebetweentheinvolvedpartsintheprocess(dependingontheactivityproposedtothestudents).

Creationandinnovationisconsideredinthe“rubriccreate”.Tobeabletocreatenewideasandproposeactionstodevelopthemandtoachieveagoalinacontext.

6.2.3 CommonrubricsproposedThe creation or definition of a scale that takes into consideration all the steps of thedevelopmentlevelofproficiencyofasoftskillwashardtoadjust.

Thedefinitionofafivelevelsscale,for instance,theLikertscaleisn’tfeasiblewhileassessingsoftskills.Thesefivelevelstoevaluatethelevelachievedbythestudentinthedevelopmentofaspecificsoftskillrequiresastrictidentificationofthe“levelofproficiency”acquired.

Theevaluationofthe“reflection”stepfromthe“SkillBox”Methodologytakesinconsiderationthe“set”ofelements included in thestudents’portfolio, so thedefinition ina frameof fivelevels,toevaluatesuchdifferentelements(videos,documents,reports,manifestos)wouldbetoodemandingandwouldnotbringaddedadvantagestotheevaluationprocess.

Thesettlementofathreelevelscaletoevaluatethelevelofproficiency,allowsteacherstohaveastrongevaluationsetoflevelsthattakesinconsiderationBloom’staxonomytoreachalevelofcognitivedevelopmentimplicitintheperformanceofaspecificactivity.

Thethreelevelscale–fail,minimumandmaximumwillbeexplainedfurtherindetail.


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Figure9.AnanalysisofthescalesusedtoevaluateSkills:fromthedichotomy(yes/not)totheLikertbasedscale

Thedefinitionofascaletoassesshardskillsis“clear”buttodefineascaletoassessthesoftskillsisnecessarytocreateboundaries.

Theassessmentscalecreatedhasthreelevels-theminimum,themaximumandfail.Toassessinawiderframe,itisessentialnottostraighttherangeoflevelinascale,itismoredifficulttodo a correct assessment with five levels in a scale because it is harder to differentiate theelementstobeassessed.

Thedefinitionofthethreelevelscaleisasfollowing:

Fail – the student did not demonstrate to have used a cognitive process to give to theteacher/coachevidencesabouttheacquisitionofaspecificsoftskill.

Minimum–thestudentdemonstratedthathecanunderstandwhatmeansthesoftskillworkedin the “skill box” but he did not demonstrate that he could develop the soft skill in theenvironment. In fact, probably he has the soft skill butwhen it is necessary to apply it in acontext/environmenthedoesn'tdemonstratethereallyimplicationintheprocess.

Maximum (isn’t a “top level”) but the startingpoint of thedesignof a skill box thatwearedeveloping-asoftskillasacognitiveprocess.Weareworkingwithaperson;thismeansthatwe can’t assure that a specific “skill box” is appropriated for a specific person to develop aspecificsoftskill.Thismeansthattherearepeoplewithapotentialsoftskill,butinsteadofusinga “skill box”don’tdevelop the soft skill in the sameway that thehighestpercentageof thestudents.Somaximumisnotthe“maximum”ofasoftskillcanbedevelopedinaperson,itisthemaximumthatasoftskillcanbedevelopedbyusingthe“skillboxes”.

Theidentificationofthelevelofproficiencyineachskillboximpliesastraightconnectionwiththecognitiveprocessimpliedintheperformanceoftheactivitiesproposedduringtheteachingandlearningprocess.


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Table11.Rubricstoevaluatesoftskills.

Level Maximum Minimum Fail

Remember Definitionsaregivenfromsourcesotherthanclass.Consistentdataandinformationarepresentedanddonotcoincidewiththosepresentedinclass.Theconceptsthathavebeenworkedinclassareexposed.

Somedefinitionsaregiven,althoughothersaremissing.Thedataandtheinformationprovidedinclassarepresented.

Thedefinitionspresentedareliterallythesameasthosepresentedinclasssessions.Nodataispresentednorisanyinformationgiven.

Understand

Thedefinitions,conceptsanddatathathavebeengiveninactivesessionareexplained,inadifferentwayfromtheonepresentedinclass.

Explainthedefinitionsthathavebeengiveninclass,atleastwiththepointofviewexposedinclass.

Donotexplaindefinitionsgiveninclass.

Apply

Thereareexamples,bothfictitiousandreal,abouttheapplicationoftheconcepts.Personalanecdotesareusedtolinkwiththeconcepts.

Givesomeexampleorpersonalanecdoteabouttheapplicationoftheconceptsgiveninclass.

Donotusepersonalexamplesofanecdotes.

Analyse

Link(conceptually)differentconceptsfromthesamesessionorbetweenothersessions.Linkconceptswithactivitiescarriedoutinclass.Detecttheadvantagesanddisadvantagesofeachpresentedconceptandeachactivitydeveloped.

Linkdifferentconceptsfromthesamesession.Detectanyadvantageorinconvenienceoftheconceptspresentedandtheactivitiescarriedout.

Donotinterconnectdifferentconcepts.

Evaluate

Giveapersonalopinionaboutthedefinitionsandinformationthathasbeenworkedoninclass.Commentontheactivitiescarriedout.Takesidesordecisionsabouttheconceptsworkedon.

Giveanopinionabouttheconceptsworkedortheactivitiescarriedout.

Donotgiveopinionsormakedecisionsaboutthecontentsworkedinclass.

Create Proposenewideas,newconcepts.Proposeactionstotakeinordertodeveloptheconceptsworkedon.

Propose,atleast,newideasandconceptsrelatedtothoseworkedinclass.

Donotmakeproposalsorconceptsoractivities.


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7 Anexampleofskillbox:leadership

Figure10.Skillsboxleadershipcoverpage.7.1 SkillboxdescriptionLeadershipisnotonlyabouttobeonthetopofahierarchyandtoguideanorganizationoragroup.Inmediumandlargeorganizations,thereisnotauniqueandsolidpipelineofwork.

Differentprojectsarise,start,andevolveuntilaconsolidatedprocessisreached.Inthatprocess,peoplefromdifferentareasandbackgroundsjointogethertoworkonthem.


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There is not always aunique leader for all theprojects.Dependingon the content, this canchange.Workershavetoknowwhentotakeastepforwardandleadandhowtofacilitateotherstoo.

7.2 InspirationThe“inspiration”isgiving….

There is a myriad of authors that have studied leadership and/or have proposed differentleadershipstyles.Wehavechosensomeofthem:

● JamesC.Hunter.Hisshortnovelillustratesaradicallydifferentapproachinwhichtheleader is serving and backing other acts. This contrastswith themisconception of aleadertobetheonlyguideofthegroup.

● DanielGoleman.Aftershowingthatthereisnotauniquestyle,weshowthedifferentstylesproposedbyGoleman.ThesestylesareillustratedwithshotsofdifferentmoviessuchasGladiator,InvictusorDeadPoetsSociety.

Figure11.InspirationfromtheSkillBoxLeadership

6.3 ActionBeforetheinspirationispresented,participantsthinkofdifferentpeoplewhoseleadershiphasimpressedthem.Afterleadershipstylesarepresented,wesharethenamesofthosepeopleandweproposethemtogroupthemandtoidentifywhichleadershipstylestheypractice.

Participantsarealsoaskedtothinkaboutconcreteactionsconductedbythemwheretheyactedas a leader.What was the context and the problem, what did they do, and what was the


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outcomepresented to theothers?Participants can ask for further informationor todiscussotheractionstobetakenandtheirpossibleoutcome.

Figure12.Instructionstostudents'actionphase.

6.4 ReflectionAfterthesession,participantsareinvitedtothinkaboutsituationsinwhichtheyhaveledandwhatistheirparticularstyle.Theyarealsoinvitedtothinkifotherstyleswouldhavebeenmoreeffective,whatwillbetheprosandconsofeachofthem.


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Figure13Resultofanaction(Portfolio)


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8 ConclusionsInthisreport,theresultsofaseriesofmeetingsofthepartnerswiththeassociatedpartnersand with representatives of the socioeconomic environment have been transmitted. It isespecially important to highlight that the method presented allows organizations to moveforwardwiththeirownmapsofpersonalizedskills.

Thereviewofpedagogicalconceptsofspecialrelevancewiththeteachingandevaluationofsoftskillsallowsustoobtainascientificbasis.Thisbaseisusedtodecidewhichmethodsarebestsuitedforeachsoftskill.Thelatterisimportantsinceeachskillboxmustbeveryadaptedtothesoftskillittrains.

Theskillboxisanotherofthecontributionsofinterestofthisoutput.Throughtheskillboxes,peoplecanobtaineducationtailoredtotheirneedsandalignedwiththeneedsoforganizations.

Theskillboxhasanovelstructureinwhichtheoreticalconceptsbecomemotivationpriortothesession. The face-to-face session with students or employees, is entirely dedicated to theresolution of doubts and to the realization of dynamic activities that allow applying theknowledgeacquiredinthe"inspiration"phase.Thereflectionpartiswhatprovidesthevisionandpersonalacquisitionofsoftskill.Thispartisthemostinterestingsincesoftskillsareclosertoasessionwhere,sometimes,menarethemajority.


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9 Annex1


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10 Annex2

Core Skills assessment set for level of proficiency Core Skills ...

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