Factors explaining the learning of generic skills: a study of university students’ experiences

Abstract

Although generic skills have received widespread attention from both policymakers and educationalists, little is known regarding how students acquire these skills, or how they should best be taught. Hence, the aim of this study was to identify what kinds of pedagogical practices are behind the learning of eight particular generic skills. The data were collected from university students (N = 163, n = 123) via Internet questionnaires. The findings from regression analyses showed that teaching practices involving collaboration and interaction as well as features of a constructivist learning environment and integrative pedagogy predicted the learning of generic skillssuch as decision-making skills, different forms of creativity, and problem-solving skills. In contrast, the traditional forms of university teachingsuch as reading, lecturing, and working alonewere negatively associated to learning generic skills. Overall, this study offers detailed information about the pedagogical practices that nurture learning generic skills in university contexts.

Enhancing graduate employability: Why do higher education institutions have problems with teaching generic skills?

“…Generic skills which are also referred to as key skills or core competencies are significantly used in the present conversations in society, working life and education (Virtanen and Tynjälä, 2018). The OECD at the beginning of the millennium initiated the definition and selection of key competencies, which defined the key competencies that every citizen requires to achieve a wellfunctional society (Katajavuori, Lindblom-Ylänne, and Hirvonen, 2006).…”

“…There are other examples like the Cambridge Thinking Skills Assessment in the UK (TSA Cambridge, 2008) as well as the Work Keys System assessment conducted by the American College Testing Center for Education and Work (Saterfiel and McLarty, 1995). Virtanen and Tynjälä (2018) maintain that several business leaders and educators have developed some models and listed some skills which they referred to as 'twenty-first skills' that the students require in their lives and work to ensure that they are successful in the world of work. Generic skills have also been emphasized in the assessments and comparisons of education systems with a view to enhancing the quality of teaching and learning and graduates' outcome (Coates and Richardson, 2011).…”

“…There are several forecasts that the labour market will lay more emphasis on generic skills in the future (see e.g. Forbes, 2013;Future Work Skills 2020, 2011, and the current researches from various fields have shown that in addition to the job-related requirements such as the field-specific (technical/professional) skills, that the employers need, they also require the generic skills (communication, critical thinking, problem-solving, teamwork, lifelong learning, professional ethics, entrepreneurship, leadership, etc.) (Okunuga and Ajeyalemi, 2018;Virtanen, Tynjälä, and Collin, 2009 Spencer & Spencer (1993) Drawing on the previous studies on how lack of generic skills negatively affects the graduate employability (Virtanen and Tynjälä, 2018;Virtanen, Tynjälä, and Collin, 2009;Yorke and Knight, 2006), a survey from a major online employment agency found that the major reasons for the graduates not getting employed by the employers are the lack of communication skills (56%), bad social manners (36%), requesting excessive pay packages (32%), acquiring irrelevant qualifications (30%), and being overly choosy about jobs (23%) among others (Salina, Nurazariah, Noraina, and Rajadurai, 2011). In the same way, the study conducted by the Stanford Research Institute and Carnegie Melon Foundation 'involving Fortune 500 CEOs revealed that 75% of getting and maintaining a job successfully is supported by individual's generic/soft skills, while only 25% accounts for hard skills or technical knowledge' (Malhi, 2009: 49).…”

“…In a study conducted by Kember and Leung (2005) in a Hong Kong University on the correlation between students' experiences of learning generic skills and the learning environment, they found that 'teaching for understanding, active learning, a variety of assessment methods that require the deployment of the desired capabilities and working together' were the characteristics of the learning environment that particularly develop the students' generic skills (Kember, Leung, and Ma, 2007). These teaching and learning features according to Virtanen and Tynjälä (2018) are directly related to the characteristics of constructivist learning environment (e.g. Loyens and Gijbels, 2008), which is a model of integrative pedagogy that connects the features of the constructivist teaching and learning with the accounts of the nature and the development of expertise (Eraut, 2004;Virtanen and Tynjälä, 2018).…”

Assessing the Development of Collaborative Knowledge Work Competence: Scales for Higher Education Course Contexts

“…It has been recognized internationally that higher education (HE) studies should provide students with versatile expertise to effectively manage the challenges of working life in terms of interdisciplinary projects and tasks (Barrie, 2012;OECD, 2013;Virtanen & Tynjälä, 2018). Knowledge work is characterized by a wealth of information, changing collaborators and technologies, the contestable nature of what counts as valid knowledge, and the need to deal with uncertainty (Barnett, 2004).…”