Internationally and for many years, there has been a focus in education on ‘generic skills’, also referred to as ‘soft skills’, ‘life skills’, ‘essential employment skills’, or even ‘employability skills’. Here, however, curriculum reform over the past 14 years has focused mostly on schools and on knowledge acquisition. So how does our system now compare, and what does it mean for colleges?
Our new report reviews the extent to which generic skills are delivered in the 14-19 curriculum in ten jurisdictions. We investigated academic and vocational programmes in England, China, Estonia, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Ontario in Canada, Scotland and Singapore.
There are, of course, different takes on what generic skills are. However, across all ten jurisdictions there is a very clear top three: communication, collaboration and personal qualities (e.g. character, personality, self-management).
The next most common were ICT or digital skills, creativity, critical thinking and citizenship. The notion of being able to learn independently was also mentioned by many jurisdictions.
In every jurisdiction, generic skills are part of the vocational curriculum. In England they are an explicit part of study programmes for 16- to 19-year-olds. However, most of England’s learners start to be exposed to generic skills two years later than their international peers. Indeed, unlike England, most of the international systems we looked at include generic skills for the full 14-19 cohort.
In most jurisdictions, those on academic programmes still mostly have generic skills integrated into their curriculum, typically in the form of projects. These projects, we find, are widely considered to work well in helping to develop generic skills like collaboration.
However, they can be taught variably, particularly in jurisdictions where the focus was on high-stakes exams and knowledge-based pedagogy. This is certainly the case in England, where optional extras like extended project qualifications and Duke of Edinburgh awards, for example, remain the purview of higher-income families.
England is an outlier in a number of ways
Schools in England can make their own decisions about the extent to which they include generic skills in their curriculum provision, but they are not compelled to do so. This further drives inequalities in terms of opportunities and outcomes.
This is not the case for vocational learners. They are getting a better deal than their academic counterparts, because generic skills are an explicit part of their study programmes.
Of course, the economic and social context of the jurisdictions as well as the design of their education systems and the status of teachers in them all have an impact on their inclusion of generic skills.
In some countries, like Germany, a questioning and democratic approach to teaching means generic skills like communication and collaboration are taught naturally within the curriculum.
And in Finland, a longstanding commitment to a particular set of generic skills means they are embedded as a matter of routine.
Meanwhile, systems with fluidity between academic and vocational options are more likely to ensure all learners receive equivalent generic skills that are relevant to their programmes.
The high status of teachers in most jurisdictions also means they get the initial training and ongoing professional development to support them to make the most appropriate choices for embedding generic skills within their curriculum areas.
In England, however, we do not have fluidity between academic and vocational areas for 14-19-year-olds, with the notable exception of provision within FE colleges. In these settings, learners are typically better supported to develop a range of skills alongside subject-specific ones.
Our selection of jurisdictions is mostly made up of PISA high-performers with a range of education systems. Among them, England is an outlier in a number of ways.
With a curriculum review underway and a different culture at the DfE, it’s clear that renewed interest in generic skills is required to make us internationally competitive and begin to tackle challenges at home like youth unemployment and skills shortages.
In this, there is much to learn from the experience of those delivering study programmes in colleges, as well as from abroad.
Read the full report, Generic skills in the 14-19 curriculum: An international overview here
Your thoughts