Report: Schools Should Focus More on Soft Skills

A new study from Wainhouse Research finds that a large minority, 39 percent, of education stakeholders say their schools should be doing a better job of preparing students for the workforce.

Among more than 1,000 administrators, teachers, students and parents surveyed from North America and the United Kingdom, "many" said they "believe that schools are doing a decent job focusing on the 3 R's: reading, writing and mathematics, but are not doing as good a job focusing on other aspects of education essential to preparing learners for entering the workforce," according to the report.

Sixty percent of those surveyed said too little emphasis is placed on collaborations with other learners outside the classroom, while 46 and 40 percent, respectively, said there should be more emphasis on group achievement and working in teams.

The two soft skills respondents said were important most often were problem solving, at 96 percent, and the ability to collaborate, at 95 percent.

"A total of 58 percent of those surveyed believe schools are placing too much emphasis on teaching to mandated tests," according to a news release. "In order to change that, many responders say schools should improve professional development, offer new methods of assessment, provide greater leadership and adopt new approaches to teaching."

The full report, which was sponsored by Smart Technologies, is available at downloads01.smarttech.com.

About the Author

Joshua Bolkan is contributing editor for Campus Technology, THE Journal and STEAM Universe. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • three silhouetted education technology leaders with thought bubbles containing AI-related icons

    Ed Tech Leaders Rank Generative AI as Top Tech Priority

    In a recent CoSN survey, an overwhelming majority of ed tech leaders (94%) said they see AI as having a positive impact on education. Respondents ranked generative AI as their top tech priority, with 80% reporting their districts have gen AI initiatives underway, or plan to in the current school year.

  • abstract AI pattern

    Meta Assembling 'Superintelligence Group' to Pursue Artificial General Intelligence

    Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is forming a team focused on achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI), amid internal dissatisfaction with the performance of its current AI offerings. The team, known internally as the superintelligence group, is part of a broader effort to enhance Meta’s AI capabilities.

  • TEACH project path

    PBLWorks Launches Web-based App to Help Scale Project-Based Learning

    PBLWorks, the provider of professional development for project-based learning (PBL), has introduced PBLWorks TEACH, a web-based application that provides ready-to-use, standards-aligned PBL projects for middle school math, science, English language arts, and social studies.

  • central cloud platform connected to various AI icons—including a brain, robot, and network nodes

    Linux Foundation Adopts Protocol for AI Agent Interoperability

    The Linux Foundation has announced it will host the Agent2Agent (A2A) protocol project, an open standard originally developed by Google to support secure communication and interoperability among AI agents.