Head of the Soft Skills Development Center, Associate Professor of the Department of Public Administration, Management and Marketing Nataliia Tkachenko took part in the conference “Soft skills in vocational training are in demand more than ever”, which was held as part of the cooperation of Erasmus+ VET Team Austria at OeAD and BMBFW in the European Year of Skills.
The conference speakers shared the results of their research and projects, answering the key questions of the event: what skills are needed in the labor market, how to identify them, and how to teach them?
The report “Skills change in times of crisis: what soft skills are important now and how to recognize them” by Dr. Martin Noack, a representative of the Bertelsmann Foundation, discussed the model of everyday skills in demand, which, in particular, identifies such groups of skills as democratic competencies, environmental skills, health skills, general knowledge, financial and entrepreneurial skills, and artistic and aesthetic skills. The model includes the following key skills: basic digital skills, mathematical competencies, and language skills.
Dr. Martin Noack noted that remote work conditions have intensified the development of digital skills, but have necessitated the development of trust skills and the creation of trusting relationships. Working in a crisis requires developed skills of resilience and compassion.
Antje Barabash, speaking about career didactics in Switzerland, emphasized the importance of developing such a cross-cutting competency in young people as creativity, which allows them to solve tasks creatively, and the importance of humor, which becomes an individual resource that has a relieving effect.
During his speech, René Halla introduced the Erasmus+ project “Play your skills”, which developed the game application “Use your skills”.