Soft
Skills and Teaching
Prepared by
SABARISH-P
M.Sc., M.Ed., JRF & NET
Assistant Professor in Physical Science, Arafa Institute for Teacher Education
Attur, Thrissur.
Soft skills is a sociological term
relating to a person's "EQ" (Emotional Intelligence Quotient), the
cluster of personality traits, social graces, communication, language, personal
habits, friendliness, and optimism that characterize relationships with other people.
“Soft skills refer to the cluster
of personality traits, social graces, and facility with language, personal
habits, friendliness, and optimism that mark people to varying degrees. Soft
skills complement hard skills, which are the technical requirements of a job.”
(Britannica, 2014).
According to World Health
Organization (WHO) “Soft Skills are nothing but Psychological Skills, which
insists upon accepting the behavior of others along with their culture”.
Fundamental Soft Skills put forth by WHO are: Self- Awareness-Self Esteem;
Critical thinking Skills; Decision Making skills: Problem Solving skills;
Interpersonal Skills; CommunicationSkills; Empathy; Coping with emotions;
Handling peer pressure and Negotiation Skills
Soft skills are very important as
they help:
>>To handle interpersonal
relations
>>To take appropriate
decisions
>>To communicate effectively
>>To have good impression and impact to
gain professional development.
Significance
of soft skills in teaching.
“You
teach who you are.”
Both technical and soft skills
complement each other and the balance between these two is what makes a teacher
a complete professional. Soft skills help a teacher by the following ways
1)
To Communicate Effectively
2)
To become an Organized Teacher.
3)
To Avoid Teacher Burnout
4)
Help to develop Strategies to Become an
Effective Teacher
5)
Helps to Motivate Students
6)
Helps to create Incentive Ideas and Modern
Methods of Teaching, Listening Skills.
7)
Know how to Give Good Feedback for
Others Work
8)
Win people’s cooperation.
9)
Helps in Goal/Target Setting.
10) Helps
to positively deal with criticism.
11) Keep
discussions from turning into arguments.
12) Resolve
Conflict
13) Helps
to know Interpersonal skills / Interpersonal Relations and their Empowerment.
14) Helps
in Objection Handling and Problem Solving
Essential
soft skills required for a teacher.
1)
Communicative
Skill
Ability
to deliver idea clearly, effectively and with confidence either orally or in
writing
Ability
to practice active listening skill and respond.
Ability
to discuss and arrive at conclusion.
Ability
to communicate with individual from a different cultural background.
Ability
to expand one’s own communicative skill.
Ability
to use non-oral Skills.
2)
Team
Work
Ability to build a good rapport, interact and
work
Ability
to give contribution to the planning and deal effectively with others.
Ability
to understand and play the role of oneself and follower alternatively.
Ability
to recognize and respect others Attitude, behavior and beliefs.
Ability
to coordinate group work.
3)
Leadership
skill
Ability
to lead.
Knowledge
of the basic theories of leadership and leadership qualities.
Ability
to understand and take turns as a leader and follower alternatively.
Ability
to supervise members of a group.
4)
Time
management skill
Time
management is the act or process of planning and
exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific
activities, especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency or productivity.
The
major themes on time management include the following:
·
Creating an environment conducive to
effectiveness.
·
Carrying out activity around those
priorities
·
The related process of reduction of time
spent on non-priorities
·
Incentives to modify behavior to ensure
compliance with time-related deadlines.
5)
Event
management skill
Events
management is the process behind planning, executing and evaluating corporate,
association, government social and educational events.
Some of
the key skills involved in event management are:
·
Attention to detail
·
Creativity (not just in
designing the ‘look and feel’ but also in how to get round the inevitable
problems)
·
Planning and rehearsal
(plan, plan, plan…rehearse, rehearse and rehearse)
·
Multitasking
·
Budgeting (delivering
within budget)
·
Team worker
