Youthreach
Soft Skills Framework
An initiative by
Mary Gordon, NEPS & Co Meath VEC Youthreach
Centres
Youthreach soft skills framework
Culmination of years of work by practitioners
working directly in Youthreach or providing
services to Youthreach.
The rationale for the project is to direct
attention to the personal and social skills
that form a core part of the programme and
a major part of the work of centres.
Youthreach soft skills framework
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Representatives of the six Youthreach centres in Co
Meath:
Vivienne Branigan, Vanessa Connell, Aaron Fowler,
Eileen Gargan, Fiona Graham, Alan Larkin, Liz
Lavery, Enda McDonnell, David O’Connor
Mary Gordon, Senior Psychologist in the
Department of Education and Skills
This project was supported by NEPS and Co Meath
VEC
Soft skills and well-being
A person’s well-being relates to their physical, social and
mental state. It requires that basic needs are met, that
people have a sense of purpose, that they feel able to
achieve important goals, to participate in society and to
live the lives they value and have reason to value.
People’s well-being is enhanced by conditions that
include financial and personal security, meaningful and
rewarding work, supportive personal relationships,
strong and inclusive communities, good health, a healthy
and attractive environment, and values of democracy
and social justice. (NESC, 2009, p. 138)
The purpose of the Youthreach soft
skills project
1. To identify the range of soft
skills that are relevant to the
work of centres and to locate
these on a framework
The purpose of the Youthreach soft
skills project
2. To identify suitable pedagogical
approaches and resources for
teaching soft skills
The purpose of the Youthreach soft
skills project
3. To identify appropriate ways to
measure learners’ progress in
the development of soft skills
The purpose of the Youthreach
Soft Skills Project
4. To identify appropriate ways to
record and report on learners’
progress in relation to soft skills
What are soft skills?
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‘Soft skills’, ‘Key skills’ and ‘Key competencies’
Soft skills continuum
Education and labour market initiatives
Soft skills are not so much identified, as
constructed
This gives a central position to the question of
the purpose and values underpinning the
identification of these skills – the rationale for
identifying soft skills in the first place
The rationale for identifying and
teaching soft skills could be
• The empowerment of the learner
• To prepare the worker for the labour market
• To support the individual
–to become an effective citizen
–to become an effective parent/family
member
–to live respectfully in a culturally diverse
society
–to have environmental awareness
Could be any or all of the above
The rationale for identifying and
teaching soft skills
Impacts on:
• The aim of the project
• The teaching methods
• The power dynamics between teacher and
learner
• The areas chosen for assessment
• How assessment is done
Teaching soft skills
To teach soft skills effectively staff need to
have
• clarity about which soft skills they want
their participants to learn and
• strategies and methodologies for teaching
them
Assessing soft skills
• International projects are concerned to measure
soft skills
– Not academic learning per se…
– But things like problem-solving, learning to learn and
working with others.
– Certain areas are commonly considered to be difficult
or impossible to assess.
Assessment of soft skills
Identifying the gains made in
the acquisition of soft skills
• ‘Soft outcomes’ …?
• ‘Soft indicators’ …?
• ‘Distance travelled’ …?
A soft skills framework
Soft skills framework
3 key competencies
Confidence
Responsibility
Power
Soft skills framework
3 domains
The self
Others
The world
Soft skills framework
Confidence
Focus: The
self
Power
Responsibility
Focus: Others
Focus: The
world
Workshop 1
Divide into 3 groups
• The self
• Others
• The world
Each group identifies some of the
competencies involved in their domain
Soft skills framework
Competencies involve both awareness and effectiveness
The self
awareness of and
management of the
self
Others
The world
sensitivity towards
and competence in
interacting with
others
knowledge of and
effectiveness in the
world
Soft skills framework
Competencies involve skills
The self
Life skills
Self-regulation skills
The world
Others
Self-regulation
skills
Social skills
Social skills
Life skills
Competencies versus skills
“From a strictly conceptual viewpoint, competence has
a broader meaning than skill and many analysts
consider a competence to include several skills. If we
accept that distinction, then the concept of
competence should be considered as broader, more
general and a higher level of cognition and complexity
than the concept skill.” (Tiana, 2004)
Youthreach soft skills framework
Competencies involve:
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Values
Awareness
Effectiveness (skills)
Soft skills framework
Competencies as overlapping
Awareness and
acceptance of self
Life and self-regulation
skills
Confidence
Responsibility
Sensitivity and
consideration towards
others
Self-regulation and social
skills
Power
Knowledge of the world
and appreciation for how
it works
Social and life skills
Soft skills framework
Skills as overlapping
Self-regulation
skills
Confidence
Responsibility
Social
skills
Power
Life skills
Soft skills framework
Domains
Competencies
Skills
Confidence
The self
Self-awareness
Life skills
and -management
Self-regulation skills
Responsibility
Others
Social awareness
and competence
Self-regulation
skills
Social skills
Social skills
Life skills
Power
The world
Knowledge of and
effectiveness in
the world
Workshop 2
Divide into 3 groups
• The self
• Others
• The world
In each group explore what skills
might be demonstrated by a
learner who is competent in this
domain?
Soft skills framework
Domains
The self
Competencies
Awareness of self
Management of self
Others
Awareness of others
Competence with
others
The world
Knowledge of the
world
Effectiveness in the
world
Skills
Life
Self-regulation
Can look after self in practical ways
e.g. presentation, sexual health
Can ask for help
Can have fun with others
Can make decisions and plans to
benefit self and advance life goals
Has a sense of purpose
Can recognise emotions
Can cope with adverse circumstances
Can manage interactions with others
Can be assertive
Can exercise control over substances
Can put in effort and motivate self
Self-regulation
Social
Can manage emotions e.g. anger,
jealousy, exuberance, anxiety
Can restrain impulsivity
Can take responsibility for own
actions
Can decentre and notice others
Can observe rules
Can understand where others are
coming from
Can take care of others
Can empathise with others
Can communicate effectively in social
situations
Social
Life
Can work cooperatively with others
Can deal effectively with people in
formal and semi-formal situations
Can follow instructions from others
Can keep own word
Can manage others
Can solve a range of practical
problems
Can access information and use it
Can employ learning strategies
Can locate self within the wider world
and understand its structures,
practices and rules
Can think about and evaluate social
and political matters or events
Teaching soft skills
How are soft skills taught?
• Contextualise them in meaningful ways
• Integrate them into other learning and
activities in the centre
Methodologies
• Having clarity about the specific skills
being taught
• Using formal, non-formal and informal
approaches
• Recognition … and therefore assessment
Teaching soft skills
Focus: The self
Goal: To develop confidence
Competencies: awareness of self (e.g. emotional literacy, a sense of
identity, a sense of purpose) and management of self
Skills: Life skills
•Can look after self in practical ways e.g. self-presentation, sexual health
•Can ask for help
•Can make decisions and plans to benefit self and advance life goals
•Can have fun with others
•Can recognise and place value on own achievements
Teaching soft skills
Focus: The self
Goal: To develop confidence
Competencies: awareness of self (e.g. emotional literacy, a sense of
identity, a sense of purpose) and management of self
Skills: Self-regulation skills
•Can recognise emotions
•Can express emotions appropriately
•Can acknowledge own needs
•Can be assertive without being aggressive
•Can cope with adverse circumstances
•Can manage anxiety and try out new experiences
•Can put in effort and motivate self
Teaching soft skills
Focus: Others
Goal: To develop responsibility
Competencies include: awareness of others (e.g. social sensitivity, a sense
of connectedness, a capacity for empathy) and competence with others
Skills Self-regulation skills
•Can manage emotions (e.g. anger, jealousy, exuberance, anxiety)
•Can restrain impulsivity
•Can take responsibility for own actions
•Can notice how others are feeling
•Can take account of others
•Can observe rules
•Can handle criticism
Teaching soft skills
Focus: Others
Goal: To develop responsibility
Competencies include: awareness of others (e.g. social sensitivity, a sense
of connectedness, a capacity for empathy) and competence with others
Skills Social skills
•Can understand where others are coming from
•Can de-centre and observe others’ experience
•Can take care of others
•Can empathise with others
•Can listen
•Can communicate effectively in social situations
•Can manage and resolve conflicts
Teaching soft skills
Focus: The world
Goal: To develop power
Competencies include: knowledge of the world and effectiveness in the
world (e.g. relational awareness, ability to decentre the self, curiosity)
Skills: Social skills
•Can work cooperatively with others
•Can deal effectively with people in formal and semi-formal situations
•Can be punctual and reliable
•observe social rules and niceties
•Can keep own word
•Can lead others
•Can manage others
Teaching soft skills
Focus: The World
Goal: To develop power
Competencies include: knowledge of the world and effectiveness in the
world (e.g. relational awareness, ability to decentre the self, curiosity)
Skills: Life skills
•Can solve a range of practical problems
•Can access information and use it
•Can employ learning strategies
•Can understand the structures, practices and rules that apply in the wider
world
•Can locate self within the wider world
•Can think about and evaluate social and political matters or events
Rating, planning and recording
progress
10 point rating
scale
The 10-point rating scale is not
envisaged as an equal-interval
measure. For example the move from
1 to 2 could be considerably greater
than from 8 to 9.
Template
Page 1
Recording soft skills
Record includes both
• Quantitative rating and
• Qualitative description (reason for rating)
Meaning of rating
• A collaborative decision
Rating values
• Based on professional expertise of staff
Template
Page 2
Planning
Template records rating and reason for
rating, which leads immediately into
A teaching plan
• Whole centre
• Group of learners
• Individual
Measuring progress
• Templates over time show progress made
by each individual (distance travelled)
• Reasons for ratings identify soft indicators
and imply soft outcomes
• Total templates over time show
achievement of centre
Pilot project in Co Meath
Youthreach centres
• Piloted in 2012 in six centres
• Very positive evaluation from centres
• Next step: Role out in other VEC areas
• New context of Solas
• Need for “metrics”