Transferable skill

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A transferable skill is an ability or expertise which may be used in a variety of roles or occupations. Transferable skills are those that are carried from the learning process into practical practice. These skills are believed to be vital to the academic success of a student as well as their ability to perform once in their post education employment roles. Examples of transferable skills include communication and problem-solving. [1]

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vSkills Transferable to Employment Contexts

Successful navigation of the changing employment landscape requires well-developed employability skills, including career management skills. These skills demonstrate that the learner has done more than understand the information presented in school and can also apply that knowledge in a real life setting. [2] This includes using the learned information in a manner that had not been previously utilized. [3]

The specific skills that are learned in education and transferred to the real or working world are widely defined. The emphasis is often on the traditional educational pillars of written and verbal communication as well as practical mathematical interpretation. However, there are additional skills that are expected of individuals as they enter the workplace that should be picked up throughout their education such as: interpersonal skills, self-management, problem solving, STEM, information technology and foreign language ability. [4] It has been noted that it is difficult to develop a comprehensive list of specific transferrable skills due to the wide range of abilities that are picked up in formal and practical educational settings. [3]

Transferable skills extend to ability of the individual to draw from cross-curricular areas of expertise. An example would be an individual who has learned a world language that is not native and a practical skill such as engineering who has the ability to utilize both of these skill sets to design products for a people from another culture. This type of integration requires cognitive flexibility.

Educational Approaches for Transferability

The Understanding by Design curricular approach championed by Wiggins and McTighe focused on designing curriculum around the ability to transfer knowledge and skills to new contexts. [5] The specific curricular elements that they recommend are to

It is vital that these four elements are aligned to maximize the transferability of learned skills to new contexts. According to Wiggins and McTighe, one of the core reasons students fail to develop transferable skills is curricula often focus on too many disconnected, short-term objectives designed to cover broad areas of content. Students experience this type of teaching as incoherent and struggle to understand what is important, meaningful, and useful.

Transferrable skills have become a pillar of higher educational goals to assist the student from active learner to the utilization of the skills from academia to the real world. It has been suggested that v in both high school and college lead students to an easier transition to the real world of application and work related tasks. [6] Project-based learning offers a practical way to determine if students as students test out learned skills through a physical project, internship or volunteer work in the field (e.g., service learning).

There has also been a movement to encourage students to gain skills in vocational schools that give them the ability to utilize these skills in a specific subject area as well as offering them practical usage and practice while still in an education setting. [7]

See also

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Active learning</span> Educational technique

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Backward design</span> Educational design method

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  1. Identify the results desired
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  3. Design activities that will make desired results happen

The apprentice perspective is an educational theory of apprenticeship concerning the process of learning through active participation in the practices of the desired skills, such as during workplace training. By working with other practitioners, an apprentice can learn the duties and skills associated with the position without formal teaching. In the process of training, apprentices also have the chance to specialize; as they are supervised, their specific talents and contributions within the field are taken into account and integrated into the overall practice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Differentiated instruction</span> Framework or philosophy for effective teaching

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">3S Understanding</span>

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Agile learning generally refers to the transfer of agile methods of project work, especially Scrum, to learning processes. Likewise, agile learning proceeds in incremental steps and through an Iterative design which alternates between phases of learning and doing. The tutors rather have the role of a learning attendant or supporter. In a narrower sense, it is intended to allow competence-oriented, media-based learning in the work process within companies. In addition, the term can take several other meanings and is also often used within e-learning and online environments.

References

  1. Achat-Mendes, Cindy (2020). "Learning, Leaders, And STEM Skills: Adaptation Of The Supplemental Instruction Model To Improve STEM Success And Build Transferable Skills In Undergraduate Courses And Beyond". Journal of Stem Education. 20 (2).
  2. Bridges, David (1993). "Transferable Skills: a philosophical perspective". Studies in Higher Education. 18 (1).
  3. 1 2 Justice, Christopher. "Developing Useful and Transferable Skills: Course Design to Prepare Students for a Life of Learning". International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. 3 (2): 2–4.
  4. Kemp, Liz Seagraves (1995). "Transferable Skills--can higher education deliver?". Studies in Higher Education. 20 (3): 315–328.
  5. Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by Design (2nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: ASCD.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. Carvalho, Ana (2016). ". The impact of PBL on transferable skills development in management education". Innovations in Education and Teaching International. 53 (1): 35–37.
  7. Astarina, S (2020). "Implementation of project-based learning method to increase transferable skills of vocational high school students". Materials Science and Engineering. 830 (2).