Digital Competences and soft skills

for a better future

How do we promote soft skills in our school,

the 1st Primary School of Makedonitissa - CYPRUS

Soft skills, sometimes called key skills, core skills, key competencies,
or employability skills, are those desirable qualities that apply across a
variety of jobs and life situations and contribute to both college and
workplace success. By contrast to “hard skills” which are academic or job
related skills, soft skills often include social emotional skills, critical
thinking skills, and skills that facilitate positive interactions with others and
the ability to overcome challenges.

In our school we try to enhance students’ soft skills by embedding

them into the teaching of hard skills. Lessons are designed in order to offer
students not only academic skills, but also the opportunity to drill certain
soft skills. Here are some examples of how teachers in Makedonitissa A’
Primary School in Cyprus try to promote communication, team- working
and problem solving skills.

In order to inspire a discussion in the class, teachers frequently ask

open-ended questions and encourage their students to do the same. Since
communication isn’t just about speaking; it’s also about listening, one of
our goal is to reinforce active listening. This is done by reading a selection
of text aloud, and then having the class discuss and reflect on the content
but also on each other’s answer.
 Teachers also provide frequently opportunities for team work and
small group discussion. The more often students work together, in order
to contribute to the larger discussion, the more comfortable they become
within the classroom environment, increasing their willingness to
communicate. They also implement the ‘Jigsaw technique’ which is
a method of organizing classroom activity that makes students dependent
on each other to succeed. Jigsaw helps students learn cooperation as group
members share responsibility for each other's learning by using critical
thinking and social skills to complete an assignment. Subsequently,
this strategy helps to improve listening, communication, and problem-
solving skills. Another teaching technique used more frequently by science
and ICT teachers is the “De Bono’s thinking hats” which is a good
decision making technique and method for group discussions and
individual thinking.

Teachers, also, encourage students to form groups, research a topic,

and then present it to the class via power point presentation. They also
give students check lists that help them reflect on their classmates’ work.
Such check lists draw attention not only on the content but also on the
body language of the speaker and his overall speaking skills. Moreover,
teachers try to develop their students’ reading skills by giving them the
chance to read aloud what they have written themselves.

Communication skills, critical thinking and team working are

developed across all subjects included in the curriculum, since it is school
policy. Even if a teacher teaches a math class, he allows different students
to share with the group how they solved a particular problem.

Promoting soft skills is a challenge that schools need to take on, in

order to help their students succeed in life. We, therefore, thank our
partners in the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union that give
us the opportunity to share our thoughts and exchange good practices in
order to achieve it.