While hard skills demonstrate the experience and understanding of a...

Developing soft skills through apprenticeships - DESSA

DESSA project aims to develop an apprenticeship scheme for the acquisition of soft skills by...

Join Group

Discussions 0
Photos 0
Videos 0
Events 0
Polls 0
Members 9
More
- Discussions 0
- Photos 0
- Videos 0
- Events 0
- Polls 0
- Members 9
Like 0

While hard skills demonstrate the experience and understanding of a specific ability, soft skills show off the ability to co-work with others and grow within an organization. Building relationships, solving problems, possessing interpersonal, intellectual and practical competences are all included in the list of soft skills. Nowadays, many employers recognize the importance of soft skills in the working environment, thus it’s crucial for job seekers to put soft skills at the front of job applications. Work-based learning and apprenticeship are the main two methods to motivate students and enable the students to develop the soft skills needed for their future professional life. These two methods provide the switch from transmission models of teaching –learning about- to experiential learning -learning for- and offer the chance to include integrate hands-on experiences with theory.

The aim of DESSA project is to create an apprenticeship model for the acquisition of soft skills by students in upper secondary and higher vocational education and training. DESSA project has a wide range of specific objectives that has to be achieved. The first objective is to organize focus groups aiming to identify and focus on particular soft skills that address in an effective manner the needs of the project’s stakeholders. It also intends to map best practices and methodologies applied for the development of soft skills in VET apprenticeship education in partner countries. In addition, the project aims to develop an apprenticeship scheme for the acquisition of soft skills and competences by upper secondary and higher VET students. Gamification elements will be applied in the apprenticeship scheme as part of the objectives. Another objective concerns the development of trainers’ guide addressed to trainers in VET schools and companies that will apply the apprenticeship model and will create, support and evaluate the apprenticeship programme. Furthermore, organizing seminar for trainers in VET schools and companies that are interested to apply the apprenticeship scheme. Conclusively, the project intends to create an online tool for self-assessing soft skills, for students to set their personal learning agenda by determining their strengths and areas of enhancement.

In effect, the partners of the project have created a platform where they have developed a self-assessment tool for soft skills. The self-assessment tool enables the participants to detect the soft skills they already possess and the ones they are lacking. In addition, partners have developed an orientation guide which is uploaded on the platform. This guide presents some activities that people can use in their daily life or in their place of work which help them increase and enhance their soft skills. Furthermore, the partnership of DESSA has also developed a training guide for students with the aim of increasing their soft skills. The training guide offers a wide range of activities that the students can choose to apply during their training period.

To find out more about the project as well as its progress, visit our website at http://dessaproject.eu/

DESSA DESSA project aims to develop an apprenticeship scheme for the acquisition of soft skills by students in upper secondary and higher vocational education and training… dessaproject.eu/

Developing soft skills through apprenticeships - DESSA

Language Switcher

Latest Articles