Soft skills: What they are and how to foster them

Abstract

Soft skills, also known as behavioral or non-cognitive skills, are interpersonal skills that are increasingly seen as crucial to employability. While technical and cognitive skills are important in the workplace, transferable, non-cognitive skills such as communication, problem solving, punctuality, and flexibility are increasingly important – particularly for the informal economy (R4D, 2013a, 2013b). The significance of soft skills is gaining momentum particularly in the context of the post-2015 education debate, with an increased focus on what these skills encompass, how to measure them, and how to foster them. This chapter provides an overview of these issues, with two case studies presented to illustrate various mechanisms to foster these skills in youth.