GiLE Journal of Skills Development
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The Analysis of a Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC): The Status of Female Leadership in Higher Education in Kazakhstan
Full text linkThis is a pilot study written prior to undertaking a doctoral dissertation on the state of female leadership in Kazakhstan. The paper analyses variables from the Survey of Adult Skills of the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). The data for PIAAC was collected in 2017 in Kazakhstan. The author of this study used publicly available databases. This study aims to understand who occupies leadership positions in Kazakhstan and what variables influence the people who become leaders. Statistical tests were conducted to estimate how gender, skills, level of education, and family background influence leadership. Research results indicate that instead of gender, literacy, numeracy, and ICT skills are important for leadership. The country’s statistics show that in comparison to other occupations, the number of female leaders is relatively high in the education sector. Therefore, the results of this pilot study are being expanded into more detailed and substantial doctoral research, analysing factors that influence female leadership in the higher education of Kazakhstan. This empirical research adds findings to existing data of the Central Asian context, particularly in gender studies and leadership fields
Proposal for an assessment model of the congruence between people and work skills
Full text linkRapid changes in the skill set needed in a profession make it easier to differentiate jobs and employment opportunities by the skills required. From this point of view, people\u27s point of contact with organisations is their skills, not professions. Therefore, what matters is people\u27s skills, competencies needed to get the job done, and people\u27s potential in terms of skills development. In this sense, the present proposal aims to establish a framework to identify congruences between the skills mastered by people and the necessary skills in the work context and how to bridge the gap between them. For this purpose, a set of propositions are made: i) competences are the people’s point of contact with the organisation; ii) skills do not shape people, people shape their skills, iii) professions can be defined through associated skills, iv) people more easily acquire skills that are closer to those they already possess. Based on these premises, a skills model is postulated, which can be named Person-delivery Environment-work Context (PEC). This model is interested in the fluidity of a person\u27s skills and the autonomy over the development of these skills. To put it into practice, this model needs the following five steps: i) identify the most common skills in the labour market, ii) classify the skills identified to make exploration possible, iii) identify the representation and frequency of a given skill in each profession and the labour market, iv) create a methodology for identifying and measuring personal skills, v) create a way to calculate proximity between the person\u27s competences (P) and the work context (C). In the proposed model, there are two observable data: the existence of competence in the universe of the work context and the presence of competence in a person. It is expected that this model will make possible the identification of congruences between people and organisations and the skill development possibilities for a person. Some limitations can be listed, but the main one is that people and work are reduced to skills in this model. However, its applications can only be thought of as part of a broader career development process that considers people and their potential and the means of developing them, obtaining satisfaction, and having decent living and working conditions
Mentorship in Higher Education: The Keys to Unlocking Meaningful Mentoring Relationships
Full text linkAlthough mentorship in business settings is typical, its emergence as a tool in education started only recently. Consequently, this new opportunity has initiated a discussion about mentorship and its principal elements in an academic context. Aspects like the mentor profile, the relationship built between mentors and mentees, and the scope of mentorship have been constantly explored and debated by researchers in this field. All contributions are invaluable; however, the information on what the authors consider the fundamental elements of mentorship is scattered throughout many sources. This is precisely what we are attempting to do in this article; by presenting insights from a literary review and investigating the principal aspects of a successful mentorship program in Higher Education, we are answering the most fundamental mentorship-related questions – what mentorship involves; what the qualities of the ideal mentor are; what the student-mentor interaction entails; what the role of the mentor is; and what activities this interaction should include – in a single, well-organized source
Adaptability and problem solving as survival skills: How did student teachers learn to survive?
Full text linkThis study investigates student teachers\u27 adaptability and problem-solving abilities during their practice teaching in a school-university partnership. The study explores how student teachers tried to adapt to the new school environments and how they overcame the obstacles they encountered. This study applied a mixed-methods design. In the quantitative part, 50 student teachers participated, and four student teachers volunteered for interviews. The results showed that student teachers used their adaptability and problem-solving skills to win stressful situations, including difficulties in teaching and learning and communication with school teachers. In addition to that, student teachers also increased their self-confidence and learned to build professional identity
Digital Marketing Soft Skills and University Students’ Perceptions of Employability
Full text linkOver the past several decades, the digital transformation of businesses has revolutionized the role of the digital marketing environment within organizations. Consumer behaviour has also fundamentally changed, affecting important requirements for marketing professionals, and therefore, new hard and soft skills are needed to become successful. In digital marketing, basic soft skills are increasingly becoming more valued by employers and are relevant factors affecting employability. Business graduate students need to develop appropriate skills to succeed in their career and to have a right balance of skills. The aim of the study is to explore the gap between the most relevant digital marketing employability skillset and the perceptions of graduate university students based on the analytics of previous managerial quantitative research and the findings of the current research. A quantitative study was conducted to explore the perceived importance of soft skills related to employability and the difference between students work experience. The demand of soft skills courses focusing on Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) demand was examined focusing on the most relevant soft skills in digital marketing. Key findings of the research explored categories of the perceived importance of soft skills and differences between working students and their perceived skills and the usage of MOOCs. Implications of the results for further academic research is to explore gaps between students’ perceptions of soft skills according to employability research on managerial requirements
Can a Skill be Measured or Assessed? 6-Level Skills Development Approach to Skill Assessment
Full text linkThis paper reviews historic and current definitions of skill as a concept, as well as frameworks that have been applied to analyse levels of skills development across the academic and professional spectrum. The author proposes a 6-level chart of skill development based on the “can-do descriptors” approach by CEFR, also known as the ability assessment approach, for further discussion, development, and application. The proposed chart is based on six levels. These are organized into two Entry levels, two Operational Use levels and two Strategic Vision levels. Further debate on the typology of skills by Deloitte, LinkedIn Research and World Economic Forum is presented as of 2020 documentation. Its dynamic manner of paradigms changing the importance of a wide array of skills (alternatively denominated as employability skills, soft skills and/or 21st Century skills) are analysed, both for educators and employers
Cultural Intelligence (CQ) and Cultural Exposure Through Mobility Programs: An Exploratory Study
Full text linkAs a result of globalisation, a significant proportion of companies operate across borders and in many cases, work communities are also organised from workers with diverse cultural backgrounds. Due to the intensive flow of services, goods and labour, and cultural differences, conflicts can arise, and these tensions can negatively affect people and organisations\u27 well-being and performance. Nowadays, cultural knowledge and intercultural competencies are more appreciated and highly requested by most employers.The younger generations (Generation Z and Millennials) were born into cultural diversity and have broad mobility possibilities to deepen their intercultural competencies, but the older generations in Hungary had more limited mobility opportunities. Cultural intelligence (CQ), which is the ability to adapt to different intercultural interactions effectively, can be developed effortlessly by spending extended periods abroad. High CQ results in better interpersonal relationships and work performance in culturally diverse environments. Cultural intelligence is a widely researched field within the managerial studies, but most studies focus on international students, young business students and sojourners. Thus, our primary goal was to explore not just the adolescents and young professionals, but the middle-aged and seniors as well.This quantitative study aimed to explore Hungarian generations\u27 cultural intelligence and find possible connections between cultural intelligence and overseas exposure/mobility program participation. To answer our research questions, we analysed the total and dimensional CQ scores of 329 Hungarian respondents and compared the results based on participation in different mobility programs, length and frequency of cultural exposure
Generic Skills, Academic Achievement, and Means of Improving the Former
Full text linkIn Canada, in general – and in the Province of Ontario in particular – academics, employers, and government agencies are concerned with the low generic skill levels of university students and graduates. The assumption is that such deficiencies detract from academic and job success. Despite this concern, in Canada, research has not focused on potential links between objectively measured generic skills and grades recorded in administrative records. In view of this lacuna, the current research has two objectives. First, to assess the net effect of objectively measured generic skills on academic achievement as recorded in administrative records. Second, to determine the efficacy of an online course dedicated to the development of generic skills. Overall, I found that generic skills were better predictors of students’ achievement than high school grades used in admission processes; the relationship between high school grades and generic skill levels was weak; students’ generic skill levels did not improve over time; and an online course devoted to increasing students’ generic skills was effective in boosting skills to an acceptable level. Accordingly, if they are concerned with academic achievement, universities in Ontario and in other jurisdictions in which students are admitted to university primarily based on their secondary school grades might make the development of generic skills a priority; however, unless such skills are demanded across the curriculum, they will atrophy