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SOFT SKILL, FATTORI DI STUDIO, BENESSERE E SUCCESSO SCOLASTICO DI STUDENTI TRA I 10 E I 18 ANNI
Get PDFMolte organizzazioni nazionali e internazionali – come l’Unione Europea o il Ministero dell’Istruzione dell’Università e della Ricerca – partendo dagli evidenti benefici che le soft skill hanno durante la vita adulta, stanno cercando di promuovere il loro sviluppo a partire dalle scuole. Lo studio delle soft skill, o abilità trasversali, durante l’età scolare non risulta però sistematizzato ed è ancora da chiarire il loro ruolo nel promuovere il successo scolastico e il benessere degli studenti. Per approfondire tale questione, in questo lavoro di tesi sono stati condotti quattro studi con riferimento alle sei soft skill incluse tra le “qualità caratteriali” del modello proposto dal World Economic Forum (2016). I quattro studi si pongono l’obiettivo di: i) comprendere il ruolo che le soft skill hanno nel promuovere il successo scolastico quando vengono considerati altri fattori di studio come le abilità cognitive, la motivazione scolastica, le strategie di apprendimento autoregolato e le emozioni scolastiche. ii) analizzare la relazione tra soft skill e soddisfazione di vita e crescita post-traumatica (a seguito della pandemia da Covid-19). In particolare, lo Studio 1 esamina la relazione tra soft skill, strategie di apprendimento autoregolato, motivazione scolastica, abilità cognitive e successo scolastico, con le soft skill che verranno concettualizzate come dirette promotrici delle strategie di apprendimento autoregolato e della motivazione scolastica degli studenti, che a loro volta promuoverebbero il raggiungimento di un maggiore successo scolastico. Lo studio 2, oltre a replicare i risultati ottenuti nel primo studio, approfondisce la relazione tra soft skill e soddisfazione di vita ed emozioni scolastiche degli studenti. A causa dei risultati poco consistenti ottenuti per quanto riguarda l’adattabilità (una delle soft skill considerate) nei primi due studi, lo Studio 3 si focalizza specificatamente sull’adattabilità e la sua associazione con la motivazione scolastica, le strategie di apprendimento autoregolato, le emozioni scolastiche, la soddisfazione di vita e il successo scolastico degli studenti. Lo Studio 4, situato nel contesto pandemico da Covid-19, studia in modo longitudinale il ruolo che l’adattabilità ha giocato nel promuovere un adattamento positivo degli studenti alle restrizioni scolastiche e una maggiore crescita degli stessi in termini di crescita post-traumatica.
I risultati dei quattro studi mostrano, in generale, che le soft skill, intese sia come fattore di secondo ordine comprendente adattabilità, curiosità, iniziativa, leadership, perseveranza e consapevolezza sociale, sia al livello dei singoli costrutti, non hanno un ruolo diretto nel promuovere il successo scolastico degli studenti, ma piuttosto un ruolo indiretto mediato da altri fattori di studio. Diversamente, le soft skill sembrano avere un ruolo diretto nel promuovere il benessere degli studenti, come evidenziato dalle associazioni positive con la loro soddisfazione di vita e la loro crescita post-traumatica. Nella tesi, i singoli costrutti teorici vengono presentati e integrati all’interno della letteratura di riferimento, vengono poi presentati metodi, analisi, risultati e discussioni di ogni studio. Vengono inoltre presentate le applicazioni del progetto, una discussione e una conclusione generale e le possibili implicazioni educative.Soft skills are important personal characteristics that are related to a host of positive outcomes in adulthood and many institutions and international organization –such as the European Union or the Italian Ministry of Education, University, and Research– are trying to integrate them into scholastic curricula to start promoting their development since school age. However, research about the effects of soft skill in adolescents is not well structured and not much is known about their importance for school-aged students’ academic achievement and wellbeing. To fill this gap, I conducted four different studies referring to the six soft skills of the character qualities branch proposed by the World Economic Forum (2016). The four studies aimed at: i) Understanding the role of soft skills in promoting academic achievement when also considering other study-related factors such as cognitive abilities, academic motivation, self-regulated learning strategies, and achievement emotions. ii) Analysing the relation between soft skills and positive psychological outcomes such as students’ life satisfaction and posttraumatic growth (following the Covid-19 pandemic). In particular, Study 1 examines the relation of soft skills, SRL strategies, academic motivation, and cognitive abilities with academic achievement. Soft skills will be treated as a direct predictor of SRL strategies and academic motivation that should, in turn, favor students’ academic achievement. Study 2 replicates the results obtained in the first study and examines the association between soft skills and more qualitative aspects of students’ lives, such as their achievement emotions and life satisfaction. Based on the unreliable results obtained in the first two studies for what concerns adaptability (one of the soft skills considered), Study 3 specifically focuses on adaptability and its relations with achievement emotions, SRL strategies, motivational factors, life satisfaction, and academic achievement. Situated in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, Study 4 longitudinally focuses on the role that adaptability played for school-aged students in promoting students’ positive adaptation to the scholastic Covid-19 restrictions, and post-traumatic growth. Results of the four studies generally show that soft skills, intended as a second-order factor comprehending six soft skills (adaptability, curiosity, initiative, leadership, perseverance, and social awareness) or as single soft skills’ constructs, do not play any direct role in promoting academic achievement, but their effect is fully mediated by other study-related factors. On the contrary, soft skills do directly relate to students’ life satisfaction and posttraumatic growth resulting important correlates of both wellbeing and academic achievement (indirectly). I present the theoretical background, methodology, statistical analyses, results, and discussion of each study. Application of the project, general discussion, and conclusions, as well as educational implications, are provided
Orienteering practice: how does it relate to visuospatial individual factors?
No full textBackground and Aim: Orienteering is a sport that involves navigating in the environment. As the ability to navigate is associated with individual visuospatial factors (e.g. Hegarty et al. 2006; Pazzaglia et al. 2018), it is worth examining how orienteering practice relates to people’s visuospatial abilities, wayfinding attitudes, everyday spatial habits, and environment knowledge acquisition (e.g. from a map). Methods: Our study sample consisted of three groups: 17 orienteering experts (E), and 17 beginners (B), selected by their years of practice and number of competitions entered, and 17 controls (C) engaging in physical activities for leisure. Participants completed visuospatial cognitive tasks, answered questionnaires on their wayfinding attitudes and everyday spatial habits, and were assessed on their recall of information learned from a map. Results: A Bayesian analysis showed that group E (compared with group C): (1) scored higher in spatial visualization and rotation tasks; (2) tended more to report a good sense of direction, and a knowledge and use of cardinal points; (3) preferred to use maps in everyday displacements; and (4) recalled information learned from a map more accurately. For some measures, group E fared better than group B, and group B fared better than group C. Conclusion: Our results point to the benefits of orienteering practice on visuospatial abilities, wayfinding attitudes (especially as concerns extrinsic frames of reference), spatial habits, and learning from a map. These results contribute to clarifying the association between navigation experience gained by orienteering and individual visuospatial factors
The Relation Between Soft Skills and Arithmetic Performance
No full textArithmetic achievement holds particular significance in contemporary times; however, students continue to encounter difficulties in this domain. Researchers and organizations are actively seeking factors that can support students in navigating mathematical content. To address this gap, we propose an examination of the role played by six soft skills (adaptability, curiosity, initiative, leadership, perseverance, and social awareness), alongside self-regulated learning strategies, academic motivation, achievement emotions, and fluid reasoning abilities, in students' performance on standardized arithmetic tasks. Data were gathered from 551 Italian students aged 11-18 through classroom-based paper-and-pencil tasks and questionnaires. Path analysis results reveal that only fluid reasoning abilities, academic motivation, and negative achievement emotions significantly correlate with arithmetic performance. Soft skills demonstrate an indirect relationship with arithmetic performance, mediated by negative achievement emotions and academic motivation (while not mediated by positive achievement emotions and self-regulated learning strategies). These findings underscore the increasingly recognized significance of soft skills and expand their relevance to arithmetic achievement, potentially suggesting novel psychoeducational interventions to bolster students' performance in this realm
Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Skills: Age and Gender Differences at 12 to 19 Years Old
Get PDFIndividuals use social, emotional, and behavioral (SEB) skills to build and maintain social relationships, regulate emotions, and manage goal-directed behaviors. A promising integrative framework of SEB skills was recently proposed, showing that they matter for positive outcomes during adolescence. Nothing is known about how and whether they differ between 12 and 19 years old and whether such differences depend on gender (males or females). Uncovering their age trajectories is fundamental because SEB skills are highly needed during this period of life. Educators, psychologists, and policymakers need to understand when, why, and how interventions concerning SEB skills should be proposed, potentially considering male and female profiles. To cover this gap, we cross-sectionally analyzed data from 4106 participants (2215 females, 12–19 years old). We highlighted age and gender differences in the five domains of SEB skills (self-management, innovation, cooperation, social engagement, and emotional resilience). Our results show that each SEB skill follows a specific age trend: emotional resilience and cooperation skills increase naturally between 12 and 19 years old, while innovation, social engagement, and self-management skills decline, especially between 12 and 16 years old, and grow later. The trajectories of self-management, social engagement, and emotional resilience skills also differ between males and females. Importantly, we detected declines in SEB skills (especially for social engagement and innovation skills) that can inform policies and interventions to sustain SEB skills in youths to favor their well-being and success in this crucial period
Which character strengths may build organizational well-being? Insights from an international sample of workers
Get PDFThe nature and composition of well-being has been the subject of ongoing debate in the field of positive psychology. Recent discussions identify Seligman’s PERMA dimensions as concrete pathways to achieve subjective well-being, rather than a distinct type of well-being. Four additional “building blocks” have been categorized to define positive functioning at work (PERMA+4). The present study adds another level of inquiry, by newly examining the relationships of character strengths and a general factor or character with PERMA+4 and life satisfaction in a large international sample of 5,487 employees. We found that 21 of the 24 character strengths were significantly (yet only slightly) more strongly correlated with PERMA+4 than with life satisfaction, and that PERMA+4 was consistently related to life satisfaction. The happiness strengths (hope, gratitude, zest, curiosity and love) and the general factor of character were also directly and indirectly related to life satisfaction. Taken together, these results suggest that the PERMA+4 dimensions may help bridge the gap between strengths and well-being, explaining how individuals with good character are also those who report higher life satisfaction. Future longitudinal studies should build on the present findings and examine whether character strengths can act as the “building blocks of the building blocks” of life satisfaction
"Destinazione Università": un percorso innovativo online di orientamento per lo sviluppo di competenze trasversali
Get PDFIl contributo approfondisce una proposta formativa dell’Università degli Studi di Padova legata all’orientamento attivo nella transizione scuola-università, sulla base di quanto previsto dal Decreto Ministeriale MUR 934/2022. In particolare, è stato progettato un percorso online, dedicato agli studenti1 dell’ultimo triennio di scuola secondaria di secondo grado del territorio, che mira allo sviluppo di alcune competenze trasversali utili in vista della transizione post-diploma. Il modulo di tre ore è fruibile in modo asincrono sulla piattaforma Moodle di Ateneo, e si compone di quattro attività principali, relative a: introduzione sulle soft skills, abilità e motivazione allo studio, abilità sociali e interpersonali, orientamento alla scelta. Le attività rappresentano una proposta inedita e innovativa per l’Ateneo, e si svolgono tramite brevi video creati ad hoc, questionari e attività di riflessione guidata iniziali e finali, sia di tipo quantitativo che qualitativo. La prima edizione si è svolta da aprile ad agosto 2023, ed è attualmente in corso la seconda edizione 2023/24. La presentazione della proposta, qui dettagliata nei suoi obiettivi e caratteristiche operative, può configurarsi come esempio di pratica e accrescere il dibattito scientifico rispetto all’importante tema dell’orientamento attivo nella transizione scuola-università, fungendo anche da confronto e riflessione per altri contesti che stanno affrontando questa importante sfida
The role of social, emotional, and behavioral skills for nature connectedness, action competence, and proenvironmental behaviors in adolescence
Get PDFFollowing indications from international organizations, this study tests the associations between the five domains of social, emotional, and behavioral (SEB) skills (self-management, innovation, social engagement, cooperation, and emotional resilience) and two key antecedents of proenvironmental behavior, namely nature connectedness and self-perceived action competence for sustainability, in a sample of 702 students aged between 12 and 20 years (M = 16.18, SD = 2.15; 319 males). Results showed that innovation skills and—to a lesser extent—self-management and cooperation skills are positively associated with both nature connectedness and action competence. An additional exploratory path analysis suggested that the association between SEB (innovation, self-management, and cooperation) skills and proenvironmental behavior could bemediated by action competence and nature connectedness. The study offers new insights into the antecedents of proenvironmental attitudes and behaviors in youth
Ready for What's Next? The Associations Between Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Skills and Career Adaptability in High School Students
Get PDFIntroduction: Transitioning from school to higher education or work is a pivotal moment in a student's life, requiring life-changing decisions. During this period, students who have acquired a wide range of Social, Emotional, and Behavioral (SEB) skills may feel more confident regarding their capacity to adapt positively to future challenges and difficulties. Our study aimed to test whether five SEB skills domains (self-management, innovation, social engagement, cooperation, and emotional resilience skills) were associated with four career adaptability resources (i.e., concern, control, curiosity, and confidence). Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 350 Italian students (143 boys; Mage = 16.65) at the end of their last or penultimate year of high school (May–June 2024). We ran a multivariate regression analysis to examine specific associations between SEB skills domains and career adaptability resources. Furthermore, we tested a structural equation model including a latent factor of career-adaptability as the dependent variable, and SEB skills domains as predictors. Results: Our results showed that students who described themselves as more competent in self-management, innovation, and social engagement skills reported higher levels of career adaptability (considering both the latent factor and the specific resources). Conclusions: Our findings highlight the importance of feeling competent in different domains, not just academics, as the perception of having tools and skills could make students more confident in their ability to face future challenges and adapt to their future careers
Soft skills in high schools: integrating self-regulated learning and social, emotional, and behavioral skills frameworks
No full textSocial, emotional, and behavioral (SEB) skills– also known under labels like soft skills, 21st century skills, or social-emotional skills– are considered key factors for students’ success, well-being, and social relationships, among others. However, literature on the topic relied on different frameworks and questionable measurement methods. Additionally, they usually did not integrate skills into classical self-regulated learning (SRL) frameworks. To overcome these limitations, we adopted the new integrative SEB framework and measured SEB skills, along with five SRL factors (academic self-efficacy, SRL strategies, mastery learning goals, growth mindset, and achievement emotions) and three outcomes (i.e., self-reported academic achievement, peer acceptance, and life satisfaction). Participants were 5,075 Italian high school students (M = 18.23 years old; SD = 0.95). Our results show that SEB skills are associated with almost all SRL factors and outcomes, but when considering their specific role (net of other skills and SRL factors), no direct associations with self-reported academic achievement emerge, supporting the hypothesis that SEB skills’ effects on academic outcomes might be mainly explained by SRL factors, while specific skills (i.e., social engagement, collaboration, and emotional resilience skills) directly influence non-scholastic outcomes. Our results support the importance of adopting integrative skills frameworks along with SRL frameworks to deeply understand the processes linking skills to outcomes in the student population
Does Inequality Shape Human Character? Cross-Cultural Associations between Character Strengths and the Gini Index in 68 Countries
Get PDFEnvironmental factors are crucial in shaping individual characteristics. One key contextual factor is economic inequality, which is increasing in most OECD countries and negatively impacting individuals and societies, including personality traits. To date, no studies examined the relationship between economic inequality and positive personality traits such as character strengths. In a large cross-cultural study (N = 980,807, 68 countries) we investigated the relationship between country-level economic inequality and the level of the 24 character strengths. Across countries, we found consistent, robust evidence that economic inequality is positively linked to 22 character strengths, even after controlling for the Human Development Index, population density, urbanization, and climate of each country. On average, inequality explained 34% of the between-country variance in character strengths. Different alternative explanations for such unexpected effects, including increased competitiveness or resilience in the face of adversity, are discussed. Our research provides novel insights into the importance of environmental factors in shaping human character
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