Le Noncognitive Skills, aspects of the personality of a socio-emotional nature at the basis of transversal skills, improve student performance and can be enhanced with appropriate school programs.
This is what emerged from the meeting "Non cognitive skills: the 'dark matter' that drives development", promoted by the Foundation for Subsidiarity with the contribution of Nestlé Italy and Accenture Italy, held yesterday as part of the 2020 edition of VET Week, the European Week of Vocational Training.
The debate, aimed at deepening the role of the school in the growth of transversal skills - increasingly in demand in the world of work - was attended by several leading exponents of the sector and also the Deputy Minister of Education Anna Ascani.
Research and main results
The world of work, also thanks to the new opportunities offered by technology, is changing rapidly. It is estimated that, between now and the next 5 years, about a third of the skills required in the workplace it will be linked to skills that today are still considered marginal. The prospects regarding new professions are also interesting: it is estimated that over half of the jobs that will be carried out in twenty years have yet to be invented and that 50% of existing ones will be automated.
The professions of the future will especially require transversal skills, called Non Cognitive Skills (someone also calls them soft skills or character skills), such as the ability to resolve problems or conflicts, to collaborate and work in a team, to communicate effectively, to resist environmental factors such as stress and, perhaps, a bad working environment.
These skills, which appear in the earliest years of life, condition learning and work skills and can change significantly over the course of an individual's life. For this reason, it is important to study and analyze how much the Noncognitive Skills can be educated and strengthened in the scholastic, social and work fields.
