The hard and soft skills in children’s school life

Rethinking Education Beyond “Facts”

“Now, what I want is Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts; nothing else will ever be of any service to them.”
Charles Dickens, Hard Times

Preparing Learners with Essential Skills for Life

When learners exit the school system at Grade 12, there are hard and soft skills, also known as cognitive and affective skills, that they are expected to have acquired to prepare them for life beyond basic education. This might be in tertiary education institutions, training and development colleges or in the world of work. So how do these hard and soft skills get developed over an early lifetime?

Defining Hard and Soft Skills

To begin with, let us define what is meant by hard skills and soft skills in the context of the learning and development of children. Hard skills are largely cognitive in nature and cover the academic knowledge of subjects and the accompanying learning skills necessary to learn. Soft skills, on the other hand, refer to personal skills that enable an individual child to interact harmoniously with themselves and other people, including intrapersonal and interpersonal capabilities.

The Need for a Balanced Skill Set

In order to create well-rounded learners, it is critical for the education system to focus on both cognitive and affective skills. Learners need both academic competence and interpersonal capabilities such as communication, emotional intelligence, networking and problem-solving. Ideal citizens possess a blend of both hard and soft skills necessary for success in the 21st century.

Development and Measurement of Skills

When thinking about hard and soft skills, a few key points come to mind. First, hard skills are developed early and form the foundation for soft skills. Second, hard skills are easier to measure objectively, while soft skills require more subjective, context-sensitive assessment. Global efforts, such as those by the Global Education Leaders’ Partnership (GELP), are working to create frameworks for measuring soft skills effectively.

Learning Beyond the Classroom

Hard skills are typically taught in formal settings like classrooms, while soft skills develop through broader social interactions both inside and outside school. Education is a holistic, continuous process that integrates formal and informal learning. Reducing education to purely cognitive development undermines the importance of affective learning.

Strengthening Education Through Integrated Skills Development

The Department of Basic Education currently places greater emphasis on hard skills, but this imbalance can undermine overall learning outcomes. Hard and soft skills reinforce each other and must be developed together. Tshikululu supports this integrated approach by encouraging partners to focus on both skill sets, promoting psychosocial support for students and preparing young people for the workplace. This holistic approach contributes to improved education outcomes and a stronger, more effective economy.