Позитивные изменения. Образование. Школа будущего (Тематический выпуск, 2022)/Positive changes. Education. The school of the future (Special issue, 2

Alexey Semyonychev commented on the connection between the hidden content of education and soft skills development as follows: "Without even noticing, a child is taught other skills besides knowledge. When the teacher enters the classroom, everyone must stand up. Students talk to their teachers exclusively on formal terms and by their full names, while teachers talk to the kids informally, addressing them by first name only. Students must obey the teacher, no matter what he or she says. Students in class have no right to express their opinions. This results in a child raised into obedience, into "my opinion can wait" attitude. There is no need to learn to negotiate, because the teacher has the last word; you are not allowed to get creative during the class as you may get an «F» for that. Do the tests, nothing else, creativity is not required."

* These personality traits can related to two components of The Big Five

Source: John OP, Srivastava S. The Big Five trait taxonomy: History, measurement and theoretical perspectives.

Chapter 4. In: Pervin LA, John OP, editors. Handbook of Personality: Theory and Research. New York: The Guilford Press; 1999. pp. 102–138.

Quoted from: Heckman J. J., Kautz T. (2012). Hard evidence on soft skills. Labour Econ. Aug 1; 19(4): 451–464

WILL SOFT SKILLS TRAINING BE UNNECESSARY AT THE SCHOOL OF THE FUTURE?

We can say that experts agree that if the school is properly configured with "hidden educational content”, then children will acquire soft skills naturally, as part of school life.

Svetlana Marzeyeva believes that it is not necessary to impose either "hard” or "soft” skills on children: "Any school that wants to meet the current trends must put aside control and evaluation and focus instead on helping students develop and master their personal educational goals; that is, children in today’s school must cease to be objects of educational activity. As soon they become subjects, the question of "hard” and "soft” skills will fade away by itself. It doesn’t matter what to teach, it matters who to teach. And that determines how they will be taught.”

Alexey Semyonychev explains that if the principles developed in alternative education are implemented in practice, this will effectively mean that separate, special training in school for flexible skills will no longer be necessary. "Soft skills, democratic education, free education are parts of a common democratic concept. If the schools change towards alternative, informal education, as we are planning it, "soft skills” training will no longer be necessary. The school system itself, each teacher’s mode of instruction, the system of school organization — all this will work to ensure that the child grows up as a free and independent person, right from the start. In turn, freedom and independence themselves will give birth to all the ’soft skills’ you can think of,” the expert says.

What can change and improve a school? The three slogans of the French Revolution — liberty, equality, fraternity — are as relevant here as never before.

What can change and improve a school? The three slogans of the French Revolution — liberty, equality, fraternity — are as relevant here as never before. "The school of the future should at least be a free school, which respects every student and is free from any form of violence. Violence is inability to negotiate. And the ability to negotiate is a soft skill. The school of the future should not be based on child abuse or classroom abuse”, Alexey Semyonychev summarized. Introducing twelve Russian schools that have integrated soft skills training into their curricula.