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Employability in the 21st Century: Complex (Interactive) Problem Solving and Other Essential Skills

DOI:10.1017/iop.2015.33
Authors:
Filip De Fruyt at Ghent University
Filip De Fruyt
Bart Wille at Ghent University
Bart Wille
Oliver John at University of California, Berkeley
Oliver John
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Abstract

Neubert, Mainert, Kretzschmar, and Greiff (2015) plea to integrate the 21st century skills of complex problem solving (CPS) and collaborative problem solving (ColPS) in the assessment and development suite of industrial and organizational (I-O) psychologists, given the expected increase in nonroutine and interactive tasks in the new workplace. At the same time, they promote new ways of assessing these skills using computer-based microworlds, enabling the systematic variation of problem features in assessment. Neubert and colleagues’ (2015) suggestions are a valuable step in connecting differential psychologists’ models of human differences and functioning with human resources professionals’ interest in understanding and predicting behavior at work. We concur that CPS and ColPS are important transversal skills, useful for I-O psychologists, but these are only two babies of a single family, and the domain of 21st century skills includes other families of a different kind that are also with utility for I-O psychologists. The current contribution is meant to broaden this interesting discussion in two important ways. We clarify that CPS and ColPS need to be considered in the context of a wider set of 21st century skills with an origin in the education domain, and we highlight a number of crucial steps that still need to be taken before “getting started” (Neubert et al., 2015, p. last page of the discussion) with this taxonomic framework. But first, we feel the need to slightly reframe the relevance of considering 21st century skills in I-O psychology by shifting the attention from narrow task-related skills to the broader domain of career management competencies.
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Employability in the 21st Century: Complex (Interactive)
Problem Solving and Other Essential Skills
Filip De Fruyt, Bart Wille and Oliver P. John
Industrial and Organizational Psychology / Volume 8 / Issue 02 / June 2015, pp 276 - 281
DOI: 10.1017/iop.2015.33, Published online: 28 July 2015
Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S1754942615000334
How to cite this article:
Filip De Fruyt, Bart Wille and Oliver P. John (2015). Employability in the 21st Century: Complex
(Interactive) Problem Solving and Other Essential Skills. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 8,
pp 276-281 doi:10.1017/iop.2015.33
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Employability in the 21st Century: Complex
(Interactive) Problem Solving and Other Essential
Skills
Filip De Fruyt and Bart Wille
Ghent University
Oliver P. John
University of California, Berkeley
Neubert, Mainert, Kretzschmar, and Grei (2015) plea to integrate the 21st
century skills of complex problem solving (CPS) and collaborative problem
solving (ColPS) in the assessment and development suite of industrial and
organizational (I-O) psychologists, given the expected increase in nonrou-
tine and interactive tasks in the new workplace. At the same time, they pro-
motenewwaysofassessingtheseskillsusingcomputer-basedmicroworlds,
enabling the systematic variation of problem features in assessment. Neubert
and colleagues’ (2015) suggestions are a valuable step in connecting dieren-
Filip De Fruyt and Bart Wille, Department of Developmental, Personality and Social Psy-
chology, Ghent University; Oliver P. John, Department of Psychology and Institute of Social
and Personality Research, University of California, Berkeley.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Filip De Fruyt, Depart-
ment of Developmental, Personality and Social Psychology, Ghent University, H. Dunantlaan
2, B-9000 Gent, Belgium. E-mail: lip.defruyt@ugent.be
  21   277
tial psychologists’ models of human dierences and functioning with human
resources professionals’ interest in understanding and predicting behavior at
work. We concur that CPS and ColPS are important transversal skills, use-
ful for I-O psychologists, but these are only two babies of a single family,
and the domain of 21st century skills includes other families of a dierent
kind that are also with utility for I-O psychologists. The current contribu-
tion is meant to broaden this interesting discussion in two important ways.
We clarify that CPS and ColPS need to be considered in the context of a
wider set of 21st century skills with an origin in the education domain, and
we highlight a number of crucial steps that still need to be taken before “get-
ting started” (Neubert et al., 2015,p.lastpageofthediscussion)withthis
taxonomic framework. But rst, we feel the need to slightly reframe the rel-
evance of considering 21st century skills in I-O psychology by shifting the
attention from narrow task-related skills to the broader domain of career
management competencies.
Nonroutine and Interactive Tasks Versus Employability
Neubertetal.(2015) started from the assumption that future jobs will
increasingly involve interactive and nonroutine tasks. Although educational
frameworks of 21st century skills usually claim to aect a broad range
of criteria, including quality of life, healthy behavior, civic engagement,
and environmental sustainability, demonstrating labor market tness and
employability are among the key anticipated outcomes. The movement of
21st century skills is further particularly concerned about the skills of those
growing up in dicult circumstances, who have lower education levels or
disabilities or who are at risk of structural unemployment. In addition to
advocating two skills related to task characteristics of more complex jobs,
an alternative could be to introduce 21st century skills into I-O psychology,
starting from an analysis of what employability means anno 2015, and to
identifythoseskillsthatpeoplewillneedtoaccessandnavigateexiblyon
the labor market.
Broadly speaking, employability can be dened as an individual’s labor
market tness and ability to be in charge of his/her own career. Considered
at an operational level, employability can be minimally understood in terms
of ve characteristics. Hogan, Chamorro-Premuzic, and Kaiser (2013)de-
ne employability as a person’s propensity to (a) show task engagement and
goal setting, (b) interact with other people (“getting along” or “being reward-
ing to deal with”), and (c) adapt to/t in an organizational structure or have
the capacity to deploy such structure (for those pursuing self-employment).
We propose two additional criteria—that is, (d) demonstrating the ability
and exibility to learn on the job and prepare for future challenges and (e)
beingabletomanageandswitchbetweenshort-andlong-termperspec-
tives. These two extensions of Hogan et al.’s (2013)frameworkareimportant,
278   .
giventheexpectationthatpeoplewillhavetoworklongerinamorevolatile
and quickly changing labor market. Moreover, employees will be required to
focus on their current job but, at the same time, will also have to reect on
and invest in future employability. Put dierently, employees minimally need
to (a) be willing to work and do the job (task engagement and goal setting),
(b)beabletoworkwith/amongothers,(c)tinandendorsethevaluesof
an organization, (d) show an eagerness to learn and demonstrate exibility
and adaptability, and (e) be able to envisage and invest in current and future
career paths (within or outside the organization).
These ve characteristics dene minimal requirements set by the current
21st century labor market across jobs varying in social prestige and job com-
plexity. These employability indices tap into all basic personality dimensions
dened by the ve-factor model of personality (John & Srivastava, 1999),
with task engagement and goal setting related to Conscientiousness, inter-
personal skills related to emotion regulation (Emotional Stability) and the
core dimensions of the interpersonal circumplex (Extraversion and Agree-
ableness), and “tting in,” “learning and adapting,” and “time perspective”
related to Openness to Experience and Conscientiousness. For jobs with
higher complexity on the labor market, CPS and ColPS are denitely useful
extensions, because they tap into more hybrid constructs at the intersection
of social-emotional and cognitive skills.
Models in the Real World Versus Models From Academic Psychology
Although less elaborately discussed by Neubert et al. (2015), it is impor-
tant to clarify that the concept of 21st century skills actually refers to a
broader set of characteristics, of which CPS and ColPS are only two—be they
important—examples. For example, AssessmentandTeachingof21stCen-
tury Skills (Grin, Care, & McGaw, 2012) summarized 21st century skills
under the acronym KSAVE (knowledge, skills, attitudes, values, and ethics)
and grouped them into four broad categories: “ways of thinking,” “tools of
working,” “ways of working,” and “ways of living” in the world (Grin et
al., 2012). Trilling and Fadel (2009) listed over one hundred 21st century
skills, grouped into the categories “learning and innovation skills,” “digital
literacy,” and “life and career skills.” Reviewing the content of these cate-
gories and lists shows an amalgam of constructs, with a rst group referring
to cognitive skills, a second cluster that is best described as social-emotional
skills, and nally, a group of more hybrid constructs building on cognitive
resources but also tapping into social-emotional skill content. CPS is a skill
that is conceptually chiey situated in the cognitive domain, whereas ColPS
is probably best conceived as a hybrid construct related to, though distinct
from, cognitive and social-emotional skills.
In line with Neubert and colleagues (2015), we agree that both skills
have key importance for I-O psychologists but advocate at the same time
  21   279
that the cluster of social-emotional skills should also be brought to the at-
tention of I-O psychologists. Social-emotional skills represent a large cluster
in the 21st century skill domain, and they are crucial in evaluating individ-
uals’ suitability to work in a range of jobs with varying degrees of complex-
ity. Social-emotional skills can be best dened as individual characteristics
that (a) originate in the reciprocal interaction between biological predispo-
sitions and environmental factors; (b) are manifested in consistent patterns
of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors; (c) continue to develop through formal
and informal learning experiences; and (d) inuence important socioeco-
nomic outcomes throughout the individual’s life.
Although each of the specic constructs in the above mentioned clusters
(Grin et al., 2012;Trilling&Fadel,2009)hasitsownmeritsandimpor-
tance, to move this eld further, it is necessary to empirically structure this
variability to better deal with overlap and represent the observed common-
ality into a taxonomy. Such taxonomy should then form the starting point to
constructacomprehensivethoughmanageableassessmenttoolthatcanbe
used in 21st century skill research, monitoring, and follow up.
Recently, Primi, Santos, John, and De Fruyt (2015) examined the un-
derlying structure of eight instruments that are frequently used to assess
social-emotional skills in childhood and adolescence in Brazil. They found
a structure that showed strong parallels, but was not isomorphic, with the
dimensions of the ve-factor model of personality—that is, Extraversion,
Agreeableness, Emotional Stability (Neuroticism), Openness to Experience,
and Conscientiousness, supplemented with a sixth dimension referring to
Negative Valence. These dimensions are well familiar to both cross-cultural
and I-O psychologists (De Fruyt & Wille, 2013; Schmitt, 2014). Although
Neubert and colleagues (2015)arguedthatconstructsrepresentingoverar-
ching transversal characteristics, such as intelligence and personality, would
be of little value in concrete situations, the ndings by Primi et al. (2015)
showed the opposite for social-emotional skills, although these are dierent
constructs than CPS and ColPS. Moreover, this empirical study showed that
the ve-factor model taxonomy was the most comprehensive of the eight
measures that were examined, suggesting that this framework provided a
good starting point to develop a new assessment tool for a large group of
21st century skills.
Developmental Paths, Malleability, and Predictive Validity
The eld of 21st century skills is relatively young, and so far, eorts mainly
concentrated on listing and conceptually grouping skills and especially cre-
ating awareness for their importance. Groups taking the lead in this policy
and research endeavor also started working on developing new methodolo-
gies to assess these skills (e.g., CPS and ColPS). Whether this broad range
280   .
of skills can be reliably and validly assessed will be a key factor for their
implementation and integration success into I-O psychology. In an attempt
to work with more application-oriented constructs, human resources and
I-O psychology professionals are already working with the concept of com-
petencies (Hoekstra & Van Sluijs, 2003), considered more helpful in con-
crete situations or to understand behavior at work. The assessment of these
competencies in professional practice, however, turned out to be often dif-
cult and sometimes even problematic. Pervasive problems associated with
competency measurement include, among others, lack of evidence for con-
struct and divergent validity. Moreover, competencies are often assessed in
professional practice using assessment exercises with only one or two raters,
with insucient information on the reliability of the ratings. In order not to
oversell, we strongly recommend that considerable attention be given to the
assessment of the proposed 21st century skill constructs; otherwise, there
is no argument to replace competency constructs with 21st century skills.
Given time constraints to assess qualities in job applicants, I-O psychologists
will not embrace over 100 dierent constructs, so taxonomic work will have
to guide the assessment development program. To achieve this goal, models
from dierential psychology will be certainly helpful to structure and assess
the cognitive and the social-emotional skill areas, but we agree that designing
assessment tools for skills from the hybrid cluster will be most challenging.
I-O researchers and practitioners will be also curious about the develop-
mental paths of 21st century skills and the factors that inuence their track.
At present, not that much is known on how 21st century skills develop and
how malleable and coachable these are, in light of developmental constraints,
environmental contingencies, and individuals’ genetic makeup. With respect
to Neubert et al.’s (2015) plea for integrating CPS and ColPS in I-O psychol-
ogy, key questions are, for example, how do CPS and ColPS skills develop, in
what contexts are these skills eective, and to what extent are they malleable
and coachable?
The ultimate criterion to judge on the importance of a construct is
whether it predicts something meaningful. Researchers and practitioners in
the elds of 21st century skills and human resources share an interest in pre-
diction. Educationalists want to monitor learning achievements and predict
development of social-emotional skills at school and academic performance,
culminating into students’ employability when they enter the employment
market. From that stage onward, I-O psychologists assess their potential
and t for lling up job vacancies and predicting future work performance.
Whether I-O psychologists will embrace these 21st century assessment con-
cepts and assessment tools will thus be highly dependent on these skills’ va-
lidity to predict I-O outcomes and to do this better and more incrementally
than currently existing selection assessment methodology.
   281
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problem solving is indeed an imperative for team and organizational success
in the 21st century, it is easier said than done. Collaborative problem solving
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91711. E-mail: ronald.riggio@claremontmckenna.edu
... The attempts to integrate different lists of SES have, to date, generally been made in the Big Five framework (Pellegrino and Hilton, 2013;John and De Fruyt, 2015;Kankaraš, 2017;Kankaraš et al., 2019;Kankaraš and Suarez-Alvarez, 2019;Soto et al., 2020Soto et al., , 2021. The literature indicated above presents proposals of integrating various lists of SES within the framework of the Big Five, also taking into account lower-order traits (for a review of structural models of personality, see: Strus and Cieciuch, 2014). ...
... The work on organizing the skills in both of these approaches followed three similar steps. As a first step, both Soto (Soto et al., 2020) and researchers under the OECD (John and De Fruyt, 2015; sorted out the various existing lists of SES by assigning the distinguished skills to the Big Five domains. Since the Big Five proved to be effective in integrating catalogs of SES created outside this paradigm as well, in the second step, Big Five was no longer used to organize other lists of SES that more or less matched the Big Five domains, but to find SES within facets distinguished in several Big Five models. ...
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В статье предпринимается попытка обосновать возросшее внимание к измерению и развитию социально-эмоциональных навыков учащихся. Этим термином исследователи называют индивидуальные характеристики, проистекающие из биологических предиспозиций и факторов окружающей среды и концептуально не зависящие от когнитивных навыков, при этом связываемые с социальным благополучием человека. В статье подчеркивается важность основного положения о возможности развития данного вида навыков. Теоретической основой статьи выступает концепция дисциплинирующего общества М. Фуко, связывающая сбор данных о латентных характеристиках индивида и усиление контроля над ним как над «производительным телом». Развитие социально-эмоциональных навыков при этом рассматривается как способ достижения общественного блага в контексте неолиберальной парадигмы. Авторы указывают на многомерность современных представлений об индивиде как политическом субъекте, обладающем агентностью и способностью нести ответственность за свои жизненные обстоятельства в рамках неолиберального этоса, а также теоретических представлений о личности отечественных и зарубежных психологов. Предполагается, что достижение успеха требует развития у индивидов определенных навыков и характеристик, а значит, формируется имплицитный социальный заказ на их развитие со стороны национальных образовательных систем. Особое внимание уделено проблеме неравенства. В статье формулируются две функции развития социально-эмоциональных навыков: дисциплинирующая функция и функция уменьшения социального неравенства. Наконец, в статье анализируются наиболее значимые на сегодняшний день рамки социально-эмоциональных навыков, рассматривается их становление и развитие. Область формирования и оценивания социально-эмоциональных навыков давно вышла за пределы психологии и стала мультидисциплинарной. Авторы ставят своей целью вовлечь профессиональное психологическое сообщество в обсуждение этих процессов, чтобы утвердить более тонкое понимание механизмов, определяющих поведение человека.
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... Hansen (2018), the Chief Executive Officer of Cengage Learning, expressed his sinking dissatisfaction with the commercialization of textbooks, noting that if people need some solid proof of the unsatisfactory state of educational affairs and its systemic dysfunctionality, they need only consult the most recent graduates who can easily unpack the educational system's administrative weaknesses and academic deficiencies. De Fruyt et al. (2015) adopt a similar (anti)corporate stance and report that college students and undergraduate and graduate university students openly and bluntly say that higher-education curricula at large are absolutely irrelevant, unprovocative, unconstructive, and generally create negative feelings towards learning. ...
Digital Education, Academic Performance, and Mental Health: How Can Chinese Students’ Development Be Facilitated While Engaging in E-Learning
Chapter
Full-text available
  • Jun 2023
There is a limited number of existing literature exploring the nuanced relationship between online learning, academic performance and mental health among Chinese students in the COVID-19 epoch (Chi X, Liang K, Chen S, Huang Q, Huang L, Yu Q, Jiao C, Guo T, Stubbs B, Hossain M, Yeung A, Kong Z, Zou L Int J Clin Health Psychol 21:100218, 2020). The limited amount of available research prompts the development of this chapter, where the author systematically reviews, evaluates and summarises relevant studies, for the purpose of presenting a broad understanding of how the digitalisation of learning approaches is associated with Chinese students’ academic and psychological performance. As per the framework of this systematic review, existing literature focusing on (1) digital learning, (2) academic performance and (3) mental health in Chinese contexts during the outbreak of the pandemic is exclusively examined. Since 30 January 2020, China has been one of the first countries to apply school closures and massification of digital learning (Ma Z, Idris S, Zhang Y, Zewen L, Wali A, Ji Y, Pan Q, Baloch Z, BMC Pediatrics 21:1–8, 2021). Thus, understanding if the digital pedagogies result in positive outputs regarding Chinese students’ development would be conducive to shedding light on whether a similar digitalisation process in academic settings should be delivered in contexts beyond China. In this chapter, the author explores available Chinese literature that assesses the nuanced relationship between digital learning, academic performance and mental health during the pandemic. He analyses how Chinese students undertaking e-learning are, positively and negatively, impacted by digital, non-face-to-face education. In addition, the author suggests interventions on how the design and delivery of digital education can be modified or improved, and how social support can be better arranged, in order to optimise Chinese students’ academic and psychological development.
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... The rapid pace of technological advancements and the complex challenges faced in various domains require individuals who can effectively analyze problems and develop innovative solutions. Here are some reasons why problem-solving skills are crucial in the 21st century (El-Zein et al., 2016;Fruyt et al., 2015;Szabo et al., 2020). ...
Correlation Profile of Cognition Levels and Student Ability to Solve Problems in Biodicell Synthesis
Article
Full-text available
  • Jun 2023
Covid-19 has had a huge impact in all sectors. The socio-economic sector experienced the heaviest impact. One of the sectors affected is the world of education. Education is now transforming from face-to-face learning to online learning. Online learning is very helpful for students during covid-19. In addition to having a positive value, online learning also contains a negative value. For example, students' interest in reading increases, but on the other hand, students' reading power is low. Low reading power has an impact on decreasing the cognitive level of students. The purpose of this research is to first identify the cognitive level profiles and students' abilities in solving problems in the synthesis of biodiesel from used cooking oil. Analyzing the correlation between cognitive level and students' ability to solve problems. This research is a correlational descriptive research. This research was conducted on fourth semester chemistry education students who were taking an instrument chemistry course and determining the structure of organic compounds. Cognitive level and problem-solving ability were measured using a rubric for assessing cognitive level and student problem-solving ability. The data obtained is then described in graphical form. The data was then tested for correlation using the SPSS product moment correlation test. In this study, it was found that the cognitive level of most students entered at C2 and C3 levels and the average problem solving ability was 53.84. The results of the correlation test show that the cognitive level is positively correlated with the ability of students to solve problems. This is evidenced by the comparison of the value of r count 0.724> r table 0.44. Based on the results of this study, it can be concluded that the cognitive level and problem solving abilities of students are still low. Cognitive level and problem solving ability are positively correlated.
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... Estas preguntas aún necesitan ser exploradas con mayor profundidad en futuras investigaciones. Por otro lado, dichas categorías podrían ser consideradas habilidades si tomamos en cuenta propuestas como las de De Fruyt et al. (2015), que definen habilidades socioemocionales como características individuales que se muestran en tendencias de pensamientos, emociones y comportamientos, que son aprendidos formal e informalmente. Los diferentes escenarios descritos permiten un mejor panorama sobre las habilidades socioemocionales que existen en contextos de la secundaria rural. ...
Habilidades Socioemocionales para la Escuela Rural del Perú: Aportes Empíricos basados en enfoques Emic y Etic
Article
Full-text available
  • Jan 2023
La creciente atención al desarrollo de las habilidades socioemocionales desde principios de siglo ha llevado al desarrollo de diferentes marcos de referencia que impulsan, a su vez, la evaluación del desarrollo socioemocional en la educación. Uno de los desafíos está relacionado con el uso de marcos de referencia de un contexto específico -generalmente el occidental- como propuestas universales para todo contexto cultural. Este artículo tiene como objetivo brindar una contribución empírica a la discusión sobre el uso colaborativo de los enfoques emic y etic en la evaluación e investigación de las habilidades socioemocionales, a partir del análisis de dos estudios realizados con estudiantes de escuelas rurales que participaron en un programa educativo. En el primer estudio, bajo un enfoque etic, 2485 estudiantes de escuelas secundarias públicas ubicadas en zonas rurales de Piura y Ayacucho respondieron un conjunto de escalas tipo Likert para evaluar una propuesta teórica de diez habilidades socioemocionales. En el segundo estudio, siguiendo un enfoque emic, se entrevistó a 65 estudiantes de escuelas secundarias públicas ubicadas en zonas rurales de Piura y Cusco sobre sus percepciones sobre las habilidades socioemocionales valoradas como importantes para el estudio y el trabajo. Los resultados muestran la existencia de habilidades socioemocionales comunes entre los enfoques emic y etic, así como algunas habilidades que son importantes para las comunidades y no son consideradas en el marco conceptual que orientó el enfoque etic en la investigación.
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Replacing Commercial Textbooks with Free Online Educational Resources: A Qualitative Case Study for Twenty-First-Century Inclusive Education
Chapter
Full-text available
  • Jun 2023
This qualitative case study explored commercial textbooks and their effects on university professors. The study’s aim was to investigate the perspectives of university professors’ use of pre-designed, pre-selected teaching materials such as textbooks, workbooks, teaching manuals, and courseware for a teacher education program at one mid-sized comprehensive Canadian university. The researcher investigated the pedagogical experiences of nine university professors recruited through the Dean’s Office in the faculty of education via random sampling. The study findings discovered that textbooks are ambivalently optimized as participants seemed to have fluctuating values for using them as pedagogical tools; on the one hand they supported textbooks, while at the same time they experienced cognitive dissonance as they questioned the content of the textbooks. This study revealed the paradox of commercial textbooks whereby governmentality and performativity in pedagogy in general and educator agency in particular imposed by neoliberal institutions can limit the scope of teaching in higher education institutions. Furthermore, commercial textbook selection and use often face time limitations as one-size-fits-all primers, and comes at the cost of creativity, research, knowledge deconstruction, and knowledge creation. Similarly, the findings suggest that pedagogy is a complex phenomenon that requires pedagogical orientations by selecting online education resources so as to deconstruct subtle sites through academic collaboration, reciprocity, and avoidance of corporatized pedagogical tools in the process of knowledge creation and its deconstruction.KeywordsCommercial textbooksOpen educational resourcesOERsUniversity professorsDefenestrating
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Strategic Problem-Solving: A State of the Art
Article
  • Sep 2023
Strategic problem-solving is a relevant skill in business, widely used to identify problems and find inherent solutions to stop, avoid, or mitigate such problems. The literature revolving around problem-solving has been enriched over the years with several theories and approaches. Problem-solving is critical in helping maintain a successful business and looking at problems as objectively and modestly as possible. This systematic literature review aims to summarize the current state of the art on the topic of strategic problem-solving. To this end, a bibliometric analysis based on data retrieved from the Web of Science database is performed, and results are reported in this article. The analysis allowed us to identify five different clusters on the theme of problem-solving, namely, product development and open innovation, organization and firm-customer relationship, creative process and resilience, learning, skills, and work environment, and partnership negotiation/cooperation and the role of supply chain and quality management. These clusters are distinct yet complementary to each other, a trait that was possible to observe when common top papers from each cluster were selected for further discussion. Finally, a shift in the topics of research from past to present was observed which might be related to the emergence of new theories and the turnover of authors. The growing number of recent publications reveals the value of this article and suggests that problem-solving will always have room for improvement.
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The competencies of social and emotional learning and their relationship to future skills among mathematics teachers in North Sharqiyah Governorate ,Sultanate of Oman from their point of view
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Full-text available
  • Apr 2023
The study aimed to identify the competencies of social and emotional learning and their relationship to future skills among mathematics teachers in North Sharqiyah Governorate ,Sultanate of Oman from their point of view ,and the researchers used the descriptive analytical survey method ,and the two study tools consisted of two questionnaires ,the identification of cooperative competencies for academic ,social and emotional learning)CASEL (2021 , and the identification of future skills according to the Omani National Framework for Future Skills (2021) .The study sample consisted of (51) teachers ,and the results of the study showed that the total degree of availability of social and emotional learning competencies for mathematics teachers was average, with an arithmetic average of (2.71 out of(4 and at the level of sub-competencies ,relationship skills and responsible decision-making obtained the highest average (2.88 ,) followed by self-management (2.84 ,) fourth social awareness (2.81) .and fifth self-awareness (2.58 ,) all with a grade of medium ,while the future skills axis for mathematics teachers obtained a large degree of availability ,with an average of 3.49) out of 5 .) Where technical skills came with an average of (3.58) and applied skills with an average of (3.41 ,) the results showed that there were statistically significant differences in social and emotional learning competencies attributed to the gender variable ,and in favor of male teachers .While there are no statistically significant differences due to the variables (scientific qualification, years of experience ,)and there are no statistically significant differences in future skills due to variables (gender ,scientific qualification ,and years of experience ,)the results also showed a correlation of (0.251) between the competencies of social and emotional learning and future skills among mathematics teachers ,and reflect a relationship weak ,and the researchers recommended a set of recommendations ,the most important of which are :The Ministry of Education should adopt the holding of courses ,workshops and lectures on the competencies of social and emotional learning for mathematics teachers in particular and for teachers in general .
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Development of an Inventory Assessing Social and Emotional Skills in Brazilian Youth
Article
  • Jan 2016
Whereas the structure of individual differences in personal attributes is well understood in adults, much less work has been done in children and adolescents. On the assessment side, numerous instruments are in use for children but they measure discordant attributes, ranging from one single factor (self-esteem; grit) to three factors (social, emotional, and academic self-efficacy) to five factors (strength and difficulties; Big Five traits). To construct a comprehensive measure for large-scale studies in Brazilian schools, we selected the eight most promising instruments and studied their structure at the item level (Study 1; N = 3,023). The resulting six-factor structure captures the major domains of child differences represented in these instruments and resembles the well-known Big Five personality dimensions plus a negative self-evaluation factor. In a large representative sample in Rio de Janeiro State (Study 2; N = 24,605), we tested a self-report inventory (SENNA1.0) assessing these six dimensions of socio-emotional skills with less than 100 items and found a robust and replicable structure and measurement invariance across grades, demonstrating feasibility for large-scale assessments across diverse student groups in Brazil. Discussion focuses on the contribution to socio-emotional research in education and its measurement as well as on limitations and suggestions for future research.
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The Assessment of 21st Century Skills in Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Complex and Collaborative Problem Solving
Article
  • Mar 2015
In this article, we highlight why and how industrial and organizational psychologists can take advantage of research on 21st century skills and their assessment. We present vital theoretical perspectives, a suitable framework for assessment, and exemplary instruments with a focus on advances in the assessment of human capital. Specifically, complex problem solving (CPS) and collaborative problem solving (ColPS) are two transversal skills (i.e., skills that span multiple domains) that are generally considered critical in the 21st century workplace. The assessment of these skills in education has linked fundamental research with practical applicability and has provided a useful template for workplace assessment. Both CPS and ColPS capture the interaction of individuals with problems that require the active acquisition and application of knowledge in individual or group settings. To ignite a discussion in industrial and organizational psychology, we discuss advances in the assessment of CPS and ColPS and propose ways to move beyond the current state of the art in assessing job-related skills.
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Personality and Cognitive Ability as Predictors of Effective Performance at Work
Article
  • Mar 2014
Conclusions about the validity of cognitive ability and personality measures based on meta-analyses published mostly in the past decade are reviewed at the beginning of this article. Research on major issues in selection that affect the use and interpretation of validation data are then discussed. These major issues include the dimensionality of personality, the nature and magnitude of g in cognitive ability measures, conceptualizations of validity, the nature of the job performance domain, trade-offs between diversity and validity, reactions to selection procedures, faking on personality measures, mediator and moderator research on test–performance relationships, multilevel issues, Web-based testing, the situational framing of test stimuli, and the context in which selection occurs.
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Employability and Career Success: Bridging the Gap Between Theory and Reality
Article
  • Mar 2013
Employability is defined as the capacity to gain and retain formal employment, or find new employment if necessary. Reasons for unemployment are often attributed to economic factors, but psychological factors associated with employability also contribute to the problem. Consequently, industrial‐organizational psychologists should be uniquely suited to contribute to policy solutions for enhancing employability. This review begins by surveying the most common research approach to employability—the study of career success—which psychologists believe is determined by cognitive abilities, personality, and educational achievement. Next, we review the literature concerning what employers actually want. This section highlights the importance of social skills (being rewarding to deal with) as a key determinant of employability. We conclude by proposing a model for understanding the psychological determinants of employability and for bridging the gap between what psychologists prescribe and what employers want.
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Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills
Book
  • Jan 2011
Rapid-and seemingly accelerating-changes in the economies of developed nations are having a proportional effect on the skill sets required of workers in many new jobs. Work environments are often technology-heavy, while problems are frequently ill-defined and tackled by multidisciplinary teams. This book contains insights based on research conducted as part of a major international project supported by Cisco, Intel and Microsoft. It faces these new working environments head-on, delineating new ways of thinking about '21st-century' skills and including operational definitions of those skills. The authors focus too on fresh approaches to educational assessment, and present methodological and technological solutions to the barriers that hinder ICT-based assessments of these skills, whether in large-scale surveys or classrooms. Equally committed to defining its terms and providing practical solutions, and including international perspectives and comparative evaluations of assessment methodology and policy, this volume tackles an issue at the top of most educationalists' agendas. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media B.V. All rights reserved.
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The Changing Role of Education and Schools
Chapter
  • Oct 2011
Following a growing awareness that many countries are moving from an industrial-based to information-based economy and that education systems must respond to this change, the Assessment and Teaching of Twenty-First Century Skills Project (ATC21S) was launched at the Learning and Technology World Forum in London in January 2009. The project, sponsored by three of the world’s major technology companies, Cisco, Intel and Microsoft, included the founder countries Australia, Finland, Portugal, Singapore and England, with the USA joining the project in 2010. An academic partnership was created with the University of Melbourne. The directorate of the research and development program is situated within the Assessment Research Centre at that university. Two areas were targeted that had not been explored previously for assessment and teaching purposes: Learning Through Digital Networks and Collaborative Problem Solving. The project investigated methods whereby large-scale assessment of these areas could be undertaken in all the countries involved and technology could be used to collect all of the data generated. This in turn was expected to provide data from which developmental learning progressions for students engaged in these twenty-first century skills could be constructed. This project has major implications for teaching and education policies for the future.
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Managing competencies: Implementing human resource management
  • Jan 2003
  • H A Hoekstra
  • Van
Hoekstra, H. A., & Van Sluijs, E. (Eds.). (2003). Managing competencies: Implementing human resource management. Nijmegen, the Netherlands: Royal Van Gorcum.