No Excuse for Absence of Soft Skills

Time and time again research with Employers in the UK points to the shortfall in, to what is commonly referred to, as 'soft skills' .

Basically, we're talking about inter-personal skills; emotional intelligence and communication skills . Skills which, until now, have been rarely assessed within the school environment.

I was exploring this very question of why this shortfall exists in the UK recently - with some teachers and employers - when we hit upon the insane idea that there are so many great resources informing us about 'soft skills' , that we may be able to signpost our way to the solution? I know, I said it was insane; rich media resources being used to share experience and knowledge in education - tackling non academic learning issues? !

How can new cohorts of school and college leavers NOT have the sufficient 'soft skills' for their future employers in an online world?

Something is clearly wrong somewhere. Over at http://www.careersbox.co.uk/ is a FREE modular Interview Technique film which tackles, amongst other topics, 'soft skills'. This resource, LEVEL7, is free to view online 24/7. This resource, won a medal at the MEDEA2010 Awards, hosted by the Education Secretariat in Brussles - with the judging panel urging ALL young people across Europe to view and learn - especially in a recessionary climate.

Alongside the work of Careersbox are a bunch of equally keen and talented media producers of resources for education that really can make a difference to the choices of young people - if given the opportunity. And perhaps this is where we encounter part of the problem - I believe there are thousands of fab teachers out there, they just need more time and support to be more effective. I am suspecting that there may be a number of issues that prevent this - and the teachers among you will know what barriers you face each day personally. But, given the fact that the resources needed to up-'soft-skill' young people are in the public domain and freely available, what is stopping schools from ensuring this badly needed process actually happens?

If there are any other reasons beyond lack of time, ignorance of the said resources or lack of technology in the classroom, I  (and thousands of employers and parents) would love to know!