What do we call non-academic skills
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Training & development
More and more people in education agree on the importance of learning stuff other than academics.
But no one agrees on what to call that “stuff”, says a great article from NPR.
What do we call non-academic skills? You know, the ones we all intuitively know are critical but are hard to nail down.
Soft skills? Sounds too wishy washy.
Character? Sounds too odd.
Noncognitive traits & habits? Sounds waaaaay to academic & not user friendly.
How about social & emotional skills? Uhm, perhaps but still vague.
Grit? Hell no. Enter John Wayne.
21st century skills? Sounds too techie.
Growth mindset? Doesn’t capture enough.
I don’t have the definitive answer but I do know that the conversation is critical.
Tags: education, npr, soft skills, training & development
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