It’s About Skill Development!
by Ed DeRoche, Character Education Resource Center, Director, University of San Diego
A “skills” quote:
“Expressing care for another is not an innate ability present more naturally in some people than others, but rather a skill that can be taught and nurtured through a supportive educational environment.”
-Scotty McLennan, Dean for Religious Life, Stanford University
A “skills” memory:
”I loved playing baseball. Our city had open try-outs for minor league teams. On day four, one of the coaches said to me, ‘Son, we can’t have players on this team without skills in every area.’ I had ‘grit’ but couldn’t hit. I also had ‘perseverance’ so I became a teacher, a principal, a dean.”
(The question of how skillfully is open to debate.)
At our Character Matters Conference (June 2017), sitting with a few teachers over our delicious box lunches, we started talking about “21st Century Skills” and the “new” character education movement – the focus on the social-emotional needs of students. I expressed the opinion that I thought the programmatic/instructional emphasis was on the emotional side of the SEL (follow the money) with some, but not too much, attention helping students develop their “social skills.”
As I noted in my 2013 blog , “The Skills Game” recent employee surveys showed that employers are looking for certain qualities in employees such as listening and communication skills, adaptability, creative thinking skills, problem-solving skills, goal setting skills, and competence in reading, writing, and computation skills. It has been reported that 85% of those who lose jobs do so because of inadequate social skills.
It seems to me that social skill development should be an essential part of schools’ character education initiatives (with character strengths and emotional skills as the other two).
A survey conducted through Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel, asked the question: What are the best skills for kids to have these days?
The responses:
90% – Communication
86% – Reading
79% – Math
77% – Teamwork
75% -Writing
74% – Logic
58% -Science
25% – Athletics
24% – Music
23% -Art
Social skills include habits and attributes that some call “Habits of the Heart.” This includes providing instruction and practice in helping students to be respectful, be responsible, be honest, be trustworthy, be caring, be courageous, be courtesy, be compassionate, and be fair.
These learned skills are coupled with “Habits of the Mind” – being a critical thinker, appreciating the importance of knowledge and learning, learning how to learn, practicing self-discipline, making ethical decisions, learning to problem solve, controlling anger and emotions, resisting peer pressure, and thinking before acting.
The third skill set is often labeled, “Habits of the Hands,” which includes knowing and practicing the Golden Rule, being of service to others, and becoming an active, participating citizen.
In my research for this blog, I found a program developed by Stephen Elliott (Vanderbilt Peabody education and psychology researcher) and co-authored with Frank Gresham, of the newly published The Social Skills Improvement System Classwide Intervention Program (SSIS-CIP).
They identified the top 10 skills that students need to succeed based on surveys of over 8,000 teachers and over 20 years of research in classrooms across the country. The skills are:
- Listen to others.
- Follow the steps.
- Follow the rules.
- Ignore distractions.
- Ask for help.
- Take turns when you talk.
- Get along with others.
- Stay calm with others.
- Be responsible for your behavior.
- Do nice things for others.
They report: “In our research, we found that elementary kids and teachers value cooperation and self-control. When we teach and increase those behaviors, we reduce problem behaviors and maximize learning time…. “
“If we increase social skills, we see commensurate increases in academic learning. That doesn’t mean that social skills make you smarter; it means that these skills make you more amenable to learning.”
More information about the SSIS Program can be found at: http://www.PearsonAssessments.com.
Another discovery – a web site, called SKILLSYOUNEED (https://skillsyouneed.com), which provides information and resources for each of the following category of skills: Personal, Interpersonal, Leadership, Learning, Presentation, Writing, Numeracy, and Parenting skills.
As a reminder, I published two blogs on this topic that may be worth your review:
- “The Skills Game: Who’s on First? What’s on Second? How’s on Third!” [Published by SmartBrief-Education, 11/12/2013]
- “The Skills of Question-Asking,” [February 2015 Blog]
http://sites.sandiego.edu/character/blog/2015/02/23
And finally, think about this each month during the new school year:
“Children who scored high on social skills were four times as likely to graduate from college than those who scored low.”
Teaching Social Skills to Improve Grade and Lives, David Bornstein, http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/07/24
Question/Comments: deroche@sandiego.edu