Challenges and Resources for Understanding, Teaching, Assessing and Promoting Transferable Skills in the High School Psychology Classroom

This document has three purposes. 

1. To introduce high school psychology teachers to the concept of transferable skills and the importance of these skills for their students’ future success.

2. To make high school psychology teachers aware of the six challenges they are likely to encounter if they strive to teach these skills to their students in a successful manner.

3. To provide high school psychology teachers with a set of resources that contain information to help them understand, address and, overcome each of these six challenges.

One of the most important objectives of a high school education is to provide students with opportunities to develop and strengthen transferable skills. Abbot (2014, p. 1) provided a comprehensive definition of transferrable skills when he described them as “a broad set of knowledge, skills, work habits, and character traits that are believed—by educators, school reformers, college professors, employers, and others—to be critically important to success in today’s world, particularly in collegiate programs and contemporary careers and workplaces. Generally speaking, these skills can be applied in all academic subject areas, and in all educational, career and civic settings throughout a student’s life.”  

Challenge #1

There are many definitions of transferable skills; there are many terms used to identify them (e.g., soft skills, applied skills, interdisciplinary skills, non-cognitive skills, and 21st century skills); and there is a large number of specific skills that fit into the broad category of transferable skills. 

This challenge can produce confusion when high school psychology teachers discuss the concept of transferable skills with important others such as students, colleagues, guidance counselors, parents, administrators, school board members and employers. The best way to deal with this challenge is to become familiar with how reputable sources have identified, defined, explained and provided examples of transferable skills. This will help high school psychology teachers to become more confident in their conversations about transferable skills by providing them with credible sources to support what they say. The resources listed below can provide high school psychology teachers with the information they will need to begin to overcome this challenge. 

Definitions and Examples of Transferable Skills

Abbot, S. (Ed.). (2014). 21st century skills. The Glossary of Education Reform. Retrieved from https://edglossary.org/21st-century-skills/opens in new window

Han, L. (n.d.). Hard Skills vs. Soft Skills – Difference and Importance. Retrieved from https://bemycareercoach.com/soft-skills/hard-skills-soft-skills.htmlopens in new window

Han, L. (2001). Soft Skills List – 28 Skills to Working Smart. Retrieved from https://bemycareercoach.com/soft-skills/list-soft-skills.htmlopens in new window 

Lippman, L. H., Ryberg, R., Carney, R., & Moore, K. A. (2015, June). Key “soft skills” that foster youth workforce success: Toward a consensus across fields. Workforce Connections. Retrieved from https://www.childtrends.org/publications/key-soft-skills-that-foster-youth-workforce-success-toward-a-consensus-across-fieldsopens in new window

Challenge #2

A question that HSPTs can expect to be asked about transferable skills is, “To what important areas of life do these types of skills transfer?”  

There are three answers to this question: college, the workplace and life in general. While some transferable skills may be more important for success in one of these areas than the others, it is hard to imagine succeeding in any of these areas without the ability to act responsibly, pay attention to detail, think critically, behave in a socially perceptive manner, display integrity, cooperate effectively, manage time and stress, and adapt successfully to change. The resources listed below can provide high school psychology teachers with the information they need to begin to overcome this challenge. 

Transferable Skills for College Readiness 

Appleby, D. C. (February 8, 2016). Why your freshman year in college will NOT be 13th grade. Psych Learning Curve: Where Psychology and Education Connect. Retrieved from https://psychlearningcurve.org/why-your-freshman-year-in-college-will-not-be-13th-grade/opens in new window

Appleby, D. C. (April 25, 2016). High school teachers…Preparing your students to succeed in college can be hazardous to your professional health. Psych Learning Curve: Where Psychology and Education Connect. Retrieved from https://psychlearningcurve.org/preparing-your-students

Holmes, B. (2014, May 12). Hone the top 5 soft skills every college student needs. U.S. News and World Report. Retrieved from https://www.yahoo.com/news/hone-top-5-soft-skills-every-college-student-130000075.htmlopens in new window

Shoenberg, R. (2008). What will I learn in college? Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities.

Transferable Skills for Workplace Readiness

Appleby, D. C. (2001, Spring). The covert curriculum: Lifelong learning skills you can learn in college. Eye on Psi Chi. Retrieved from https://www.psichi.org/?page=053EyeSpring01dApple&hhSearchTerms=appleby opens in new window

Appleby, D. C. (2014). A skills-based academic advising strategy for job-seeking psychology majors. In R. Miller & J. Irons, Academic advising: A handbook for advisors and students, Volume 1: Models, students, topics, and issues, p. 143-156. Retrieved from https://teachpsych.org/ebooks/academic-advising-2014-vol1opens in new window

Burrus, J., Jackson, T., Xi, N., & Steinberg, J. (2013, November). Identifying the most important 21st century workforce competencies: An analysis of the Occupational Information Network (O*NET). Research Report: Educational Testing Service: RR–13-21. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1109948.pdfopens in new window

Frank, T. (2016). Hard Skills Vs. Soft Skills: Why You Need Both to Succeed. Retrieved from https://collegeinfogeek.com/hard-vs-soft-skills/opens in new window

Gray, K., & Koncz, A. (2017, February 16). Employers seek teamwork, problem-solving skills on resumes. National Association of Colleges and Employers. Retrieved from https://www.naceweb.org/about-us/press/2017/employers-seek-teamwork-problem-solving-skills-on-resumes/opens in new window 

Gardner, P. (2007). Moving up or moving out of the company? Factors that influence the promoting or firing of new college hires. Collegiate Employment Research Institute. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED509852.pdfopens in new window

Kuther, T. L. (2013). What employers seek in job applicants: You’ve got the skills they want. Psychology Student Network. Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/ed/precollege/psn/2013/09/job-applicants

Kyllonen, P. C. (2015, November/December). Soft skills for the workforce. Change: The Magazine of Higher Education, 45(6), 16-23.

Lippman, L. H., Ryberg, R., Carney, R., & Moore, K. A. (2015, June). Key “soft skills” that foster youth workforce success: Toward a consensus across fields. Workforce Connections. Retrieved from https://www.childtrends.org/publications/key-soft-skills-that-foster-youth-workforce-success-toward-a-consensus-across-fieldsopens in new window

Robles, M. M. (2012). Executive perceptions of the top 10 soft skills needed in today’s workplace. Business Communication Quarterly, 75(4) 453–465. 

United States Department of Labor (n.d.). Skills to Pay the Bills. Retrieved from https://pueblo.gpo.gov/CAARNG/ODEP/PDF/ODEP013.pdfopens in new window

Wagner, T. (2008, October). Even our “best” schools are failing to prepare students for 21st-century careers and citizenship. Educational Leadership. Retrieved from https://www.tonywagner.com/244

Transferable Skills for College, Workplace and Life Readiness

Conley, D. (2012, May 2). A complete definition of college and career readiness. Educational Policy Improvement Center. Educational Policy Improvement Center. Retrieved from https://columbus.iu.edu/ctl/files/college-and-career-readiness-definition-1.pdf

Hart Research Associates. (2015). Falling short? College learning and career success. Washington, DC: Hart Research Associates. Retrieved from https://www.luminafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/falling-short.pdf

Johnson, B. (2013, July 3). College and career ready: Soft skills are crucial. Edutopia. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/college-career-ready-soft-skills-crucial-ben-johnsonopens in new window

Lythcott-Haims, J. (2016). Former Stanford dean shares the 8 skills everyone should have by age 18. Quora. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/former-stanford-dean-shares-the-8-skills-everyone-should-have-by-age-18-2016-4opens in new window

Wagner, T. (n.d.). Rigor redefined: The seven survival skills for careers, college, and citizenship. Retrieved from https://athena.ecs.csus.edu/~buckley/CSc238/Rigor_Redefined.pdf

Challenge #3

The content-driven demands of many high school psychology classes — especially advanced placement (AP) classes designed to teach students the knowledge that will be tested on their AP exams — often makes teaching transferable skills challenging. High school psychology teachers can create strategies such as lesson plans that require students to practice and strengthen these skills (i.e., the covert curricular, see Appleby, 2001) while they are simultaneously acquiring the required course content (i.e., the overt curriculum). The resources listed below can provide high school psychology teachers with the information they will need to begin to overcome this challenge. 

Strategies to Teach Transferable Skills

Applied Educational Systems. (2017). Career readiness and employability lesson plans: A guide to career readiness & employability skills lesson plans. Retrieved from https://www.aeseducation.com/careercenter21/employability-skills-lesson-plans/opens in new window

Han, L. (n.d.). How to Improve Your Soft Skills. Retrieved from https://bemycareercoach.com/soft-skills/improve-soft-skills.htmlopens in new window

Hanover Research. (2014, March). Incorporating Soft Skills into the K-12 Curriculum. Retrieved from https://www.hanoverresearch.com/media/Incorporating-Soft-Skills-into-the-K-12-Curriculum.pdf opens in new window

Challenge #4

Transferable skills, which are sometimes referred to as “soft” skills, are often more difficult to measure than “hard” skills such as math skills that can be assessed with standardized tests such as the SAT and the ACT. Best practice strategies to assess transferable skills (e.g., rubrics, digital badges, standards-based report cards, and project-based curricula) have been created and implemented in several school systems, and these strategies and their results have been published in several venues. The resources listed below provide high school psychology teachers with the information they will need to begin to overcome this challenge. 

Strategies to Assess the Attainment of Transferable Skills

Hanover Research. (2014, February). Best Practices in Soft Skills Assessment.

Illinois State University. (n.d.). Time Management Skills Test. 

Plymouth School District. (n.d.) Soft Skills Grading Rubric. Retrieved from https://www.plymouth.k12.wi.us/Schools/PHS/softskills.htmlopens in new window 

U.S. Department of Education. (n.d.). College- and career-ready standards. Retrieved from https://www.ed.gov/media/document/college-careerpdf-101084.pdfopens in new window

University of Colorado Colorado Springs. (n.d.). Grading Rubric – Soft Skills. Retrieved from: https://careers.hfcc.edu/sites/careers/files/attachments/soft-skills-rubric.pdfopens in new window

Work-Based Learning Implementation Guide. (n.d.). Student skills assessment rubric. Retrieved from https://www.tn.gov/assets/entities/education/attachments/wbl_student_skills_assessment_rubric.pdfopens in new window

Challenge #5

High school psychology teachers who require their students to engage in behaviors that will enable them to develop transferable skills often meet with resistance from their students, their students’ parents and their administrators (Appleby, 2016). Therefore, they must create ways to successfully advocate for the development of these skills that will convince these three groups to support their efforts to teach them. 

High school students often appear to lack the transferable skills that are essential for success in college, career and life (e.g., responsibility, strong work ethic, communication, critical thinking, time management, and ethical reasoning and behavior). These deficits may be due to immaturity or a home environment that has neither encouraged, required or provided models of these skills. College professors/employers typically expect that students are mature, honest and reliable. When a student acts in an entitled or egocentric manner, these behaviors are not well-received. Well-intentioned attempts by high school psychology teachers to create educational environments in which these skills can be developed have been met with resistance from students who feel that their teachers are too demanding, by parents who expect high grades for their children regardless of their performance, and school administrators who believe that teachers who maintain rigorous standards may be jeopardizing their schools’ retention and/or graduation rates. A blog post from Education Weekopens in new window describes the negative results of this unfortunate situation and provides a call to action for high school psychology teachers prompted by the findings of a major research study by the Education Trust that “questions how well adults in schools are guiding students along pathways that provide strong preparation for college, job training, or the workplace.” The resource listed below can provide high school psychology teachers with the information they will need to (1) understand the seriousness of this challenge to their professional well-being and (2) develop the courage and motivation to overcome it. While its message is discouraging, it does provide a strong rationale for why changes in the high school classroom are necessary to produce students who are more likely to succeed when they transition to higher education and the workforce. A beginning step to gain support for these changes is to create and send a letter to parents that explains the rationale for these changes and seeks parental support for them. 

Sources of Resistance to Strategies to Help Students Attain Transferable Skills in the High School Classroom

Appleby, D. C. (2016). High school teachers…Preparing your students to succeed in college can be hazardous to your professional health. Psych Learning Curve: Where Psychology and Education Connect. Retrieved from https://psychlearningcurve.org/preparing-your-students

This resource was developed at the APA Summit on High School Psychology Education (July 2017).