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Idea behind the project:
Research proves that soft skills are crucial to succeed on the job market (Warsaw School of Economics, American Chamber of Commerce, Ernst & Young 2012). It does not matter what profession a person is pursuing, soft skills are useful in all. It doesn’t matter if one wants to be a doctor, architect, entrepreneur, teacher or footballer. In all those professions skills such as time management, empathy, stress management, negotiation, communication, group work and many more are crucial.
The majority of employers today are looking to hire, retain, and promote individuals who have empathy, good communication skills, time management and are ethical and self-motivated. Not to mention that soft skills also give the hard skills a chance to shine. If an individual has the ability to communicate effectively with others in a workplace, then his ideas are more likely to take off, and abilities utilised to their full capacity (National Soft Skills Association, The Value of Soft Skills in the Labour Market, 2019). Soft skills are very difficult to teach and it is difficult to measure their improvement, that is why very often they are not taught at conventional schools. What is very important to remember, is that research proves that individuals have higher chances of developing soft skills at a younger age.
This leads us to youth focus, and a question:
How can we develop youth’s soft skills? We all know that youth is energetic, impatient and in need of a healthy lifestyle and future career success. Digging deeper into research, we can understand that there is an important link between sport and soft skills development. As Dr Joann Lukins explains, sport isn’t just good for youth’s bodies; it’s good for their minds too. It is a great vehicle for teaching and developing qualities within youth.
The challenging times connected with pandemic (COVID–19), made social interactions, thus the development of soft skills very difficult. As research proves, social interactions are an important part of development throughout youth and spending time with peers is an important part of that process. As education becomes more digitalised, youth spends more time in front of the PC, which makes the youth interaction and the development of soft skills more challenging. There is definitely a need for new solutions, which will allow youth to develop their soft skills, so they are better prepared to enter the job market.
Based on all the above, the My Future in partnership with Norwegian Organisation Collins experienced in Sport Field and Portuguese EduPlus experienced in youth work field joined the forces to dig deeper into the soft skills and sport/active movement relation and implement project ACTIVE DEVELOPMENT. In the frames of the project e-guide for youth leaders as well as 20 sport-soft skills focused activities digital cards will be developed.
The objective of the project is to increase the level of soft skills among youth, empower them as well as increase quality in youth work by providing youth leaders with new, innovative methods. What is more the projects aims to:
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contribute to the better understanding of the link between sport and soft skills among the youth leaders;
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contribute to the better integration of youth from various backgrounds (different cultural backgrounds, geographical obstacles, economical obstacles, inclusion of disabled youth, inclusion of LGBTQ+ community etc.);
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foster the inclusion and employability of young people with fewer opportunities by increasing their soft skills level;
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support youth leaders in access to new educational methods.
The partners are also aiming at developing the new, innovative cross sectoral learning method, which can be disseminated to different youth organizations, schools, sport clubs all over Europe.
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Do you have some ideas or experience in the sport and soft skills development?
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