Soft Skills: Preparing Kids for Life After School

While a solid knowledge base in classic literature or advanced levels of math certainly won't hurt a young person on the precipice of adulthood, the voices of workforce leaders describe a skills gap of a different nature, a gap in competencies rather than content. Softskills, sometimes called key skills, core skills, key competencies, or employability skills, are those desirable qualities that apply across a variety of jobs and life situations-traits such as integrity, communication, courtesy, responsibility, professionalism, flexibility, and teamwork. People develop softskills through socialization, learning the values, attitudes, and actions through interactions with others. Because socialization and relationship-building are a critical part of young adolescents' lives, middle school is a perfect place to incorporate softskill development into the school day.