Soft skills development among vocational students in courses related to medical and comprehensive healthcare industry

Abstract

Vocational education aims to prepare students to enter the workforce. This study aims to develop guidelines for the development of soft skills among vocational students in courses related to the medical and comprehensive healthcare industry by qualitative research methods. Data were collected by interviewing eighteen key informants from six companies consisting of six executives, six human resources officers, and six workers to examine the essential soft skills of vocational graduates in courses related to the medical and comprehensive healthcare industry matched with professional standards and industry requirements, and interviewing thirty-one key informants from four vocational institutes consisting of three administrators, eight teachers, and twenty students to study the current state of students’ soft skills development. The results of both were synthesized as the soft skills development guideline among vocational students in courses related to medical and comprehensive healthcare industry. Findings showed that key essential soft skills among vocational students in courses related to medical and comprehensive healthcare industry are social skills (communication and teamwork), thinking skills (creativity, analytical thinking, and problem-solving), and emotional skills (stress management, anger management, and self-control), which are the foundation of other soft skills. Vocational institutes should encourage the value of soft skills for teachers and students through official meetings, activities, and events, incorporating soft skills into classroom activity through participatory learning, organizing relationship-building activities between students, developing professional teachers with proficiency in teaching soft skills, and assessing students’ soft skills by assessing their portfolio and designating soft skills as part of the student’s learning achievement.