Abstract:

University is an environment for sharing knowledge and preparing students for the labour market. In the case of Social Work, as a profession in the field of social sciences, soft skills are essential to professional practice. The aim of this paper is to identify the soft skills perceived by higher education students as important to Social Work training, with the objective of implementing a soft skills development programme in their course.

Through a case study in a Portuguese university with a Social Work degree course, we proceeded to analyse students' perceptions on the importance of soft skills learning. Based on a mixed-methods approach, we conducted three focus groups with Social Work students. We complemented the study with the application of a questionnaire to all the enrolled students to understand their interest in the learning of soft skills within their training.

The results showed that students recognise the relevance of developing soft skills in Social Work training. The need to invest in training fields such as teamwork, interpersonal communication and critical thinking stood out among a set of skills valued by students. The main advantage indicated is its contribution to labour market integration, but also in communication and in their own personal development. Based on this case study, it was possible to elaborate a diagnosis using the students' preferences and perceptions, which supports and justifies the implementation of a transversal competencies programme complementary to the Social Work degree.

Keywords:

Higher education, labour market, social work training, soft skills, transversal competencies.