Abstract:

In Canada, most teacher pre-service programs are two years in duration. The students tend to prefer our the year program to reduce costs, and this brings about a number of concerns. The study takes place in such a setting. For instructors this presents a challenge as we are expected to ensure the same level of training for the same qualifications within very limited time constraints. Problems are compounded with having students in classes with very different backgrounds. On the one hand, they bring a greater richness to the course, on the other hand they require attention to different types of issues. Today across many fields in professional training the importance of soft skills does not go unnoticed especially when looking at people’s needs in light of the fast pace of change in our society.

We report on the study of an instructor who put effort into filling gaps by distributing input among the students and using strategies to increase interest. According to Henninger and Hidi (2016), interest has the power to increase motivation and engagement.

The methodology used was qualitative (Creswell & Poth, 2018) as it best allows to uncover details on the issues. The data analyzed consisted of instructor notes from her teaching log as well as notes on classroom observations.

Findings uncovered how the instructor’s effort put on developing soft skills in addition to professional skills produced various reactions. For instance, some students showed very little interest in developing professional skills except when a gaming approach was used to increase their interest (Bandura, 1997). Another important aspect that had an impact on results, was the students’ openness to change or a lack thereof (Schultz, 1999; Senge, 1990; Witmer, 1985; Young, 2017). Most students were enthusiastic yet there was some resistance around the idea of building skills for the 2030ies. This points, among other aspects, to the need to change some of the attitudes and beliefs among some more conservative young people. In addition, it supports Penuel and Wertsch’ s (1995) suggestion that identity is more stable than what Vygotsky (2000) claimed.

The discussion includes the points mentioned above, conclusions will be drawn as regards skill development and recommendations made for further research on the topics under scrutiny here.

Keywords:

Professional development, soft skills, interest, pre-service, change.