A Systematic Literature Review of Teaching Employability: A focus on soft skills

Pauldy Otermans; Urmi Nagada; Dev Aditya; Monica Pereira

doi:10.21153/jtlge2024vol15no1art1937

Authors

Pauldy Otermans Brunel University London, UK and Otermans Institute, London, UK https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8495-348X
Urmi Nagada Otermans Institute
Dev Aditya Otermans Institute, Brunel University London
Monica Pereira Brunel University London https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2583-4522

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21153/jtlge2024vol15no1art1937

Abstract

Employability skills are important to be successful in any job in the job market. Colleges and universities should focus on teaching these skills to students to prepare them for the world of work. There are an abundance of studies that have highlighted the skills gap. This paper aims to bring together the literature to review how these skills are best taught to students. Five Databases - SocIndex, Education Resources Information Centre, British Education Index, Education Abstracts, and Education Research Complete - were thoroughly reviewed. Papers on teaching, training or learning of soft, transferable, employability, life, leadership or management skills from the years 2015-2023 were gathered. Results showed that certain classroom activities and games can be used to teach certain skills to the students. Part-time or full-time employment, internships and volunteer work also lead to development of skills such as leadership, communication, and social skills. Higher educational institutions can hence employ the pedagogical methods and approaches mentioned in these studies to teach employability skills to students.

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Author Biographies

Pauldy Otermans , Brunel University London, UK and Otermans Institute, London, UK

Dr Pauldy Otermans set up the international organisation, Otermans Institute (OI), that primarily upskills underserved and unserved learners across 15+ countries from UNHCR refugee camps in Iraq, with governments in Afghanistan, UK, and India, with foundations in Palestine and Lebanon and recently children of war victims in Sri Lanka. Dr Pauldy is also a female technology leader in the field of AI and has led the research to develop OIAI; an AI-powered human-like virtual teacher that can teach (personalised) anyone via a smartphone. This has been used to upskill learners in UN-backed refugee camps in countries like Iraq (first of its kind) and is paving the way for OI to serve millions instead of the tens of thousands it serves every year today. Just in 2022, her AI-powered human like teacher upskilled students across 4 continents. Separately, she is also a Reader at Brunel University London where she heads the development of new and innovative curriculum to improve student employability in the department of Psychology and is a Governor of a Primary School in London.
Urmi Nagada, Otermans Institute

Urmi is a research assistant with Otermans Institute.
Dev Aditya, Otermans Institute, Brunel University London

Dev Aditya is an AI expert from London, UK. He led the team that built the first Digital Human AI teacher (OIAI) with the mission to upskill 750 million underserved students globally by 2030. Nowadays, his AI-powered educational tool, OIAI, is serving students in 4 continents. Dev was awarded by the UK Prime Minister for his work and has been a Young Global Innovator and Under 30 Social Entrepreneur (Mint). For research work in AI, he was recognised by Innovate UK and secured $250,000 in funding just in 2022. He is an AI expert with research experience at The Alan Turing Institute and Brunel University London and his work is currently operating in 15 countries.
Monica Pereira, Brunel University London

Dr Monica Pereira completed her undergraduate degree at London Metropolitan University and was awarded the British Psychology Society Undergraduate Award. Monica then went on to study clinical neuroscience at University College London and had a particular interest in brain injury and electrical brain stimulation. Her journey to becoming a chartered psychologist was finalised when she went on to complete a PhD at Brunel University London in Affective Computing. Monica began her academic career in the Psychology Department at London Metropolitan University, University of Westminster and Birkbeck University. Now, Monica is a full-time lecturer in the Computer Science Department at Brunel University London and is a Chartered Cyberpsychologist. Monica is also involved in several external academic service activities.

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