Keyword: «hard skills»

This article addresses the issue of developing soft skills in students of various majors—humanities (creative) fields, engineering (technical) specialties, and IT disciplines. The relevance of this research is driven by the need to prepare competitive professionals who are capable not only of creating high-quality creative output but also of presenting it effectively, engaging in dialogue with colleagues and clients, and feeling confident in public spaces and foreign language environments. The aim of this work is to identify the level of awareness and proficiency in soft skills among students of different majors, to pinpoint gaps in their understanding of the structure and content of soft skills, and to justify the necessity of integrating these skills into higher education curricula across various fields. The article includes an analysis of scientific literature and an experimental study conducted together with students majoring in humanities, engineering and IT fields in the form of a survey during foreign (English) language classes. This provided extensive material for further developing a foreign language curriculum that incorporates soft skills into the learning process. The results confirm the authors' hypothesis regarding the insufficient level of soft skills proficiency among students, primarily those majoring in engineering fields. The study revealed significant differences in the perception of the importance of soft skills depending on the areas of training. Humanities majors demonstrate the highest level of such awareness and acknowledge the necessity of developing both skill categories (hard and soft). IT specialists take up an intermediate position, recognizing the significance of both categories. Technical specialists show the most pronounced focus on hard skills, reflecting the entrenched paradigm in technical education that prioritizes subject-specific knowledge. An important finding of the study was the identification of a systemic deficit in understanding the structure of soft skills: students exhibit an insufficiently complete and often distorted perception of their content. The research holds high theoretical significance, as the latest studies, including those by scholars, labor market researchers, and employers, indicate a critical decline in the level of soft skills among graduates of Russian universities. The practical significance of the study lies in the fact that the obtained data can be used to design curricula for various majors in accordance with the needs of the learners.

The relevance of the research is determined by current trends in the digital transformation of education and the requirements of the labor market for the training of IT specialists in a new format. In the context of the implementation of national projects on the digital economy, there is an urgent need for personnel with not only professional competences (hard skills), but developed supra-professional skills (soft skills) as well. The existing vocational training system does not provide a sufficient level of these competences development within the framework of traditional approaches. The aim of the research is to develop and experimentally verify the methodology of using digital pedagogical technologies for the effective development of professional skills and supra-professional skills among students of IT specialties of vocational education. The research methodology is based on an integrated approach, including pedagogical experiment using domestic digital tools. The study was conducted on the basis of the college of Altai State University using statistical data processing methods (Student's t-test) and comparative analysis of the results of the control and experimental groups. The main results of the study demonstrate a statistically significant increase of competences in the experimental group when using the author's original methodology. The application of end-to-end project-based activities in the digital ecosystem has shown more stable and guaranteed learning outcomes compared to the traditional approach. The effectiveness of the integration of domestic digital tools for the development of both hard skills (programming, database design) and soft skills (teamwork, project thinking) has been experimentally confirmed. The theoretical significance of the work lies in the development of a model of digital pedagogical tools that transform the content of IT disciplines into an integrated project environment. A methodology for the synergetic development of professional and supra-professional competences in a digital educational environment is proposed. The practical significance is determined by the possibility of using the developed methodology and diagnostic tools for updating vocational education programs. The results of the study contribute to improving the quality of training of IT specialists who meet the requirements of the digital economy of Russia, and can be used in the practice of professional education.