Strategies for developing a teacher’s soft skills: problems and prospects of research

Abstract

The soft skills of a teacher are considered in the article from the perspective of pedagogical comparative studies, which reveal the general and specific in historical phenomena. The latest domestic and foreign publications in which a working typology of soft skills is constructed were the subject of the thematic analysis. The necessity of developing soft skills of a teacher already at the stage of professional education is argued. The spread in practice of a uniform approach to the development of soft skills of teachers, implemented disregarding the age, experience and personal qualities of the teacher, has been noted. A typological connection has been established between the term “soft skills” and similar concepts traditionally used in domestic pedagogy. Four groups of soft skills are adopted as a working typology: communication, collaboration, critical thinking, creativity. At the same time, self-presentation and media competence were added for mixed-age groups of teachers. A teacher’s long-term task in developing students’ soft skills is formulated based on the teacher’s own experience of using soft skills in their professional activities.