Eija Raatikainen, Jyrki Konkka and Katriina Rantala-Nenonen
The purpose of this study is to explore Master of Social Services students’ (MSS) thoughts of transversal skills in higher education studies and working life practice. Transversal…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore Master of Social Services students’ (MSS) thoughts of transversal skills in higher education studies and working life practice. Transversal skills are general skills that are transferable from field to field. For instance, transversal skills can promote individuals’ employability in the labor market or offer a framework to structure individuals’ unrecognized skills. The aim of the paper is to present Master of Social Services students’ (MSS) thoughts about transversal skills, especially in the context of their studies and working life. The research questions are how transversal skills develop during studies and what are their meaning in the context of working life.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is a qualitative case study. The data was collected by open e-questionnaires, the first research question was answered by a minimum of two students per group, while the second research question was answered by each student alone. Altogether 23 participants were involved in the study. The data was analyzed by content analysis.
Findings
As result, it can be concluded that the MSS students described various ways to support the development of transversal skills in higher education. All transversal skills are constantly used in the working life and, especially in challenging working life situations, these skills are combined. Transversal skills are often needed in various situations, especially related to social work clients’ life situations. Moreover, updating qualifications and acting in different roles were described as important by students.
Research limitations/implications
The study is a case study, so its limitations are obvious. In this study, we do not aim to generalize as the size of the data in our case study does not support generalization of the results. However, the study offers a specific perspective into transversal skills, as it is about the meaning of transversal skills in one higher education context in Finland (MSS). The results can be one example about how to draw attention to transversal skills in teaching and learning in higher education contexts. Transversal skills can be both professional skills in some specific field, but also transferable from field to field at the same time.
Practical implications
Future professionals, who have a good knowledge of transversal skills, can find and benefit from different types of work-based learning opportunities. Additionally, they can learn to verbalize their skills as part of their competences. Also, in the working life context, one benefit of transversal skills can be that employers can offer more structured learning environments for their employees in order to develop their broader skills. All this can be a significant asset to various organizations.
Social implications
Transversal skills are skills that cross professional skills. When preparing for unpredictable changes in the world, transversal skills can help in adapting to new situations and increase resilience in those situations. Moreover, the definitions and framework of transversal skills can help recognize one's own skills and competences, including those skills that often remain hidden. Employees and communities benefit from identifying transversal skills. Higher education institutions can plan their teaching and learning processes to support the development of students’ transversal skills.
Originality/value
The value of transversal skills can be attributed to the fact that, at best, they can offer detailed and even previously hidden skills descriptions alongside the existing skills. The concept of transversal skills can be used in higher education, where their framework and competence descriptions may be part of curriculum work and education, especially in work-based contexts. Additionally, knowledge of transversal skills can be helpful in various pedagogical solutions, work-based guidance and other pedagogical work-based activities.
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Eija Raatikainen, Leigh Anne Rauhala and Seija Mäenpää
The main goal of the one semester long intervention for first-year Bachelor of Social Services students was to enable them to increase their awareness of a variety of cultures and…
Abstract
Purpose
The main goal of the one semester long intervention for first-year Bachelor of Social Services students was to enable them to increase their awareness of a variety of cultures and practices encountered in social pedagogical work and to support the development of their ability to interact empathically with clients.
Design/methodology/approach
The aim of this article is to describe an educational intervention focused on teaching Qualified Empathic skills to social work students in higher education at Metropolia University of Applied Sciences in Finland. We introduce the concept of Qualified Empathy to describe professional empathic working skills and define it as: Qualified Empathy requires compassion for empathic action and it includes the ability for professional self-reflection, emotional skills and a healthy set of boundaries. Qualified Empathy encompasses the ability to tell the difference between sympathy and empathy, as it includes the capacity to use compassion to act in an empathic way in professional contexts (Raatikainen et al., 2017). The study was a case study, designed to explore the students' experiences of their one semester long educational intervention (n = 20). Our research question was: How do students construct Qualified Empathy as a dimension of their own professional expertise?
Findings
The results of the study demonstrate the progress areas of the students' Qualified Empathy skills. The development stages in the three progress areas are: (1) from emotional reaction to emotional response, (2) from understanding to empathic acting and (3) from client perspective to a more systemic approach. Implications of the results for Social Services students are discussed.
Research limitations/implications
In this study, as in all studies, some limitations need to be taken into account. One limitation of this study is the size and “nature of data”. Secondly, challenges with the concept of Qualified Empathy need to be addressed and more research is needed to define it more concretely. Even so, as it is a new concept, we need more discussion on the differences in the definition of empathy and Qualified Empathy. However, this study offers one new perspective for discussion which is the need for empathy training, in social work education practices and in the field. An important ethical aspect of research emphasizes that its implementation must not be to the detriment of the people being researched (Juuti and Puusa, 2020, pp. 168).
Practical implications
Our findings demonstrate that educational interventions can improve students' empathy skills to more qualified skills. We emphasized that maintaining the skill demands continuous reflection as a lifelong process. This article provides an overview of an educational intervention to improve students' Qualified Empathy skills and suggests a definition for educators to frame the teaching of professional empathy or empathy in a professional context – especially in the social work context. Furthermore, with this educational intervention in social work, we offer a way to support the students to – not only – have a more professional approach to empathy but also to find a way to establish a more emotionally sustainable environment for professionals in social services. It is essential for social work education to focus on the growth of Qualified Empathy in students through supervision and guidance which supports their professional competence. By doing so, we contribute to the development of more sustainable working environments in the social work context.
Social implications
Professional empathy is seen as an important factor in building a socially sustainable society from the perspectives of employees, clients and patients. We noticed that it is important to allow time and space for the learners to internalize the concept of Qualified Empathy. When we allow for this, students begin to recognize and assign more value to it and, as we suggest, they become more adept in their interactions and work with clients.
Originality/value
The study was a case study, designed to explore the students' experiences of their one semester long educational intervention (n = 20). Our research question was: How do students construct Qualified Empathy as a dimension of their own professional expertise? The results of the study demonstrate the progress areas of the students' Qualified Empathy skills. The development stages in the three progress areas are: (1) from emotional reaction to emotional response, (2) from understanding to empathic acting and (3) from client perspective to a more systemic approach. Implications of the results for Social Services students are discussed.
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Maria Christina Ekström, Eija Raatikainen and Annica Isacsson
The aim of the study was to research higher education students' meaningful emotions when studying and develop a model for understanding and verbalising the role of emotions. The…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of the study was to research higher education students' meaningful emotions when studying and develop a model for understanding and verbalising the role of emotions. The model will facilitate the awareness of the role of emotions when learning.
Design/methodology/approach
The qualitative data consist of 45 narratives, gathered within three Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences in the Finnish metropolitan area. Emotions and their role in different encounters within a learning setting were analysed. The approach was narrative, and content analysis was used to analyse the data. The survey was shared through a link that was visible in the intranet of the students. The questionnaire was open for three weeks in spring 2018. It consisted of five open-ended questions that aimed at helping students in sharing their story which included different emotional experiences in the learning context. The questions were partly inspired by the Critical Incident Technique (CIT).
Findings
The results of the research show that most of the stories related to negative emotions. Most of the stories also described how the situation was resolved because our questions prompted respondents to write about that. The stories also described how students progressed with their studies. Some students considered the emotional experience to be “a lesson learned” for the future. Students also described how they had learned something about themselves and their reactions.
Research limitations/implications
We collected the qualitative data within different fields and levels of study (Master and Bachelor). The statistical population consisted of approximately 35,000 enrolled students in the three Universities of Applied Sciences (hereafter UAS). The survey generated 45 answers. As the data were qualitative, we consider the richness of the accounts to be sufficient to answer our research questions.
Practical implications
We have concentrated mainly on students' verbalized emotions, but we are aware of the fact that emotions are born in interaction with other students, systems, contexts, with teachers and with the organizational culture in our universities. No man is an island; so, in other words emotions cannot be taken out of the context. Connecting all the verbalized emotions and the interpretations and combination of them (seven ways of talking about emotions) we created an educational practice “chart” called “Emotional Footprint”, using the concept as introduced by Levine (2015). This practice chart aims at visualizing that emotions should be understood in all possible learning contexts. It is about individuals understanding themselves, understanding others and using emotions as energizers.
Originality/value
It is important to support emotional expression and improve emotional competence during life-long learning. An uncertain future, described as volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguity need more people, who have a strong understanding of emotions and how these enhance and prohibit. With this model for expressing, verbalizing emotions that is easy to transfer to other contexts in the future professional life of students, we also want to emphasize how our universities can learn to turn negative emotions into constructive energy as well as boost authentic, positive emotions. We have to be aware of the emotional spectrum in order to create a learning experience of high quality. Our emotional footprint as professionals of learning is central. It is part of our societal responsibility.
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Eija Raatikainen, Taina Savolainen, Anu Järvensivu, Annica Isacsson, Nina Simola-Alha and Henna Heinilä
This case study explores trust at work, described by young professionals in the early stages of their careers. In this article, trust is approached as the study participants'…
Abstract
Purpose
This case study explores trust at work, described by young professionals in the early stages of their careers. In this article, trust is approached as the study participants' experiences of interpersonal trust. More specifically, it refers to relationships between colleagues, among individuals or at group level (Ma et al., 2019). Supervisors or managers did not take part in this study. The research question was “What do young professionals tell about trust and its importance at work?”
Design/methodology/approach
The empirical study consists of qualitative data, focus group (5) interviews (n = 20) of young professionals who are in the early stages of their careers (1–3 years after graduation). The study is contextualized in Finland, in Helsinki metropolitan area, in three social and healthcare workplaces and two information technology (IT) organizations. Both public and private sectors are represented. The data were analysed by theory-based content analysis.
Findings
According to the study results, descriptions of trust and its importance at work can be placed in three main categories. First, trust is an important element in improving young professionals' adaptation into the working community. Second, trust strengthens young professionals' professionalism and professional development at work. Third, trust at work highlights ethical issues and their significance in workplace relationships. Practical implications and limitations are also discussed.
Research limitations/implications
Due to the nature of this study, the research results should be viewed critically. The results can be seen as one suggestion to structure and increase understanding of trust in working life, from the perspective of young professionals in the early stages of their careers. As all research, the studies included in this review had several limitations that need to be taken into account. First, one of them is the size of the data, also in this study. Second, although literature has been searched carefully, there is always a chance of better literature existing for discussion on trust at work from young professionals' points of view, even though there is not a lot available on this specific topic. Nonetheless, literature of this study includes the most relevant classics of trust research. Third, the method has its own limits because it is based on focus group interviews, not interviews of individuals. On the other hand, it offered time for the team to reflect on trust in their own team. Still, this study offers one option for discussion of trust in work relationships. Additionally, it was noteworthy that the subjects were at the beginning of their careers, joining a new working community. They were in the early stages of building a professional identity, seeking confirmation of their skills and position in the working community. Thus, we recognize that this may have contributed to the collection of research data, which was a focus group interview. Few participants in the interview wanted to strongly point out the factors related to distrust, even if they had appeared at work. The authors recognize that exploring trust requires trust and acknowledge it. Data have been collected before the COVID-19 pandemic (see, e.g. van Zoonen et al., 2021).
Practical implications
This study implies that trust at work should focus on discussing young professionals' thoughts, expectations, feelings and experiences of trust at work as part of transitioning from graduation into working life or in early stages of their careers. Trust should not only be discussed in dyadic discussions between young professionals and supervisors but also as part of team discussions. The authors’ suggestion is that trust should be in the core of team discussions, not just as part of teams' social and emotional dimensions of their functionality and capacity. Courage and skills to take part in such discussions is needed from all parties. Especially leaders have to have the ability to create a trusting environment to talk about trust. In particular, the importance of peers in trust and their importance at work should be taken into account. By understanding young professionals’ point of view, we can prevent job changes or dissatisfaction at work too. The purpose of this study was to contribute to this line of research on trust at work. The trust resource contributes to and promotes the realization of participation in working life.
Social implications
The trust resource contributes to and promotes the realization of participation in working life. Leaders and coworkers can learn about trust as a phenomenon, while developing more emotionally sustainable working environments for young professionals. Trust should be seen as a skill or competence to improve various positive functional dimensions at work.
Originality/value
The results demonstrate that it is crucial to ensure emotional sustainability at work, and a positive feeling of belonging at work supports young professionals by developing a trusting work environment. It strengthens their engagement in a new work.
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Eija Raatikainen and Aija Ahokas
The aim of this chapter is to describe a five-year long cooperation between seven Higher Education Institutions (Universities of Applied Sciences and Universities) in Europe. The…
Abstract
The aim of this chapter is to describe a five-year long cooperation between seven Higher Education Institutions (Universities of Applied Sciences and Universities) in Europe. The focus of the text is to describe the structure of the Intensive Program (IP) and the pedagogical approach behind it. The aim is to introduce the results of this course. Our question in this chapter is “How can the Intensive Program support students and teachers to develop their mindset of European professional (in their own field) and what kind of pedagogical approaches and teaching methods/pedagogical solutions are needed for it?”