Developing soft skills in technical students through humanities education

Abstract

The article investigates the problem of developing soft skills in students of technical specialties in the process of studying humanitarian disciplines. The relevance of the work is due to the increasing requirements of the modern labor market for the level of formation of supra-professional competencies that ensure effective communication, adaptability, critical thinking and the ability to team interaction. At the same time, the technical education system observes insufficient integration of the targeted development of soft skills into the content of academic disciplines of the humanitarian cycle, which requires scientific substantiation of pedagogical approaches to solving this problem. The purpose of the study is to theoretically substantiate and systematize approaches to the development of soft skills in students of technical specialties in the process of humanitarian training, as well as to determine pedagogical conditions and methods for their effective formation. The research methods include theoretical analysis of scientific literature, generalization, systematization and comparative analysis of modern pedagogical approaches to the development of soft skills in higher education. An interdisciplinary approach was used to consider the relationship between humanitarian and technical training. The results of the study showed that the humanities disciplines have significant potential in the formation of soft skills due to their communicative, reflective and value orientation. Key pedagogical approaches to the development of soft skills were identified, in particular interactive, project-based, discussion and digital. The effectiveness of the use of digital technologies for modeling professional situations, organizing cooperation and developing student self-regulation was substantiated. Pedagogical conditions that ensure the effectiveness of the process were systematized, namely: interdisciplinary integration of the content of training, activation of students' educational activities and orientation on the practical application of knowledge. The conclusions indicate that the development of flexible skills in students of technical specialties is effective provided that certain pedagogical approaches and methods are comprehensively implemented within the framework of humanitarian training. The results obtained confirm the need to integrate soft skills into the structure of academic disciplines and further improve pedagogical technologies for their formation. Prospects for further research are related to empirical verification of the effectiveness of the proposed conditions and the development of tools for assessing the level of formation of soft skills in technical students.