Theoretical Basis of Soft Skills Education for Pedagogical Students

such as: health and nutrition skills, gender and sexuality related skills, social issues skills such as alcohol, drugs, tobacco, HIV

- AIDS, skills related to the natural environment, skills related to violence - risks, skills related to family life, skills related to the community environment...

The third way, according to UNICEF

This organization also has research on life skills from the perspective of individual survival and development. The classification here also refers to three basic groups of skills:

Group 1: Group of skills for self-awareness and living with yourself. This group includes a number of skills such as: self-awareness and self-assessment, life goal-setting skills, self-protection skills...

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Group 2: Group of skills of self-awareness and living with others. This group includes a number of skills such as: establishing relationships, cooperation, teamwork,...

Group 3: Group of skills in decision making and effective working. This group of skills includes a number of skills such as: problem analysis, reality perception, decision making, behavior, problem solving...

The above division is only relative. From different perspectives, the classification of life skills may be different. However, no matter which perspective is used, life skills must be skills that belong to personal capacity to help oneself survive and master one's life as well as achieve effective life goals. Thus, simply put, life skills include: soft skills and "hard" skills. "Hard" skills are essentially an easy-to-remember name for basic skills in a profession (even knowledge), skills related to expertise - profession.

iii) Soft skills:

Besides the term "life skills" which is widely popular in the fields of education and society, the term "soft skills "

is also one of the issues of concern - especially for those who are preparing for the process of establishing themselves and starting a career. Nowadays, education level and qualifications are not enough to decide on the recruitment of workers by many businesses and employers. They also base on personal factors such as the sensitivity in handling work and communication of each worker..., these factors are called "soft skills".

There are many different concepts or definitions of soft skills depending on the career field, professional perspective, speaking context and even placing this term next to other terms. Simply put, soft skills are the skills that people accumulate to make themselves easily accepted, work smoothly and achieve efficiency.

According to author DM Kaplan, soft skills are skills that people have in addition to technical and professional factors in the field of work. They are also considered a manifestation of human emotional intelligence, demonstrating the individual's mental capacity. In other words, soft skills demonstrate the existence and effective application of personal characteristics such as: friendliness, altruism, acceptance of others... (cited from [18]).

Some other authors such as EA Leutenberg and JJ Liptak believe that soft skills are skills that are not directly related to professional knowledge of the profession they possess, but rather reflect the individual's personality in work and in relationships with others (cited in [18]).

Author Forland, Jeremy believes that soft skills are a social term to refer to skills related to the use of communication language, social integration ability, attitudes and effective behaviors in interpersonal communication. In other words, it is the skill related to people integrating, living together and interacting with other individuals, groups, collectives, organizations and communities (cited in [18]).

Author Nguyen Thi My Loc [24-27] believes that soft skills is a term used to refer to skills related to human emotional intelligence (EQ) such as: a

personality traits (time management, relaxation, overcoming crises, creativity and innovation), tact, behavioral skills, habits, optimism, sincerity, teamwork skills... These are factors that influence the establishment of relationships with others. These skills are things that are often not learned in school, are not related to professional knowledge, cannot be touched, but are not special skills but depend mainly on each person's personality. Soft skills determine who you are, how you work, and are a measure of high efficiency at work.

Soft skills for students of pedagogical colleges are specific and are studied from different perspectives:

First direction, Research on soft skills from the perspective of research on forming and fostering pedagogical skills for teachers and learning skills for learners including: teaching skills, educational skills, orientation skills, design skills, planning skills, self-testing and evaluation skills, design skills, self-study skills, reading skills, problem solving skills...

Second direction, soft skills research from the perspective of exploiting student lifestyle includes: self-assessment skills, cooperation skills, listening skills, skills to judge other people's emotions, emotional control skills, communication skills, self-awareness skills, positive thinking skills...

The third direction is to study soft skills from the perspective of forming and developing social skills of students in pedagogical schools. According to this research direction, soft skills include: communication skills, behavior in relationships at school, family, friends, agencies, public places... In addition, it also mentions the skills that students participate in social activities such as: skills of mobilization, propaganda, organizing the masses to participate in social activities.

Thus, it can be said that there are many different definitions of soft skills. To suit the research object of the topic, the author defines the following concept:

The main concept of the topic is as follows: soft skills are skills that are not directly related to professional knowledge but are more about the mental aspect of each individual to ensure the process of adapting to others, work to maintain good positive relationships and contribute to supporting effective work performance [ 18].

Soft skills have the following characteristics:

- Soft skills are not innate factors of human beings. Soft skills are not the "ripeness" of qualities, nor are they necessarily the "sparkling" of soft skills that are innate in the subject, but all must go through the effort, practice and development in a real way, with measures and methods of the subject.

- Soft skills are not just a manifestation of emotional intelligence. In some definitions mentioned as well as the views of some authors, soft skills are closely related to the ability to interact with others, so they implicitly consider this a manifestation of emotional intelligence index. However, if soft skills are a manifestation of emotional intelligence, then the use of the concept of emotional intelligence is very comprehensive and complete, so it is not necessary to use the term soft skills. Each individual has emotional intelligence, but that emotional intelligence must reach a certain level to be called a skill. Therefore, the two concepts of soft skills and emotional intelligence cannot be identified.

- Soft skills are formed through authentic experience, not simply "loading" knowledge. It can be seen that when people are trained in a profession, in addition to the requirements of professional ethics, professional skills according to the professional operation model to achieve products are always prioritized. That is why basic and specific skills of the profession are often prioritized for training and development. In reality, skills that support the profession or create conditions for applying those operational skills can be neglected or forgotten. Therefore, the

There is a shortage of soft skills among students and workers. Soft skills are often more difficult to acquire because of their specific nature in relation to people and circumstances.

- Soft skills cannot be "fixed" with different professions. Each different profession will have a different model of professional skills. In determining professional skills, basic and specific skills of professional - technical nature and soft skills have not been clearly distinguished. But an undeniable fact is that in each profession there will be basic professional skills and professional support skills in the direction of helping the professional subject to adapt - adapt, easily integrate into the "social" environment, proactively and flexibly apply - deploy professional skills, which are soft skills. Therefore, each different profession cannot have the same soft skills.

When there are many different definitions of soft skills, there will be different ways to classify soft skills. Some basic trends are divided as follows:

According to the US Department of Labor and the American Association for Training and Development, they have researched and proposed 13 skills for success in work and soft skills are the center: learning and self-learning skills; listening skills; presentation skills; problem-solving skills; creative thinking skills; self-management and self-esteem skills; goal setting/work motivation skills; personal and career development skills; communication and relationship building skills; teamwork skills; negotiation skills; effective work organization skills; leadership skills. The document "Career skills for the future" published in 2002 in Australia with the participation of many professional organizations stated that there are the following 8 soft skills: communication skills; teamwork skills; problem-solving skills; creativity and risk-taking skills; planning and work organization skills; self-management skills; learning skills; technology skills. (quoted from [13])

In general, this is a direction of analyzing soft skills according to a certain number that can be increased or decreased according to different occupations and jobs. Obviously, in the skills mentioned in the characteristics section, there are skills that become professional skills of certain occupations.

In Vietnam, the classification of soft skills is also of interest but only stops at the level of listing individual skills depending on the research direction, career field and personal experience. However, the soft skills that are of most interest are still the skills of working with people and the skills that limit emotional and unprofessional working habits. The soft skills that are often of interest are: emotional management skills, communication skills, presentation skills, time management skills, creative thinking skills, problem-solving skills, social relationship building skills... (cited from [13])

1.2.2. Soft skills education for pedagogical students

i) KNM education

Soft skills education (Soft skills education) is the process of forming and developing for learners the necessary soft skills to ensure the process of adapting to others and work, to maintain good positive relationships and support effective work performance through different methods and content.

Soft skills education needs to focus on educating learners about spiritual values along with corresponding behaviors. Soft skills education must start with cultivating learners' inner values and spiritual values first. On that basis, soft skills will be revealed through specific behaviors, actions, and ways of behaving.

Skill education is the process of organizing educational activities in which, under the leading role of teachers, learners are self-aware, active, and proactive in order to form an understanding of skills and at the same time practice to acquire skills.

thereby enhancing the ability to adapt to the requirements of practical life.

ii) Educating KNM for pedagogical students is becoming an important task for all pedagogical schools. Because students not only use those skills in the process of adapting to their personal lives but also continue to form and develop those skills for future generations in their work process.

Soft skills help students recognize and have a positive attitude towards stressful situations, be ready to accept difficulties and challenges in life, and at the same time, students also have ways to respond positively in many different situations, know how to release emotions and control themselves, always cultivate positive thinking, communication skills, presentation skills, and problem-solving skills. Because of this importance, students need to actively participate in activities to practice soft skills for themselves.

To practice soft skills, the only way is to practice regularly and continuously. When practicing, students will turn theoretical knowledge into skills. Through experiential activities with practical situations, students will be able to flexibly apply them to specific situations. No matter how diverse the situations are, when students have a solid system of skills, they can completely cope in any situation.

Soft skills education for students in teacher training colleges can be implemented in many ways with the coordination of educational forces. The rich educational environment itself becomes a favorable condition for students to practice, form and experience skills.

Therefore, soft skills education for pedagogical students can be understood as the process of organizing activities under the guidance of lecturers and educational forces in schools to form in students knowledge, attitudes, behaviors or interactions with society, community, and friends, allowing students to have

the ability to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life.

1.3. Theoretical basis of soft skills education for pedagogical students

1.3.1. Objectives of soft skills education for pedagogical students

Soft skills education for students in teacher training colleges is also part of the educational goal of forming a personality model for future teachers. The goal of this process is consistent with the goal of teacher training. In addition to the requirements for teacher personality including professional knowledge and pedagogical skills, equipping students with soft skills is also a measure to firmly consolidate the pedagogical skills of future teachers while improving the ability to cope with difficulties of students themselves right from when they are still sitting in the lecture hall of the teacher training college.

The specific goals of the soft skills education process for pedagogical students are as follows:

- Regarding knowledge: Students understand the concept of soft skills in general and each soft skill in particular and the necessity as well as how to express skills in life and work;

- Regarding attitude: Students have a positive attitude in the learning process and practice soft skills, thereby having appropriate attitudes towards problems in life and work.

- Regarding soft skills: Students know how to apply soft skills in life and work and continuously practice to develop soft skills that have been basically taught at teacher training schools throughout their lives. At the same time, it helps to enhance students' ability to cope with difficulties right from when they are studying in the teacher training school.

1.3.2. System of soft skills that need to be taught to pedagogical students.

Pedagogical students are mature personalities, they participate in vocational training at pedagogical schools from intermediate pedagogical colleges, pedagogical colleges and universities.

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