Teacher soft skills: Building a student-centred conceptual framework

Student retention and graduation rates are important measures of institutional success. One of the factors crucial to the retention of students is to engage them academically. While it might seem that this would simply equate to educators having excellent knowledge of their subject and pedagogy, research indicates that those ‘hard skills’ are not enough to meet students’ expectations. Instead, ‘soft skills’ such as being approachable and able to communicate well are also critical if instructors and lecturers wish to engage students effectively. The research in this paper is based on a critical literature review which examines how the soft skills of academic staff support students’ engagement in learning and the possible implications of not meeting student expectations with soft skills. The paper offers a conceptual framework for the use of soft skills in the classroom and concludes with recommendations how academics could further develop these skills for better student engagement.