A few weeks ago, I watched a group of high school students completely unravel during a class presentation. Not because they didn’t understand the topic – they did. Not because they lacked intelligence or effort. But because they couldn’t function as a team.
They hadn’t planned together. One student read awkwardly from cue cards. Another said nothing at all. A third mumbled, “We didn’t really know who was doing what.” They’d been assigned a group project but had never been taught how to be a group.
The issue wasn’t academic. It was a breakdown in soft skills. These are essential but often-ignored competencies. They include communication, collaboration, and adaptability. These skills determine whether students can translate what they know into what they do.
What Are Soft Skills, and Why Do They Matter?
Soft skills are the social and emotional competencies that shape how we interact, learn, and contribute. Lambert (2023) defines them as “non-academic and non-technical skills. They are essential for people to effectively participate in a more global community and economy.” These include:
- Communication
- Teamwork
- Adaptability
- Problem-solving
- Creativity
- Interpersonal skills
These are not “nice to haves.” They are what employers value most. In fact, Google’s famous “Project Oxygen” found something interesting. Among the eight most important qualities of Google’s top employees, technical expertise came in last. The top seven were all soft skills. These include communication, empathy, and collaboration (Strauss, 2017).
Decades of research echo this. Studies from Harvard University, the Carnegie Foundation, and Stanford found that job success is 85% due to soft skills. It is only 15% due to technical knowledge (National Soft Skills Association, 2019).
Yet schools continue to prioritize content knowledge over competencies.
Why Are Soft Skills So Hard to Teach?
Lambert’s study reveals several reasons soft skills are often sidelined in high schools:
- They’re assumed to be innate. Educated professionals often forget that soft skills are learned, not automatic. They are often shaped through privilege—parents who coach, extracurriculars that challenge, mentors who model. But students from marginalized communities don’t always have that access (Cukier et al., 2015).
- They’re invisible in assessments. Standardized exams rarely measure collaboration or adaptability. And what’s not assessed is often not taught.
- They require risk. Practicing soft skills means failing publicly, negotiating conflict, speaking up. That only happens in classrooms built on trust and psychological safety (Lambert, 2023).
- Teachers lack training. Many educators are not taught how to explicitly integrate or assess soft skills. As Bhatt (2020) notes, there is a global call for more teacher preparation in this area.
- The system is overloaded. Curriculum is crowded, and testing is high-stakes. As a result, soft skills are often seen as “one more thing.” They are not viewed as integral to academic and life success.
A Simple but Powerful Strategy: Embed Soft Skills in Academic Work
Lambert’s field study in Morocco tested a clear hypothesis. What happens if we embed soft skills into existing lessons? This approach requires no extra time, no tech, and no new programs.
She visited 16 secondary and 4 university classes. She asked students to complete one task. They were to collaboratively write and present a story based on a shared prompt. No internet, no devices—just paper, pens, and people.
The results were impressive:
– 90% of students demonstrated successful or somewhat successful use of soft skills
– 100% completed the academic task successfully
– Engagement was high—even among traditionally disengaged students
In just one hour, students practiced:
- Problem-solving (How do we organize and finish the story?)
- Teamwork (How do we share responsibilities?)
- Communication (How do we express ideas and negotiate decisions?)
- Adaptability (How do we adjust under time pressure or confusion?)
- Creativity (How do we build a coherent, compelling story?)
- Interpersonal skills (How do we respect and include each other?)
And it didn’t just work in elite schools. Working-class public school students outperformed students from upper-class private schools. This challenges assumptions about who “naturally” possesses these skills (Lambert, 2023).
What Are the Benefits?
When soft skills are intentionally taught in high school, the ripple effects are powerful:
- Stronger academic performance. Students collaborate more effectively, manage deadlines, and communicate ideas clearly.
- Real-world readiness. From college seminars to part-time jobs, soft skills make the difference between knowing and thriving.
- Greater equity. Teaching soft skills in school levels the playing field. It gives all students—not just the privileged—a fair shot at post-secondary success (Heckman & Kautz, 2012).
- Healthier learning communities. Trust, empathy, and cooperation become part of the classroom culture.
Let’s Keep the Conversation Going
Soft skills are not fluff. They are foundational, especially for high school students preparing to enter a world that prizes flexibility, empathy, and collaboration.
We don’t need to overhaul the system—we need to embed soft skills into the work we already do.
How are you helping students develop these essential skills in your classroom? What barriers have you faced? What strategies have worked?
Join the conversation. Share your thoughts, your questions, or your own story. Let’s rethink what success in school should really mean.
References
- Bhatt, T. (2020). Soft skills training in teacher’s education: Provocation and opportunities.
- Cukier, W., Hodson, J., & Omar, A. (2015). “Soft” Skills Are Hard: A Review of the Literature.
- Heckman, J., & Kautz, T. (2012). The Hard Evidence of Soft Skills.
- Lambert, D. C. (2023). Soft Skills Don’t Have to Be Hard: Embedding Soft Skills Instruction in Moroccan Secondary Schools.
- National Soft Skills Association. (2019). Why soft skills are so difficult to teach.
- Strauss, V. (2017). The surprising thing Google learned about its employees.
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