There is ample evidence to discount the many disparaging and inaccurate terms (such as ‘soft’, non-technical, non-cognitive) used to refer to social skills.

Multiple terms are used to refer to the same skill. Sometimes skills, behaviours and attitudes are confused and used interchangeably. Social skills can be referred to as unmeasurable, and a lack of clear concepts can result in inconsistencies and inaccuracies in research, applications, and advice.

Each discipline has its own perspective and usually only draws on the work of fellow academics. Writers often fail to question their use of terms, further contributing to the lack of precision in terminology.

Sadly, these unhelpful terms continue to be widely used with social skills’ critical importance down-played or overlooked in favour of so-called ‘hard’ and ‘technical’ skills.

Reports regularly provide evidence of the critical importance of interpersonal relationships and communication skills in diverse contexts. Some reports also provide soundly-based definitions, show that skills and emotions are linked and work in tandem, and have vital impacts when performed poorly or treated in isolation. Context is critical.

This two-part article draws attention to ten recent reports that make clear how important social or people skills, both interpersonal and communication skills, are to not just work but to wider social wellbeing, career success, trust-building, social connections, and information assessment.

Emotional intelligence is needed for career success

Charles Chen explores importance of the human emotional aptitude for career success in Emotional Intelligence and Career Wellbeing (Canadian Journal of Career Development, vol 24, 1, 2025). Emotional intelligence (EI) refers to the ability to perceive, use, comprehend, and manage emotions. Research has shown that it is linked to job satisfaction and better interpersonal relationships. People with low EI lack awareness and understanding of emotions, and likely experience interpersonal and communication difficulties, and low EI affects thinking and problem-solving.

Emotions and ability to reflect are vital for career education

In MyFuture’s Insights Paper How emotions influence motivation and behaviour in career development learning states that, ‘Research shows that emotions influence students’ cognitive performance, motivation, goals and proactive behaviour, as well as their wellbeing.’

The paper explains that five components of emotions are interactive, dynamic and contextual: physiological, motor expression, cognitive, motivation and action, and subjective feeling. It then gives details of how positive and negative emotions about the past and future impact students and how career education strategies can be adapted.

Another My Future Insights Paper on career exploration highlights the critical importance of reflection in career exploration, helping people to ‘set career goals, make informed choices and adapt to change’. The paper advocates career exploration rather than career decision making, as ‘young people are seldom equipped with the self-awareness or knowledge of the world required to make confident, appropriate decisions’.

Social skills essential for learning

Essential skills for learning outlines work by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) to identify a set of five essential skills for learning: critical thinking, creative thinking, collaboration, communication, and self-regulation. These are skills that are central to the development of student learning, are teachable, and measurable, that is, ‘able to be demonstrated through observable behaviours in assessments and monitored in a consistent way across contexts’.

Two social skills are included in the five essential skills:

• ‘Collaboration is the capacity of an individual to contribute effectively in a group. This involves perseverance, contributing to team knowledge, valuing contributions of others and resolving differences. Effective collaboration involves a division of labour with participants who are engaged in active discourse that results in a compilation of their efforts.
• Communication is the capacity of individuals to clearly and effectively transmit and receive information to exchange ideas, construct meaning, and achieve a common understanding.’ P. 6

It is worth noting that self-regulation, another of the five skills, is a multi-faceted skill involving an element of EI: ‘taking responsibility for one’s learning through a continuous and active task of planning, monitoring, and evaluating one’s cognitive, behavioural, and emotional processes.’ P. 6

Inconsistent terminology and poor skill measurement have plagued discussions of social skills. ACER’s approach provides consistent terminology and levels of skill development so that ‘educators can identify where students are at in their development, identify how to improve, and how to measure and monitor observable behaviours or qualities of skills. By providing detailed, theory-driven, and evidence-based definitions, this means skills can be described in a consistent way, and how they are demonstrated and observed.’

ACER also points out that skills ‘are not separate from, or more important than, learning area knowledge, but rather that skills are central to learners developing increasingly sophisticated knowledge and deeper understandings in learning areas’. P. 11

Plus, they comment on skill transferability, another debated concept in the skills literature. ACER points out that ‘the generalisability of the skill terminology, therefore, does not imply students will automatically transfer skills in one domain to all others. Even when a skill entails broadly similar cognitive activities in different domains, there is no guarantee learners apply those actions without being prompted and scaffolded by the teacher. Likewise, generalised terminology does not mean students’ proficiency in a skill demonstrated in one domain transfers to all others. Discipline- or context-specific knowledge is integral to being able to demonstrate a skill; skill proficiency will not necessarily transfer to other contexts where deep knowledge is absent.’ P. 13

Giving and gaining consent requires nuanced skills

Teaching young people about healthy relationships, or consent education, has been mandatory in Australian schools since 2023. It sounds straight-forward, but the reality is that obtaining consent requires nuanced skills to apply to multiple situations. Saying ‘no’ is more complex than it seems, something that is not a box-ticking, transactional exercise. Researchers at Edith Cowan University explain the need for a more nuanced approach that can be used in diverse, real-life situations.

See Part two for the remaining six reports.