By YuYu-Uche Okorie
Whether as an employer, employee, educator, learner or individual, there are basic soft skills one needs to acquire for career or organizational success.
As an educator/teacher, being emotionally Intelligent (aware) of yourself, learners and others around you will enhance your skills and positively impact on you, the learners and all.
Soft Skills describe how mindful or skillful we approach, communicate or interact with others. To so many people_soft skills_ sound like the core secret search and want of reputable recruiters for their high profile clients or organizations from potential or existing employees and not the necessary requirements in ‘teacher engagement’.
Some of the skills are not limited to leadership skills, critical/analytical thinking, team spirit, time management skill and more.
There is no doubt that any teacher’s ability to possess and transfer these essential skills to the learners in the manner they understand, can make significant impact in awakening and sharpening the mental power of the learners.
Every teachers ability to rightfully apply soft skills, strategies & actions that ignite Curiosity, leadership abilities, perseverance, analytical & problem solving mindset, empathy, increase Motivation and more could spring up high sense of responsibility, entrepreneurial ability and promote independence in children.
It is important to know that a teacher’s ability to arouse the curiosity and creativity in children with actionable and engaging activities highly inspire and stimulate the understanding of children. Also of great importance at the peak of motivation, is a teacher’s ability to introduce a *Class Culture* that models, captures the nation’s rule of law, school vision as well as the overall well-being of the children, promotes values and morals, upholds committment and patriotism in all.
Though to a very visible extent one may rightly say that emotional intelligence soft/skills acquisition and application are unconsciously downplayed or not applied by most teachers without the knowledge of some school authorities whose core focus perhaps is centred on the completion of the term or year lesson plan.
As the new academic year ( for Primary and Secondary school education in Nigeria) draws near. It is important the government, stakeholders take decisive action on the review of the curriculum, training and retraining of teachers, the overall welfare of the children and teachers to enhance performance and ensure sustainable development of our great nation and Africa at large.
YuYu-Uche Okorie is an educator & certified human resource personnel.
