UAE schools must focus on students’ soft skills as part of their wellbeing
Post-pandemic realities suggest major changes are needed, finds Everfi survey
Dubai: As a new school year beckons, UAE students’ mental health and mental well-being must remain a focus area according to new research by Eeverfi Middle East.
Students will need to be taught a range of soft skills, with communication (95 per cent) and problem-solving (91 per cent) skills rated as the most important. Some other soft skills such as healthy relationships, emotional well-being, family and social values, anger control, spreading positivity, and emotional health also figure.
But only 36 per cent of teachers felt confident to deliver these, according to the survey. Everfi conducted this survey with teachers across the UAE to understand more about their needs and priorities in light of the impact of COVID-19 and distance learning. The majority of respondents were following a British curriculum in line.
Managing mental well-being emerges as one of the top soft skills to be taught in classrooms during the pandemic...
Sheherzad Kaleem, General Manager for Everfi Middle East, said, “We had the highest level of responses from classroom teachers (48 per cent) in addition to a good mixture of roles amongst senior leadership (41 per cent).”