Last month, I made a presentation at a Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis conference where a research study was presented on the impact of soft skills training in the Kenyan labour markets at Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVETs).
The research study applied the methodology of Randomised Controlled Experiments (CRTs), a common public policy research analysis methodology. Basically, a group of students went through controlled soft skills training, while another did not.
The results were shocking as most students who never went through the training struggled at the end of their studies with soft skills after graduating.
When the results were presented, what amazed me was how the Ministry of Education officials, especially the State Department of TVETs, disputed the findings.
They asked trivial questions about the study, such as sample size, area of study, and respondents' demographics, never the methodology, which made me realise that there was a huge crisis in teaching soft skills to our TVET graduates.
Today, many TVET graduates are unable to apply soft skills to start jobs despite having technical skills. In the job market, soft skills can take you far.
Without them, middlemen who have mastered them, take advantage, hire the graduates and pay them peanuts despite offering the services from their technical skills. Does equiping TVETs and Tech Universities graduates with soft skills matter?
How do we solve the soft skills training crisis at our TVETs?
First, our TVETs need to integrate soft skills units or modules directly into their curricula. The Ministry of Education must ensure that this includes communication, teamwork, problem-solving, social intelligence, emotional intelligence, and many more.
Embedding these skills into practical assignments, group projects, and internships allows the graduates to apply them in real-world contexts.
Secondly, strengthen industry partnerships to ensure that training aligns with workplace expectations and that students have soft skills to enable them to start their businesses.
Third, develop career services opportunities that can offer workshops on CV writing, interviews, and workplace etiquette. In addition, instructors should receive training to model and mentor soft skills effectively.
Fourth, the assessment frameworks also need to evolve to evaluate both technical competence and soft skills, and the Ministry of Education should ensure that this is implemented because the devil is always in the details of implementation.
Fifth, TVETs need to receive regular feedback from employers to help them refine their pedagogical approach. This will ensure that students leave with not just technical know-how, but also the interpersonal capabilities needed to thrive in diverse work environments.
The bottom line is that we will not achieve the aims of TVETs, which are supposed to be the drivers of job creation to solve the unemployment crisis. Soft skills are not just extras; they are essential for employability and long-term career growth.
This will ensure that graduates leave with not just technical know-how, but the interpersonal capabilities needed to thrive in diverse work environments.
The writer is an award-winning professor and teaches Actuarial Science at Meru University of Science and Technology (Must). He is an AI researcher and a public policy analyst.
