Research projects

Traditionally, the field of Economics of Education and educational studies, as well as recent international large-scale assessment tests of academic achievement, have paid great attention to hard skills, within which students' competencies are framed. However, as knowledge increases about the skills that the population needs to carry out their tasks in both the labour and personal world, it becomes more evident that there are other skills, i.e. the so-called soft skills, that can become as relevant as hard skills in these areas. In this context, the current empirical evidence on soft skills in the case of Spain in relation to their determinants and influence on the working life of the population is quite scarce, in addition to being mostly correlational. Furthermore, the potential gender differences that could exist in these skills have also not been explored in depth. So far, this project has shown that soft skills present gender differences both in the development of academic skills and in the probability of attending university education by students in Andalusia. Furthermore, it has been found that the development of these soft skills requires planning by the authorities, so that it is achieved equitably in each of the aspects that they encompass, since the time available to students in their academic training is limited and is usually oriented to a greater extent towards hard skills. Additionally, similar results have been found for other countries, in which it has also been found that soft skills require balanced learning.