Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
ScienceDirect Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 191 (2015) 6 – 11
WCES 2014
A Constructive Alignment Approach for Assessing Essential Cultural Soft Skills in Tourism Simon Caruanaa *, Maggie Mcphersonb a b
University Junior College, Guze’ Debono Square, Msida MSD 1252, Malta University of Leeds, School of Education, Hillary Place, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK
Abstract The aim of this study is to identify the ‘Essential 21 stC Cultural’ knowledge and skills for the Maltese hospitality industry. Once identified, it would be possible to define clear Intended Learning Outcomes (ILO’s) which will be incorporated into the undergraduate curriculum at the Institute of Tourism, Travel and Culture at the University of Malta. By ‘aligning’ tasks and other activities to the ILO’s students would be able to achieve clearly defined levels of cultural knowledge and skills. Finally, a cultural competence theoretical framework will be developed in order to enable academic staff in this field to be able assess the level acquired for a given skill and accredit it. 2014The TheAuthors. Authors.Published Published Elsevier © 2015 © byby Elsevier Ltd.Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of WCES 2014. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of WCES 2014 Keywords: Culture, Soft Skills, Constructive Alignment, Tourism, Higher Education;
1. Introduction Employers have expressed concern that Higher Education graduates have inadequate/incomplete soft skill-sets, thus unable to quickly take up roles within the workforce and rapidly become active contributors/leading figures. For example, being unable to interpret the cultural signals coming from the customer is often a critical factor for not providing a high level of service. Constable and Touloumakos (2009) suggest that many different countries share the same concern. Some employers tend to see most new graduates as somewhat self-centred, unable to integrate within an existing team and expecting to be placed in a senior position without demonstrating the right qualities for leadership etc. (Schultz, 2008). Maltese policy makers frequently make reference to human capital as being the only resource of the country and that the further and higher education sectors are critical towards providing learners with the right skills and competences (NCFHE, 2009). Such skills shortages jeopardise economic recovery, growth and
* Simon Caruana Tel.: +356 9944-9697 E-mail address:
[email protected]
1877-0428 © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of WCES 2014 doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.04.404
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competitiveness (ACTE, 2010; OECD 2012). This is especially more so when looking at the Maltese services industries sector such as tourism and hospitality, which is significant contributor to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with a value of around 24% (Azzopardi, 2011), which is well above the European Union average of around 10%†(EC, 2013a). 2. Defining 21st Century Skills The aspect of providing learners with the right skill set has been a pertaining issue. Kaipa, Milus, Chowdary and Jagadeesh, (2005) list leadership, decision making, communication, creativity and others as being essential for entrepreneurial success and maximising human capital in organisations. Constable and Touloumakos (2009) come up with a similar list for City and Guilds in the United Kingdom. A detailed study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (2009) focuses on the ‘New Millennium Learner’ that has similar characteristics to the 21st century student outlined by Borges (2007). The latter looks at the skills these learners require in order to be successful in today’s knowledge economies. The OECD groups the Information Technology and Communication (ICT) and other skills, ICT functional skills – skills relevant to mastering different ICT applications, ICT skills for learning – skills combining both higher order thinking skills and functional skills for use and management of ICT applications, 21st century skills – skills considered necessary in the knowledge society but where the use of ICT is not a necessary condition. Redecker et. al. (2011) base themselves on the Europe 2020 Agenda (EC, 2004) and look at ways how to prepare learners for living in a future society. They provide a conceptual map that indicates personalisation, informalisation (i.e. informal learning) and collaboration as the key factors in the learning activities of the future. Their conceptual map (Figure 1.0) indicates a series of drivers that need to be considered within the current and future EU educational scenarios. Studies that specifically target Higher Education come up with quite similar lists of skills. Camilleri (2010) refers to entrepreneurship, ICT, working with voluntary organizations, the learning of foreign languages, culture related activities, as being both enhancing one’s personal development and his/her employability.
Figure 1.0 Conceptual map of the future of learning, (JRC, 2011 p:9)
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Lowden, Hall, Elliot and Levin, (2011) looked at employers’ perceptions of the employability skills of new graduates. Employers came up with the following list: x x x x x x x x x
Team working Problem solving Self-management Knowledge of the Business Literacy and numeracy relevant to the post ICT knowledge Good interpersonal and communication skills Ability to use own initiative but also to follow instructions Leadership skills where necessary
All these examples raise a further issue. There are different definitions and different lists of skills, yet a degree of overlap is evident. Suto (2013) refers to an article by Silva (2009) who argues that there are hundreds of different definitions of ‘soft skills’. Silva uses the term ‘Any Century Skills’ as she contends that they were held in esteem by earlier thinkers such as John Dewey and even Socrates (2009). Silva however provides a point that may help define 21st century skills. She argues that the emphasis should be upon “what students can do with knowledge rather than what knowledge do they have” (Silva, 2009, p:630). Pegg, Waldcock, Hendy-Isaac and Lawton (2012) use the term ‘Employability Skills’ to refer to skills that are listed at least in part in the previously mentioned examples. They also go over various different definitions as to what constitute employability skills within Higher Education (HE). This makes it quite difficult to come up with a ‘universal model’ to incorporate what they term as employability skills in Higher Education Institutions (HEI) curricula. Pegg et. al. (2012) go on to suggest that HEI should look towards a “more individualized approach to both their students’ employability needs and the academic methods of delivery” (p:21). Such an approach would enable HEI to live up to their responsibilities with respect to national policy, institutional strategy and course level engagement with the country’s/region’s employability agenda. They go on to suggest that the onus is upon the HEI to adapt and create their own models to create effective curricula in order to respond to these challenges. 3. 21st Century Culture Skills and the Maltese Tourism and Hospitality Sector The relevance of the tourism/hospitality sector to the Maltese economy was re-affirmed in the Malta Government’s Vision 2015 (OPM, 2007) document where the tourism sector is identified as one of the seven ‘areas of excellence’ that will be making up the Maltese economy in the near future. The Maltese National Commission for Further and Higher Education (NCFHE) Skills for the Future Report (2009b) suggests thatthousands of jobs will be created in the tourism and hospitality sector. It also suggests that they will be requiring what they define as ‘Transversal Skills’ for all the areas found within the tourism and hospitality sector. Given the importance of Tourism to the Maltese economy, it is somewhat evident that failing to have persons with the appropriate soft skills set may be quite detrimental for the entire Maltese economy. A detailed, EU sponsored study has already been carried out (Vassallo, 2010), that compares the current training profiles and existing certification systems in four EU member states, namely Malta, Cyprus Italy and Portugal. The study indicates that there is a need for a skilled workforce in order to step up the degree of service provided. However, there is little if any reference to customer cultural values and the focus is more on operational, problem-solving skills and competencies. The European Commission Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry places great importance on the need to develop a skills framework for the Tourism sector. At present, there is an ongoing project that ultimately aims to create an EU-based skill competency framework by the end of 2014. This is being developed in conjunction with the European Skills/Competences, qualifications and Occupations (ESCO) that has the objective of classifying jobs, qualifications and skills in a standardized fashion (ESCO, 2013) with the scope of facilitating job mobility within the tourism/hospitality industry across EU member states (EC, 2013b). When discussing cultural values at the workplace, Kirman, Lowe and Gibson (2006) argue that it is almost inevitable not to mention Geert Hofstede landmark cultural values framework. They argue that while other frameworks have been developed it is probably the most influential. They list a total of 40 different journals having published studies between 1980 and 2002
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where Hofstede’s cultural values framework has been utilised. Mead and Andrews (2011) share a similar view. However, it appears that the majority of the studies using Hoftstede’s cultural values framework (Kirkman et. al, 2006), seem to treat the relationships between employees and management albeit in different settings, either regional or within a particular group sector. Smith et. al, (2011) investigate workers within cross-national settings whereas Lee-Ross and Pryce (2010) look at diversity management in tourism and hospitality. Weiermair, (2000) was among the first to investigate the tourists’ perceptions in a cross cultural environment. Crotts & Erdmann utilize Hofstede’s model (2000) to suggest that national culture does indeed influence the evaluation of travel related services. Southall (2009) looks specifically at the impact of cultural values on business practices in the tourism and hospitality industry. She argues that just as it is important to take into account the employees’ diverse cultural values, it is equally important to meet the diverse cultural needs of the visitors. The need for cultural awareness is a concern for all the stakeholders, namely the tourists themselves and the services providers. From a purely business perspective, having the leaders in the industry who are able to understand the diverse cultures of visitors is critical. They are the ones who will develop policies and take decisions that will have an effect on the culturally diverse tourists. Their decisions will affect income generation and competitiveness that will have an impact upon long-term survival (Southall, 2009). However, while cultural awareness is fundamental, defining culture within the appropriate context becomes a critical factor (Southall, 2009). Given the significance of the Maltese tourism and hospitality sector within Malta’s economy, being able to identify the ‘Essential 21st century cultural’ skills for the Maltese hospitality industry is a fundamental step. This will be carried out through a series of in-depth interviews with the main stakeholders in the Maltese tourism and hospitality industry. This will enable appropriate Intended Learning Outcomes (ILO’s), as proposed by Biggs and Tang (2011) to be defined in order for students to acquire the desired level of competence for a defined culture-related skill. 4. Constructive Alignment In Constructive Alignment Biggs and Tang (2011) appear to provide a learning theory that is able to respond to the current challenges posed to HE today (e.g. gradual decrease in funding/resources, increase in the number of persons opting for HE) yet retain a high quality of return in terms of the ‘quality’ of the graduates provided – as a result being able to respond to the challenges posed by 21 st century society. They argue that for effective teaching there must be: x x x x
Student involvement in learning (motivation) An improvement in the teaching/learning climate Reflective teaching (transformative reflection ) Teachers improving their teaching
Within constructive alignment students ‘construct’ meaning through relevant learning activities. This is not imparted or transmitted but is something that the learners have to create themselves. The role of the teacher is that of a catalyst. The ‘alignment’ refers to the fact that the desired outcomes of the teaching is related not only to the content but also to the level of understanding that is required to be reached by the students. An appropriate environment must therefore be created to facilitate the engagement of the students within the activities provided designed to achieve the intended learning outcomes. Through participation in the learning activities, the students would be able to provide the evidence of their achievement of the previously set learning outcomes. This implies a change of the design of teaching. Students cannot be taught ‘evidence’, they are to reflect on their experience and provide it themselves. The teaching method has to include a series of negotiations as to how the evidence might be provided and the assessment would be based on the quality of the evidence provided by the students. The approach suggested by Biggs and Tang (2011) suggests that there are areas where ‘soft’ or culture-related skills are an integral part of the HE teaching environment that requires the learner acquire functional knowledge. That is knowledge that implies the use of theory (declarative knowledge) to solve problems. Rather than soft skills or 21 st century soft skills they use the term ‘Graduate Outcomes’ and suggest some simple Intended Learning Outcomes (ILO’s) for each, together with possible teaching/learning situations as indicated in the table below:
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Simon Caruana and Maggie Mcpherson / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 191 (2015) 6 – 11 Table 1 Areas for developing functional knowledge. Graduate Outcomes Sample Ilo’s Professional Competence Apply, Solve Problems Creativity Design, Invent Communication Explain, Write Teamwork Cooperate, Lead Lifelong Learning Reflect, Develop Ethical Sense Explain Codes Of Practice, Behave Biggs and Tang (2011, p:162)
Teaching/Learning Situations Laboratory, Workplace, Placement Workplace, Home, Studio Everywhere Workplace, Classroom, Computer Everywhere Classroom, Workplace, Placement
5. Concluding Remarks There various challenges that arise from just identifying the essential 21C cultural skills as deemed by the Maltese Tourism and Hospitality sector. Kirkman et. al. (2006) already indicated that various cultural frameworks exist, and others have since been developed(Lewis, 2006). It is therefore imperative to analyse them in detail in order to determine the ‘list’ of 21st century cultural skills. These will initially involve the employers, but it will subsequently involve the other research groups so as to identify the ‘essential 21st century cultural skills. Staff and students will have to be engaged in order to define what constitutes evidence and how to provide evidence that a specific soft skill/graduate outcome (outlined at the beginning of a course) would have been acquired by students throughout the course programme. It is only at this stage that it would be possible to incorporate these skills and corresponding tasks into parts of the HE curriculum. Another aspect is that of having an environment that facilitates the measurement of the quality of the evidence provided. A competence framework for each essential 21century cultural skill will have to be developed. Each skill needs to be analysed to identify the components or ‘facets’ that lie within. The principles underlying faceted classification will be applied in order to align well defined tasks for a particular facet (Geiss, Wild & Mcahon, 2008). As a result the evidence provided by the students – the execution of a given task, will enable the lecturer/instructor to assess the level of knowledge and/or skill acquired by the student and subsequently accredit. The final objective is to utilise ICT in order to facilitate the entire process of submission of evidence, provide immediate feedback, encourage students to reflect on their work and formalise the assessment and accreditation process. Various tools are being investigated, such as OpenBadges (2013), iTEC widgets (2013) and others. Flint and Johnson (2011) point out assessment surrounds all that students do in a university. By improving assessment it would be possible to improve the students’ university experience. Gray et. al.(2010) acknowledge the potential of using Web2.0 applications for improving assessment in HE. Some of these applications may be integrated with the existing learning management systems. However, they argue that more research is required to address what they consider to be a critical issue that is, that the guidelines for designing and conducting assessment through student Web2.0 authoring are still underdeveloped. It is envisaged that this study, once complete will provide a possible response for this query. References ACTE, Association for Career and Technical Education, (2010), Up to the Challenge: The Role of Career and Technical Education and 21st Azzopardi, E., (2011), The international competitiveness of Malta as a tourist destination. Available from OpenAIR@RGU. Retrieved from: http://openair.rgu.ac.uk. Biggs, J. & Tang, C., (2011), Teaching for Quality Learning at University (4 th Ed). Maidenhead, Open University Press. Borges, F., (2007), The virtual environment student. An initial approximation. In: Federico Borges (Cord.). The virtual environment student [online dossier]. Digithum. Iss.9. UOC. Retrieved from: http://www.uoc.edu/digithum/9/eng/index.html. Camilleri, J., (2010), 2020 Vision or Optical Illusion. Malta, University of Malta. Retrieved from: http://www.um.edu.mt/__data/assets/pdf_file/0012/111090/uom2020.pdf. Century Skills in College and Career Readiness. Partnership for 21st Century Skills Report. Retrieved from: http://www.p21.org/storage/documents/CTE_Oct2010.pdf. Constable, S., Touloumakos, A.K., (2009), Satisfying Employer Demand for Skills. A report prepared for City & Guilds by the Work Foundation. Retrieved from: http://www.workfoundation.com/assets/docs/publications/219_emp_skills030409.pdf. Crotts, J. & Erdmann, R., (2000), Does national culture influence consumers’ evaluation of travel services? A test of Hofstede’s model of cross cultural differences. Managing Service Quality,10(6), 410-419. European Commission (EC) Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry. (2013a), Tourism EU Policy Background. Retrieved from: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/tourism/background/index_en.htm.
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