9 BTC Students Participate in Pilot Program on Employability
Skills with the Experience Accelerator Start-up
April
14, 2019
According
to the BAYT 2018 Middle East Skills Report, 71% of professionals in Bahrain
believe there is a skills gap in the MENA region. Companies reported having
difficulty in recruiting graduates with relevant skills, particularly noting a
lack of relevant work experience. In order to address this weakness, the
University of Bahrain is seeking to develop a scheme that establishes a culture
of life-long autonomous skill development and focuses attention on the
requirements of employers.
The
University of Bahrain and The Experience Accelerator, an innovative education
technology startup based in Bahrain, partnered on a pilot scheme with a group
of final year teacher training students to evaluate the impact of their
approach for soft skills development. The topic areas of focus were delivery
effective feedback and coaching. The program was led in the BTC by Dr. Lucy
Bailey, Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Studies, who said,
"Over the course of the programme, every student saw a 40-80% increase in
their skill level in these key areas. With the introduction of this programme,
the BTC and the UoB are ensuring that our students match the skills of
graduates from the top universities worldwide."
Nine
students from the Bahrain Teaching College were selected to participate in the
pilot. In the program, each student participated in video role plays, completed
online learning requirements, and analyzed personal feedback on coaching
performance. Mr. Ahmed Moosa, a Year 4 student in the Department of English,
indicated that the program gave him new skills in active listening, which he
felt would be extremely useful as a teacher. Mr. Ahmed Tarish, another Year 4
student in the Department of English, called it “a delightful experience, as we
got to practice using our newly acquired coaching skills in online sessions
with professional tutors.” Ms. Muneera Khaled, also a Year 4 student in the
Department of English, said “I think that the soft skills I developed during
this course are extremely important to shape the leaders of tomorrow.”