TRANSFERABLE SKILLS AND LIFELONG LEARNING

Today's education moves towards the epistemological approach or ways of knowing, which focuses on helping learners how to learn. There has been an increasing interest in exploring ways in which students learn and in particular, examining the potential of generic skills in lifelong learning, especially the role of reflection as a learning tool. Transferable skills are widely recognised as important component of any degree and for future employment. The aim of this paper is to explore the potential of generic/transferable skills in achieving deep meaningful and lifelong learning. Lifelong learning and the ability to transfer and apply skills to other settings such as future workplace is directly relevant to adult learning. This paper highlights the high desirable and commonly incorporated skills in education and employment, such as critical thinking, analytical, decision-making, reflection, problem-solving, teamwork, time management, interpersonal communication, presentation and written communication, application of knowledge, computer and research skills. One of the challenges facing educators is the development of curriculum which facilitates the acquisition of these generic skills in learners. Of equal importance is to explicitly include these generic skills in course content, objectives and the expected learning outcomes. Recommendations for development of assessment tasks that foster the application and testing of these generic skills among learners will be discussed, in particularly, the use of reflective journals, case studies and group presentations. Implications for education and research will also be presented.