Development of Non-technical Skills in a Multicultural Environment: Case study in Latvia

The world today is characterized by globalization, rapid development of information technologies, a multicultural environment and a diversity of values resulting from active human migration and cultural exchanges. Today’s pupils will have to create an unprecedented, new economic, political, social and cultural environment in the future. The World Economic Forum foresees that 65% of young people who are starting school at the moment will be employed in a profession that does not exist today. Therefore, in today’s multi-cultural workplace, it is becoming increasingly important for an individual not only to have concrete skills to carry out his or her direct work duties, but also to his or her non-technical or transversal skills, i.e. to communicate and interact with other people in all areas of human activity, to make decisions independently, etc. Non-technical or transversal skills, largely determine the competitiveness of each member of the society and the development of society as a whole. The aim of the article is to analyze the assessment of non-technical skills in a multicultural society at different stages of education (for pupils and students) and in the workplace (for teachers and other professionals). A survey of 257 respondents was conducted for this purpose. The survey results show that non-technical skills ratings for teachers and other professionals are generally higher than for pupils and students. Respondents say they are actively pursuing the development of their communication and collaboration skills, and less the decision-making skills. The respondents say to achieve this by taking part in day-to-day training and the working environment in the multicultural community, in group or team work, in social projects, and by reading literature, attending further training courses, etc.