Evaluation of teamwork competence. View of teachers and employers

The development and assessment of skills from graduate students throughout their studies, has been incorporated into the new framework established by the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) as a new with respect to the previous model. Under this new approach, students, acquire transversal and specific skills development in their academic stage, in order to improve their personal and professional profile with implementation warranties. The main aim of this work is about the used methodology at university for teamwork transversal skill assessment, and knowing about human resources office assessment of this type of skills in candidates for a job vacancy. For doing this, brief semi-structured interviews were conducted and recorded with several teachers from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya who evaluate or have evaluated this competence in their subjects and with several people who are professionally dedicated to the selection human resources. After the transcription of the interviews, a qualitative analysis of data collected was carried out. This analysis showed different methodologies used in the two areas of study and the difficulties in evaluating this competence. Moreover, it was observed that while in the academic field teachers and the students have more time to carry out the assessment of this skill and demonstrate its acquisition, but in the labor area, the candidate must demonstrate to the employer the acquisition and development of this skill in a short time. The difficulty in evidencing the competence for teamwork and even other skills in a short time, suggest that it would be useful to have some tool that would allow candidates to demonstrate their degree of development in the transversal skills faster and easier.
Peer Reviewed
Postprint (published version)