Abstract:
"Relational skills are increasingly considered essential in professional environments and, more generally, in
the overall development of individuals. Whether it is in the context of occupations focused on helping relationships (nurse, social work or special education technician, teacher, psychologist, etc.) or on business relationships and customer service (entrepreneur, technician in various fields, etc.), or even in occupations that simply involve collaboration in an organization, relational skills are, beyond knowledge and know-how, at the heart of the competent action that individuals must be able to mobilize. Thus, we can understand the concern of
an internship supervisor who observes a student’s tendency to interact informally in a context requiring professional distance; or the discomfor of a politics teacher who, in a debate, sees one of their students continually interrupting the other participants; or the discouragement of a nursing teacher who observes, during an intervention simulation, a student’s lack of interest in the fears expressed by the person role-playing the patient. If relational skills are at the heart of competent action, it seems reasonable to believe that they should be taught and evaluated in a college teaching context... but how?
This article addresses the issue of teaching and assessing relational skills through oral interaction. It offers a summary of reflections accompanied by elements of analysis, tools and resources likely to help teachers who wish to support the development of their students’ relational skills."-- AQPC
