Technical and vocational education is no longer a "second class" option in the eye of the community because of its significant role in producing human capital for industries. Hence, consistent efforts have been done by Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions to enhance the students’ skills and capability. Recently, a lot of graduates are unable to secure a job after graduating because of a failure to meet the employer's expectation. The reasons are because employers normally have their preference criteria in recruitment, such as having a good employability skills. Therefore, this concept paper has been developed in order to study the importance of generic skills in improving the employability of Malaysian vocational students. The "CareerEDGE" model have been used to further discuss the relevant generic skills needed by TVET students in Malaysia. In addition, the elements of generic skills that are important to vocational students will be identified then it will be presented to the stakeholder, which are The Malaysia Ministry of Education in formulating effective vocational education and training strategies towards the development of high skilled and competitive graduates. In this study, critical thinking and problem-solving skills, communication skills and leadership skills have been discovered as the main components of generic skills to be addressed to vocational school students. As a conclusion, generic skills should be applied thoroughly by all parties because it will benefit the student by improving their skills and self-esteem in order to compete in the career world.
Abdullah, M. Y., Muhamad, B., Talip, R., Ambotang, A. S., & Zain, S. (2012). Motivasi Dari Perspektif Pendidikan. Utusan Borneo, p. B4.
Abdullah, N. H. (2007). Pengurusan Kemahiran Insaniah dalam Membangunkan Modal Insan Melalui Aktiviti Ko-Kurikulum di UTHM. (Doctoral dissertation, Tesis Sarjana Tidak Diterbitkan. Batu Pahat, Johor: UTHM [Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia]).
Amiruddin, M. H., Ngadiran, I. A., Zainudin, F. L., & Ngadiman, N. (2016). Tahap kemahiran generik pelajar Malaysia dalam proses pengajaran dan pembelajaran?: Kajian kes pelajar Institut Kemahiran Mara , Johor Baharu Malaysian students ’ l evel of generic skill in teaching and learning process?: A case study of Mara Skills Insti. Journal of Society and Space, 3(3), 111–121.
Amiruddin, M. H., Samad, N. A., & Othman, N. (2015). An Investigation Effects of Mastery Learning Strategy on Entrepreneurship Knowledge Acquisition among Aboriginal Students. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 204(November 2014), 183–190. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.08.131
Ariff, T. M. T. (2002). Ciri-ciri Kualiti Pelajar Untuk Keperluan Pekerjaan Pada Masa Kini, Seminar Antara Industri dan Institusi Pendidikan Awam.
Bandura, A. (1995). Exercise of personal and collective efficacy in changing. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Buntat, Y. (2000). Kemahiran “ Employability ” ( Soft Skills ) dan Kepentingan Penerapannya di Kolej-kolej Kediaman Pelajar. Program, (March).
Buntat, Y., Saud, M. S., & Hussain, H. A. (2008). Cabaran Politeknik Sultan Ahmad Shah (POLISAS) Membangunkan Modal Insan Sejajar Dengan Keperluan Sektor Industri. International Conference on Education, 1–12.
Che Hasniza Che Noh. (2004). Hubungan keluarga dari aspek komunikasi dan gaya keibubapaan. Communication, 45–57.
Cotton, K. (2003). Developing employability skills. Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory.
Fugate, M., Kinicki, A. J., & Ashforth, B. E. (2004). Employability: A psycho-social construct, its dimensions, and applications. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 65(1), 14–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2003.10.005
Hanafi, S. B. (2015). Kesediaan Pelajar dari Aspek Kemahiran Teknikal Terhadap Pembentukan Kebolehkerjaan di Kolej Vokasional Wilayah Selatan. Universiti Tun Hussein Onn.
Hanapi, Z., Kamis, A., Kiong, T. T., & Hanapi, M. H. (2016). Jurang integrasi kemahiran employabiliti di Malaysia?: Satu kajian empirikal graduan kejuruteraan Kolej Komuniti Integrated employability skills gaps in Malaysia?: An empirical study of Community College graduates, 3(3), 145–153.
Haron, M. A., Mohammad Hussain, M. A., Ali, E., Che Rus, R., & Mohammad Zulkifli, R. (2019). The Importance of Generic Skills for Technical and Vocational Students Employability. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 9(7), 1–14.
Haslina Md Yunus, Abdul Razaq Ahmad, & Anisa saleha. (2015). Kemahiran Insaniah ke arah Pembentukan Potensi Pelajar. 7th International Seminar on Regional Education, 1, 198–215.
Husain, M. Y., Mokhtar, S. B., & Alias, A. H. (2015). Persepsi Pelajar Kejuruteraan Politeknik Terhadap Kemahiran Employability?: Satu Kajian Kes ( Polytechnic Engineering Students Perceptions of the Employability Skills?: A Case Study ). Advanced Journal of Technical and Vocational Education, 1(2), 25–32.
Husain, M. Y., Rasul, M. S., Mustapha, R., Malik, S. A., Amnah, R., & Rauf, A. (2013). Jurnal Teknologi Full paper Tahap Kemahiran Employability Pelajar Kejuruteraan dari Perspektif, 1, 31–39.
Ismail, A., Abu Bakar, R., Nailul Munna Abg Abdullah, D., Maja, A., Ong Guatleng Muhammad Madi Abdullah Politeknik Kuching, C., Kunci, K., … dan Prestasi Pengajian, P. (2007). Peranan Program Mentoring Dalam Pembangunan Pelajar: Satu Kajian Di Sebuah Universiti Awam Di Malaysia Timur. Malderez & Bodoczky, Dondero(0gos), 18–19.
Jabatan Pembangunan Kemahiran Malaysia. (n.d.).
Kementerian Kewangan Malaysia. (2017). Ucapan Bajet Tahun 2017. In Mof (pp. 1–64). https://doi.org/10.10
In-Text Citation: (Haron, Mohammad Hussain, Ali, Che Rus, & Mohammad Zulkifli, 2019)
To Cite this Article: Haron, M. A., Mohammad Hussain, M. A., Ali, E., Che Rus, R., & Mohammad Zulkifli, R. (2019). The Importance of Generic Skills for Technical and Vocational Students Employability. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 9(7), 33–45.
Copyright: © 2019 The Author(s)
Published by Human Resource Management Academic Research Society (www.hrmars.com)
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode