Journal Screenshot

International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and Development

Open Access Journal

ISSN: 2226-6348

Building Soft-Employability Skills (SES-KIT): Reliability, Face Validity and Content Validity Testing

Sarah Nadiah Rashidi, Faizah binti Abdul Majid, Hamimah Hashim

http://dx.doi.org/10.6007/IJARPED/v11-i3/14546

Open access

The aim of this paper is to design and validate a survey instrument known as Soft-Employability Skills Kit (SES-KIT) and to assess its reliability among Technical and Vocation Education Training (TVET) students. Through literature review, soft skills are found to be essential factors in employability among TVET graduates. The development of a contemporary instrument to measure students’ soft skills is necessary to promote awareness of the latest employability skills frameworks. SES-KIT was derived based on a mapping of eight employability skills frameworks and the top ten skills in the 21st century skills (World Economic Forum, 2020). Thirty-nine respondents from a TVET institution were included in this pilot study to measure reliability value and five experts were appointed to validate face and content validity. SES-KIT obtained a high reliability score of Cronbach alpha 0.961 and a good scale content validity index (S-CVI/Ave) value of 0.91. The next step of the research is to test this instrument to a larger scale of respondents.

Abdul Karim, Z. I., & Maat, S. M. (2019). Employability Skills Model for Engineering Technology Students. Journal of Technical Education and Training, 11(2).
https://doi.org/10.30880/jtet.2019.11.02.008
Bowling, A. (2009). Research methods in health: Investigative Health and Health Services (3rd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. 162—176.
Elangovan, N., & Sundaravel, E. (2021). Method of preparing a document for survey instrument validation by experts. MethodsX, 8, 101326.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mex.2021.101326
Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., & Anderson, R. E. (2010) Multivariate Data Analysis. 7th Edition, Pearson, New York.
Harkness, J. A. (2006) Round 3 ESS translation guidelines. ESS document.
Henry, C., Hill, F., & Leitch, C. (2005). Entrepreneurship education and training: can entrepreneurship be taught? Part I. Education + Training, 47(2), 98–111. https://doi.org/10.1108/00400910510586524
Longley, A., & Kensington-Miller, B. (2019). Visibilising the invisible: three narrative accounts evoking unassessed graduate attributes in dance education. Research in Dance Education, 21(1), 18–33. https://doi.org/10.1080/14647893.2019.1644616
Malaysian Qualifications Agency (2017), Malaysian Qualifications Framework. 2nd Edition. Petaling Jaya, Malaysia.
https://www.mqa.gov.my/pv4/document/mqf/2021/MQF%20Ed%202%2002102019%20updated%2017022021.pdf
Martinez, L. S. in M. Allen. Validity, Face and Content. (2017). The SAGE Encyclopedia of Communication Research Methods. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781483381411.n651
NCVER National Centre for Vocational Education Research (2003). Defining generic skills: At a glance. NCVER Adelaide.
https://www.ncver.edu.au/__data/assets/file/0020/4457/nr2102b.pdf
Oluwatayo, J. A. (2012). Validity and Reliability Issues in Educational Research. Journal of Educational and Social Research, 2(2), 391. Retrieved from
https://www.richtmann.org/journal/index.php/jesr/article/view/11851
Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA). (2004). The key skills qualification standards and guidance. (London: QCA). https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/4981/1/8929_qca04_1294.pdf
Rodrigues, I. B., Armstrong, J. J., Adachi, J. D., & MacDermid, J. C. (2016). Facilitators and barriers to exercise adherence in patients with osteopenia and osteoporosis: a systematic review. Osteoporosis International, 28(3), 735–745.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00198-016-3793-2
Rust, C. (2016). Shifting the focus from skills to graduateness. Phoenix. 148, 8-10
Scott, F. J., & Willison, D. (2021). Students’ reflections on an employability skills provision. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 45(8), 1118–1133.
https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877x.2021.1928025
Sheh, Y. S., Hanapi, Z., Mustapha, R., & Kiong, T. T. (2020). Soft Skills Among Hearing Impaired Graduates for Sustainability and Well-Being in Workplace. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 10(5). https://doi.org/10.6007/ijarbss/v10-i5/7187
World Economic Forum. (2020). The future of jobs: Emerging and declining skills. World Economic Forum, Geneva.
https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_of_Jobs_2020.pdf
Yusoff, M. S. B. (2019). ABC of Content Validation and Content Validity Index Calculation. Education in Medicine Journal, 11(2), 49–54. https://doi.org/10.21315/eimj2019.11.2.6
Zamanzadeh, V., Ghahramanian, A., Rassouli, M., Abbaszadeh, A., Alavi-Majd, H., & Nikanfar, A. R. (2015). Design and Implementation Content Validity Study: Development of an instrument for measuring Patient-Centered Communication. Journal of Caring Sciences, 4(2), 165–178. https://doi.org/10.15171/jcs.2015.017

In-Text Citation: (Rashidi et al., 2022)
To Cite this Article: Rashidi, S. N., Majid, F. A., & Hashim, H. (2022). Building Soft-Employability Skills (SES-KIT): Reliability, Face Validity and Content Validity Testing. International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and Development, 11(3), 638–649.