Students' readiness

Social competence is the ability to interact socially and to actively establish social relationships with other people, either at work or in other environments where you meet people on a regular basis. This also includes the ability to work in teams, to be critical, to objectively view your own position and situation as well as to feel empathy for others.

When you google "social competence" you will mainly find results that connect the term "social competence" to children and in how far this particular competence is developing during childhood.

Once a child becomes an adolescent the "social competence" evolves into "social-ethical competence" since there will be more diverse social situations in which new people will be encountered. Also, social interactions gain in depth and hence require more developed skills.

In addition, the component "emotions" has to be considered when speaking of social or social-ethical competence. Depending on which author or researcher you ask, "emotions" are either added to social competence or being viewed as a separate element. Nonetheless, humans are emotional beings. Hence, emotions will influence anybody's' actions. Being able to handle your own emotions is an imperative skill that has to be developed. In some situations, you may need to be more objective and calm in order to make a good decision, in other situations you should feel unrestricted and free, e.g. within the family. The ability to handle your emotions is being referred to as "emotional intelligence".

Generally, the social/social-ethical competence, as well as your emotional intelligence, go hand in hand. The Australian "Mental Health Initiative" made a nice video of the combination of those two elements.

Common characteristics of social/social-ethical competence are:

• Respectful
  
• Open-minded
  
• Willing to learn
  
• Activeness
  
• Self-confident
  
• Self-awareness
• Responsible decision-making
• Self-regulated
• Relationship-skills
• Reliable
  
• Attentive
  
• Autonomous
• Target-oriented
  
• Committed
  
• Tolerant
• Knowledge of social norms/values