Developing Employability Skills: The “TutorIA” Project

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Introduction to “TutorIA”

Last academic year, FP ASPASIA centers launched the innovative “TutorIA” project aimed at assessing and enhancing students’ socio-emotional competencies. This ambitious initiative, funded by CaixaBank Dualiza and FPEmpresa, integrates artificial intelligence (AI) to enrich teaching and learning processes. In a recent meeting, project leaders shared their experiences and outcomes, highlighting its positive impact and outlining the next steps.

The session began with an introduction by Noelia Martínez Miguélez, Deputy Director of Escuela de Profesionales Alcazarén and project lead for “TutorIA” within FP Grupo Aspasia centers. Noelia explained that the overarching goal was to evaluate, develop, and certify socio-emotional competencies for employment and entrepreneurship within vocational education. “We worked with AI to engage employers and all students from the five participating centers,” she noted. Although full student participation was not achieved, the project met its objectives, with phases progressing largely as planned despite some delays.

The specific goals of the “TutorIA” project were:

  1. Evaluate and certify students’ socio-emotional competencies.
  2. Develop teaching guides and activities to enhance these competencies.
  3. Improve students’ emotional skills.

Project Phases

  1. The project began with training sessions for all centers on using the Human AI tool, which was later implemented in classrooms. Group tutors introduced the project and conducted the corresponding evaluations. Before reviewing the results of the first evaluation, comprehensive documentation was provided to teachers, detailing the competencies and interpretation of scores.
  2. Following the initial evaluation, a global statistical analysis was conducted, encompassing results from all five centers and individual centers. This analysis identified priority competencies for student development, forming the basis for targeted efforts in the classroom.
  3. Teachers guided students in interpreting the reports generated by the AI tool, helping them understand their results at both personal and consultative levels. These insights allowed students to set improvement goals based on the assessed areas.
  4. By late May and early June, students had the opportunity to undergo a second evaluation. Some opted to repeat the process, while others deemed it unnecessary. In certain cases, competencies improved due to workplace training, where students applied their skills in real-world settings.
  5. The teaching materials created are now available on FP Aspasia’s website and accessible to any interested educational institution, domestically or internationally. These resources include guides, group and individual activities, presentations for teachers, and suggested dynamics. Specific guides were also developed for competencies such as perseverance, decision-making, emotional well-being, assertive communication, empathy, and social anxiety.
  6. Finally, an action plan was established, organized into a timeline for competency development throughout the academic year. The plan will be expanded in subsequent years, adapting to the needs of teaching teams and vocational training programs.

“We hope this system of student support enhances employability and fosters personal and professional growth,”

The Scientific and Psychological Model: OCEAN Framework

Beatriz Abad, a psychologist and R&D coordinator at Human AI, presented the theoretical framework behind the “TutorIA” project. Known as the Big Five or OCEAN model, it categorizes personality into five dimensions: Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism.

“The Big Five model is a cornerstone of personality theories, universally accepted and studied across cultures for decades,” Beatriz explained. This approach helps researchers identify and develop socio-emotional competencies essential for personal and professional success.

However, she highlighted a significant limitation: “If we relied solely on the Big Five model, there would be no room for improvement or change, as it focuses on the stability of traits over time. Humans, however, have a remarkable capacity for growth and learning.”

To address this, the socio-emotional competencies model complements the personality framework by defining areas for development. As defined by the OECD, socio-emotional competencies are “a set of skills enabling individuals to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and exhibit empathy, establish positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.” These are critical for personal well-being, social connection, and professional success.

The socio-emotional competencies model mirrors the Big Five structure with five dimensions and six facets for each, adapting the traits to emphasize human adaptability and growth.

The dimensions of the socio-emotional competencies model and its parallelism with those of the Big Five model are:

Openness to Experience (Big Five) – Open Mindset (SES)

Openness refers to a person’s willingness to explore new ideas, activities, and experiences. Highly open-minded individuals tend to be curious, imaginative, and creative. They prefer variety and novelty over routine and conformity.

This personality trait is fundamentally related to two socio-emotional competencies: responsible decision-making and social awareness. Responsible decision-making is understood as the ability to consider multiple perspectives and be open to new ideas. This competency is crucial for making informed and responsible decisions (Roberts, et al., 2020). Social awareness, on the other hand, refers to empathy and understanding of diverse cultures and points of view (Vainio & Daukantaitė, 2016).

Conscientiousness (Big Five) – Skills Performance (SES)

Responsibility refers to the extent to which a person is organized, reliable, and committed to his or her goals. Highly responsible individuals tend to be disciplined, meticulous, and dutiful.

This personality trait is mainly related to two socio-emotional competencies: self-regulation and responsible decision-making. Self-regulation refers to people’s ability to manage their emotions and behaviors in a constructive way (Hill & Jackson, 2016). They are self-disciplined and organized people. On the other hand, the meticulousness and planning ability associated with this personality trait favor informed decision-making (Roberts, et al., 2020).

Extraversion (Big Five) – Engagement with Others (SES)

S8e refers to a person’s tendency to seek stimulation and company from others. Highly extraverted individuals are sociable, energetic, and seek social interaction. This personality trait is related to the socio-emotional competencies of social awareness and relationship skills. With social awareness, because extroverted people tend to have a greater ability to understand and empathize with the emotions of others (Wilt & Revelle, 2019). And with relationship skills because extraversion is strongly linked to social skills and the ability to establish and maintain positive relationships (Anglim, et al., 2020).

Agreeableness (Big Five) – Collaboration (SES)

It refers to a person’s disposition to be compassionate, cooperative, and considerate of others. Highly agreeable individuals tend to be altruistic and empathetic. This personality trait is also related to the socio-emotional competencies of social awareness and relationship skills. With social awareness, because kindness improves the ability to understand and consider the emotions and perspectives of others, it is closely related to kindness (Soto, 2019). And with social skills because it facilitates cooperation and empathy, which are essential for establishing and maintaining positive relationships.

Neuroticism (Big Five) – Emotional Dysregulation (SES)

It refers to a person’s tendency to experience negative emotions such as anxiety, depression, and vulnerability. Individuals with low emotional stability are more likely to experience mood swings and emotional stress. This personality trait is related to self-regulation, while a lower level of neuroticism is associated with better emotional management (Smith, et al., 2018). On the other hand, although neuroticism can imply emotional difficulties, it can also lead to greater self-awareness of one’s own emotions, strengths, and weaknesses (Gomez, et al., 2018). For this reason, neuroticism is considered to be related to the socio-emotional competence of self-awareness.

Decoding AI

Juan Tuñas, coordinator of the project and head of artificial intelligence, explained how AI is being used to evaluate and develop socio-emotional competencies. “We leverage the same technology that underpins large language models like GPT to process and analyze student language,” Juan stated. The Human AI system is built on the Transformer architecture (that famous “T” in GPT), which excels at transforming language into numbers. This allows it to process vast amounts of data efficiently while capturing linguistic nuances with remarkable precision.

These models convert text into numerical representations, preserving all the relationships within the language. This enables the algorithms to identify linguistic patterns that reflect students’ personalities. “These algorithms have been groundbreaking, enhancing every aspect of natural language processing,” Juan added.

The system also harnesses the power of Pre-training (the “P” in GPT), meaning the algorithm has absorbed an extensive amount of information before encountering any new text. This approach establishes a strong foundational knowledge, significantly improving the accuracy of predictions.

Finally, the system incorporates supervised learning. “Our AI is not an autonomous agent but an assistant,” Juan explained. “We use expert-provided labels to identify and categorize different personality traits. This means our algorithm not only understands the text but also evaluates how it correlates to specific personality characteristics, based on the scientifically validated hypothesis that ‘our language reflects our personality.'”

What does all this mean in practice? When the algorithm is fed new text, it acts like a personality detective. It analyzes the content and identifies traits that align most closely with specific personality types. “It’s like having an expert psychologist at your disposal, ready to provide valuable insights into the socio-emotional competencies reflected in the style and voice of each text,” Juan noted.

Ultimately, the Human AI algorithm is a powerful tool that combines cutting-edge technology with a profound understanding of human psychology.

Impacts and Recognitions

Beatriz also highlighted the project’s participation in various conferences and the publication of related studies. “We presented the project at an international conference alongside researchers from the University of Navarra, emphasizing the application of artificial intelligence to evaluate and guide socio-emotional competencies,” she noted.

Among the most notable achievements were:

Towards a Promising Future

To close the session, Noelia outlined the next steps for the TutorIA project in the context of the new Vocational Education Law. “Next year marks the beginning of real implementation in autonomous communities and educational centers. We will continue to promote the development of socio-emotional competencies,” Noelia affirmed.

The new law incorporates digitalization, sustainability, and competency development as key pillars for high-quality vocational education. “The integrative nature of all modules will foster socio-emotional competencies, and the internship periods in companies will be essential for their development,” Noelia concluded.

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The “TutorIA” project has proven to be a transformative initiative, aligned with the most advanced educational and technological trends. With the support of CaixaBank Dualiza and FPEmpresa, and the integration of artificial intelligence, ASPASIA FP centres are leading the way towards a more human and innovative educational future. For more information about the project, you can visit Human AI Tech.