Needs Assessment and Development Guidelines for 21st Century Life and Career Skills of Dhonburi Rajabhat University Students

Abstract

         This study aimed to assess the needs and propose guidelines for developing learning management to enhance life and career skills in the 21st century for students, with Dhonburi Rajabhat University as a case study. The sample comprised 154 lecturers currently teaching at the university. A mixed-method research design was employed. The research instruments included a questionnaire to collect data on needs assessment and an in-depth interview with three key informants: a program head, a dean, and a relevant administrator. These instruments had passed a content validity check and had a reliability value of 0.95. Quantitative data were analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean, t-test, and PNI, while qualitative data were analyzed using content analysis.

          The results revealed that the majority of participants were female (57.14%), aged 41–50 years (44.81%), with 11–15 years of teaching experience (29.22%), and holding a master’s degree (69.48%). The actual practice scores were significantly lower than the expected scores in all sub-dimensions of teaching for developing students’ skills for work and life in the 21st century, at the .05 significance level. The highest PNI value was found in the sub-dimension of developing social skills (PNI=0.758), which indicated a need for improvement in all sub-dimensions.

          The proposed guidelines derived from the interviews included implementing group-based learning activities, encouraging students to express opinions and set both short-term and long-term goals, providing teacher training on diverse teaching methods, and integrating essential skills into the university’s general education courses.