INTEGRATION OF HARD AND SOFT SKILLS AS A TOOL FOR DEVELOPING CRITICAL THINKING IN MARINE ENGINEERS

Abstract

The article examines the problem of fostering critical thinking of marine mechanics, employed at the international fleet, in the process of their practical training in Maritime English. The opportuneness of critical thinking development in the process of learning Maritime English is substantiated due to the serious challenges. Technological progress, environmental problems, economic pressure, geopolitical shifts, ecological maintenance of ship power plants require advanced critical thinking skills. Willingness to use professional knowledge and team interaction skills for critical analysis of challenges, ability to assess causal relationships are crucial in preventing unpredictable and catastrophic situations on ships. The ability to think critically and make effective decisions depends on the level of hard and soft skills development. Hard skills refer to the technical knowledge and experience needed to solve real-world engineering problems. Soft skills, such as communication, teamwork, problem solving and adaptability guarantee the success of teamwork in extreme conditions. Critical thinking involves the ability to make informed decisions about complex problems and collaborate with others to solve them. The purpose of the article is to analyze the feasibility of integrating hard and soft skills for the effective development of critical thinking. The tasks are: 1) to substantiate rational methods of integration of hard and soft skills in the process of learning Maritime English; 2) track the impact of hard and soft skills integration on the development of critical thinking of marine mechanics. The methods used in the research include analysis of scientific literature, observation, survey, self-assessment, expert assessment, questionnaire, interpretation, generalization.