The Role of Informal Work in the Development of Transversal Skills among Bachelor of Physical Education (BPEd) Pre-Service Teachers

Informal work experiences offer pre-service teachers opportunities to develop skills beyond formal education. This study explores the types of informal work BPEd pre-service teachers engage in and its contribution to the development of transversal skills, specifically how BPEd pre-service teachers perceive its impact on their professional and personal development. This study utilized a descriptive research design with a mixed-methods approach, incorporating survey questionnaires with fourth-year BPEd pre-service teachers as respondents. Eleven (11) BPEd pre-service teachers participated and shared their informal work experiences. Participants were selected through purposive sampling, with all of them engaged in informal work and drawn from a single-institution context. Using a survey questionnaire, this study examines how informal work helps in the development of transversal skills among pre-service teachers despite the challenges it may pose. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics for quantitative statistics and thematic coding. Tutoring and dance choreography were the most common types of informal work they engaged in. Findings reveal that all participants reported high levels of development in Critical and Innovative Thinking, Interpersonal Skills, Intrapersonal Skills, and Global Citizenship. Interpersonal and Intrapersonal Skills were particularly well-developed, viewed as central to both professional and personal growth. Media and Information Literacy was moderately developed by most respondents, highlighting its supportive but less prominent role. Overall, the study underscores the effectiveness of informal work in fostering diverse, transferable competencies beyond technical abilities, with especially strong growth in interpersonal and intrapersonal domains. The study contributes to the growing discourse on the importance of informal work experiences and underscores the need for a structured approach to pre-service teachers’ development not only among students enrolled in the BPEd program but also across all other programs.