Life Skills Education
Advanced Educational Psychology – Individual Differences
Unit 3.4 Life skill education
Anu Jose Vengal
Assistant Professor
Research Scholar (Part time)
School of Pedagogical Sciences
Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam
What are LIFE SKILLS?
◂ These are skills that you will need to be
independent, self-sufficient, and live to your
full potential in the adult world.
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What is the Adult World?
It is the world we all transition into after high
school and/or when we turn 18 years old.
a. Legally, we become responsible for
ourselves.
b. We can enter legal contracts.
c. Treated as adults and have adult responsibilities
Succeeding in the adult world is not easy !
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Why can the Adult World be Difficult?
It is competitive !
It requires many skills to
◂ support yourself and survive.
◂ It requires housing, food, and a job
◂ There are many laws and rules to follow.
◂ It is full of responsibilities, challenges,
hardships, and hidden dangers.
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Why are life skills important?
• Life skills provide you with the knowledge and
tools required to survive in the adult world.
• The more life skills you develop, the easier it
will be for you to navigate, cope, and thrive in
the adult world.
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◂ What are some examples of essential life skills?
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How many of these everyday skills do you have?
• prepare meals
• shop for groceries
• budget
• communicate effectively
• problem solve
• organize
• manage your health
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Definition
◂ WHO defined life skills as “the abilities for adaptive and
positive behavior that enable individuals to deal effectively
with the demands and challenges of everyday”
◂ Life skill education according to UNICEF, is a behavior
change or behavior development approach designed to
address balance of three areas:
§ Knowledge
§ Attitude
§ Skills
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Life skill has been classified into three
broad categories
Thinking skills Social skills Emotional skills
Skills that enhances Skills include Involves knowing and
the logical faculty of interpersonal skills, being comfortable with
the brain using communication skills, oneself .
analytical ability, leadership skills, self management,
thinking creatively and management skills, including
critically advocacy skills,
managing/coping with
and developing co-operation and team feelings, emotions,
problem-solving skills building skills stress and resisting
and improving peer and family
decision- making pressure.
abilities.
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Importance of teaching Life Skills
◂ Healthy childhood and adolescent development.
◂ Prevention of some key causes of child and adolescent
death, disease and disability.
◂ Socialisation
◂ Preparing young people for changing social
circumstances.
◂ Improve quality and efficiency of education system.
◂ Promotion of lifelong learning.
◂ Promotion of peace.
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UNICEF, UNESCO, and WHO listed the
ten core Life Skills as:
◂ Self-awareness
◂ Critical thinking
◂ Creative thinking
◂ Decision making
◂ Problem Solving
◂ Effective communication
◂ Interpersonal relationship
◂ Empathy
◂ Coping with stress
◂ Coping with emotion
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Self-awareness includes recognition of 'self', our
character, our strengths and weaknesses, desires and
dislikes. Developing self-awareness can help us to
recognize when we are stressed or feel under pressure. It
is often a prerequisite to effective communication and
interpersonal relations, as well as for developing empathy
with others.
Critical thinking is an ability to analyze information and
experiences in an objective manner. Critical thinking can
contribute to health by helping us to recognize and
assess the factors that influence attitudes and behaviour,
such as values, peer pressure and the media.
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Creative thinking is a novel way of seeing or doing things that is
characteristic of four components fluency (generating new ideas),
flexibility (shifting perspective easily), originality (conceiving of
something new), and elaboration (building on other ideas).
Decision making helps us to deal constructively with decisions
about our lives. This can have consequences for health. It can teach
people how to actively make decisions about their actions in relation
to healthy assessment of different options and, what effects these
different decisions are likely to have.
Problem-solving helps us to deal constructively with problems in
our lives. Significant problems that are left unresolved can cause
mental stress and give rise to accompanying physical strain.
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Interpersonal relationship skills help us to relate in positive ways with
the people we interact with. This may mean being able to make and keep
friendly relationships, which can be of great importance to our mental and
social well-being. It may mean keeping, good relations with family
members, which are an important source of social support.
Empathy - To have a successful relationship with our loved ones and
society at large, we need to understand and care about other peoples’
needs, desires and feelings. Empathy is the ability to imagine what life is
like for another person. Without empathy, 0ur communication with others
will amount to one-way traffic. Empathy can help us to accept others, who
may be very different from ourselves.
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Effective communication means that we are able to express
ourselves, both verbally and non-verbally, in ways that are appropriate
to our cultures and situations. This means being able to express
opinions and desires, and also needs and fears. And it may mean
being able to ask for advice and help in a time of need.
Coping with stress means recognizing the sources of stress in our
lives, recognizing how this affects us, and acting in ways that help us
control our levels of stress, by changing our environment or lifestyle
and learning how to relax.
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Coping with emotions means involving recognizing emotions within
us and others, being aware of how emotions influence behavior and
being able to respond to emotions appropriately. Intense emotions like
anger or sadness can have negative effects on our health if we do not
respond appropriately
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Activities to enhance Life Skills in students
Classroom Discussions: An Brainstorming: It allows
activity, providing opportunities students to generate ideas quickly
for students to learn and practice and spontaneously. Helps
turning to one another in solving students use their imagination
problems. Enables students to and think out of the box. Good
deepen their understanding of discussion starter because the
the topic and personalize their class can creatively generate ideas.
connection to it. It is essential to evaluate the pros
and cons of each idea or rank
ideas according to certain criteria.
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Role Plays: Along with being a Groups: Groups are helpful
fun activity and involves whole when the time is limited as it
class, to be active and maximizes student input.
participative, it also provides an Allows students interactions,
excellent strategy for practicing allows to, know, one know,
skills; experiencing how one another better which in a way
might handle a potential enhances team building and
situation in real life; increasing team work.
empathy for others and their
point of view; and increasing
insight into own feelings.
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Educational Games and Analysis of Situation and
Simulations: It promotes fun, Case Studies: It gives a
active learning, and rich chance, to analyze, explore,
discussion as participants work challenges, dilemmas and
hard to prove their points or safely test solutions for;
earn points. They require the providing opportunities for
combined use of knowledge, working together in groups,
attitudes, and skills and allow sharing idea, new learning and
students to test out gives insight and promotes
assumptions and abilities in a sometimes to see things
relatively safe environment. differently. Case studies are like
powerful catalysts for thought
and discussion.
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Engaging in thinking Story-Telling: Can help
process: students improve students think about local
their own, critical thinking, problems and develop critical
decision-making skills. It also thinking skills, creative skills to
gives chance to confront with write stories, or interact to tell
risks or any challenges and find stories.
ways to cope with it. 'Story-Telling' lends itself to
draw analogies or make
comparisons, help discover
healthy solutions. It also
enhances attention,
concentration, listening skills
and develops patience and
endurance.
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Debates: Provides opportunity to address a particular issue in depth
and creatively. Health issues lend themselves well: students can
debate, for instance, whether smoking should be ban in public places
in a community. It allows students to defend a position that may
mean a lot to them. It offers a chance to practice higher thinking skills.
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◂ Grocery shopping
◂ Home safety
◂ Laundry care
◂ Restaurant etiquette
◂ Dining etiquette
◂ Seat belt safety
◂ Pet care
◂ Restroom etiquette
◂ Cleaning
◂ Doing chores
◂ Following instructions
◂ Asking help
◂ Calling police or any other aid
◂ Calling in sick
◂ Dressing according to the occasion 22
Big
concept
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References
◂https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1126842.pdf
◂https://cbse.nic.in/cce/life skills cce.pdf
◂https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/240313/4/04
chapter%201.pdf
◂https://www.researchgate.net/publication/311883141 Significance Of Life Skills
Education
◂http://tumkuruniversity.ac.in/oc pg/msw/MSW%2011% 20sem Need and
Importance of Life Skill education in Institutional and Non-Institutional
Settings.pdf
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Thank You!
Any questions?
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