life skills education

LIFE SKILLS EDUCATION

 Dr.C.Karthik Deepa, Dept. of Education, Avinashilingam University

INTRODUCTION

“Each one has to find his peace from within.

And peace to be real must be unaffected by outside circumstances.” - Mahatma Gandhi

Life-Skills Education as defined by the UNICEF is "a behaviour change or behaviour development approach to address a balance of three areas; knowledge, attitude and skills". Life Skills enable individuals to translate knowledge, attitude and values into actual abilities, that is, what to do and how to do it, given the scope and opportunity to do so.

In recent years, the concept of Life Skills has been popularly used particularly in the context of health and reproductive health. World Health Organization (WHO) while initiating Life Skills Education conceptualized Life Skills as psychological competence. Psychological competence is the individual's ability to maintain a state of mental well being and demonstrate this in adaptive and positive behavior while interacting with others, and with her/his culture and environment.

World Health Organization has defined Life Skills as "the abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life". 'Adaptive' means that a person is flexible in approach and is able to adjust in different circumstances. 'Positive behaviour' implies that a person is forward looking and even in difficult situations can identify a ray of hope and opportunities to find solutions.

Life Skills are the abilities that help in the promotion of mental and social well being and competence in young children to face the realities of life. The ultimate aim of Education is the overall development of a child's personality which cannot be achieved without exposing students to various Life Skills.

According to developmental scientists, early adolescence (10-14 years) is singled out as a critical moment of opportunity for building skills and positive habits, since at this age there is recognition of self, ability to think and solve problems. An early adolescent is expected to move from the security of a middle school to the challenges of a secondary school education. The wider social context of early and middle adolescence provides varied situations in which there is motivation to practise new skills with peers and other individuals outside the family. Developing skills and competencies are recognized as critical to a child's growing sense of identity.

The transition to high school is also a challenge for students, both academically and socially. Effective strategies for coping with problems, planning and time management skills, problem - solving and decision making skills are among the factors identified as instrumental in students’ making a successful transition from middle school to high school. Researchers recommend that middle schools can foster these skills by providing students with opportunities to improve the Life Skills.

Hence, Life Skills Education plays a key role in the growing years. Activities designed to strengthen Thinking Skills, Social Skills, Personal Self-Management Skills and Emotional Skills will help learners to be actively engaged in school. Enhancing the social environment with of students can increase school bonding, which in turn may enhance academic achievement and reduce problem behaviour. Peer Educators trained by Counsellors of schools can present an effective resource for mentoring students as Peer interaction is the most successful form of transaction of Life Skills.

WHAT ARE LIFE SKILLS?

A skill is a learned ability to do something well. So Life Skills are the abilities that individuals can develop to live a fruitful life. Life Skills are psychosocial abilities that enable individuals to translate knowledge, attitudes and values regarding their concerns into well informed and healthy behaviours. Empowered with such skills, young people are able to take decisions based on a logical process of “what to do,why to do, how to do and when to do”.

WHO defines Life Skills as “the abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour that enable the individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life”.  Here 'adaptive' means that a person is flexible in approach and is able to adjust in different circumstances and 'positive behaviour' implies that a person is forward looking and even in challenging situations, can find a ray of hope.

UNICEF defines Life Skills as “a behaviour change or behavior development approach designed to address a balance of three areas: Knowledge, Attitudes and Skills”.

Life Skills are defined in the Targeting Life Skills (TLS) Model (Hendricks, 1996) as “Skills that help an individual to be successful in living a productive and satisfying life.”

Yarham (1919) defined Life Skills as “the personal competence that enables a person to deal effectively with the demands and challengesconfronted in everyday life”.

KEY LIFE SKILLS

Life Skills include psychosocial competencies and interpersonal skills that help people make informed decisions, solve problems, think critically and creatively, communicate effectively, build healthy relationships, empathize with others, and manage their lives in a healthy and productive manner.

THREE BASIC CATEGORIES OF LIFE SKILLS

Life Skills fall into three basic categories which compliment, supplement and reinforce each other:

These three basic categories further include the following skills.

TEN CORE LIFE SKILLS

WHO has identified ten core Life Skills and they are as follows:

Self Awareness includes recognition of 'self', our character, our strengths and weaknesses, desires and dislikes. Developing self awareness can help us recognize when we are stressed or under pressure. It is often a prerequisite to effective communication and interpersonal relations, as well as for developing empathy with others.

Empathy is required to develop a successful relationship with our loved ones and society at large. It is the ability to imagine what life is like for another person. Without empathy, our communication with others will amount to a one-way traffic. It can help us to accept others who may be very different from ourselves. This can improve social interactions, especially, in situations of ethnic or cultural diversities. Empathy can also encourage nurturing positive behaviour towards people in need of care and assistance, or tolerance, as is the case with AIDS sufferers, or people with mental disorders who may be stigmatized and ostracized by the very people they depend upon for support.

Critical Thinking is an ability to analyze information and experiences in an objective manner. Critical thinking can contribute to a well balanced way of life by helping us to recognize and assess the factors that influence attitudes and behaviour, such as values, peer pressure and the media.

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 others' ideas).

Decision Making helps us to deal constructively with decisions about our lives. It can teach people how to actively make decisions about their actions in relation to a 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.

Interpersonal skills help us to relate in positive ways with 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 maintaining good relations with family members who are the most important source of social support. It may also mean an ability to end relationships constructively.

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 would also mean being able to ask for advice and help in the time of need.

Coping with Stress means recognizing the sources of stress in our lives, recognizing how they affect us, and how we act in a way that helps us control our levels of stress by changing our environment or lifestyle, and learning how to relax.

Managing Emotions means recognizing emotions within us and others, being aware of how emotions influence behaviour and being able to respond to emotions appropriately. Intense emotions like anger or sadness can have negative effects on our health if we don't respond to them appropriately. (Adapted from “Life Skills Education for Children and Adolescents in Schools”-Programme on Mental Health, World Health Organization, Geneva, 1997)

All these skills are interrelated and reinforce each other. Together, they are responsible for our psychosocial competence; build our self-esteem and self efficacy and nurture holistic development.

 CRITERIA FOR USING LIFE SKILLS

UNICEF identifies the following criteria to ensure a successful life skills based education:

·         It should not only address knowledge and attitude change, but more importantly behavior change.

·         Traditional ‘information based’ approaches are generally not sufficient to yield changes in attitudes and behaviours. For example, a lecture on ‘safe behavior will not necessarily lead to the practice of safe behavior. Therefore, the lecture should be substantiated with exercise and situations where participants can practice safe behavior and experience its effects. The adult learning theory emphasizes the adults learn that which they can associate with their experience and practice.

·         It will work best when augmented or reinforced. If a message is given once, the brain remembers only 10% of it one day later and when the same message is given six times a day, the brain remembers 90% of it. Hence the needs to repeat, recap, reinforce and review.

·         It will work best if combined with policy development, access to appropriate health service, community development and media.

WHO NEEDS LIFE SKILLS?

Anyone who wants to lead a meaningful life, needs Life Skills. They are applicable to all ages of children and adolescents, since young people in this age group seem to be the most vulnerable to behaviour related health problems. Life Skills are thus needed for the promotion of good health and well being, rather than as an intervention aimed only at those already at risk.

LIFE SKILLS DEVELOPMENT

Anyone who wants to lead a meaningful life, needs Life Skills. They are applicable to all ages of children and adolescents, since young people in this age group seem to be the most vulnerable to behaviour related health problems. Life Skills are thus needed for the promotion of good health and well being, rather than as an intervention aimed only at those already at risk.

Ouane (2002) says “Life Skills are developed as a result of a constructive processing of information, impressions, encounters and experiences, both individual and social, that are a part of one's daily life and work, and the rapid changes that occur in the course of one's life”.

Life Skills Development is a life-long process that helps individuals grow and mature; build confidence in their decisions taken on the basis of adequate information and thought, and discover sources of strength within and outside. It is noteworthy that from times immemorial, every culture and society has invested in educating and empowering its younger generation to lead fulfilling and responsible lives. For example, the 'Panchatantra' stories from India have very important lessons in Life Skills enhancement that remain relevant to all generations.

The Life Skills Program can be effectively provided to young adolescents by teachers, peer educators, parents, counselors, psychologists, health workers and social workers.

All these program providers or facilitators of Life Skills Education should

o   Be warm, caring, supportive and enthusiastic

o   Be resourceful

o   Be competent enough to guide and counsel students effectively

o   Have adequate knowledge about adolescence

o   Be a positive role model for the students

LIFE SKILLS EDUCATION

The Life Skills Programme can be designed in such a way that it can be infused into other school subjects or it can be introduced as a new subject. Whatever design is followed, it must ensure greater potential for success. School education plays an important role in Life Skills Development among individuals, especially in the current time when traditional mechanisms for passing on Life Skills are no longer adequate, considering the influences that shape a young individual's development. The school is an appropriate place for the introduction of Life Skills Education because:

Ø  It is one of the most important agencies of socializing the child.

Ø  It has an abundant potential to provide them with varied experiences in their formative years.

Ø  It remains in constant contact with the parents and the community.

Ø  It has experienced teachers who can effectively deliver the Life Skills programme to the students and help them become more responsible, healthy and resilient adults.

To transact Life Skills Education effectively, traditional teaching methods may not be effective, unless students are actively involved in a dynamic teaching learning process. The teachers and facilitators can adopt either the teacher-centred approach (expository approach) or student-centred approach (heuristic approach) for transacting Life Skills Education. It is advisable that, whatever methods or techniques a teacher or facilitator chooses, they should be truly interactive, participatory and responsive. Role play, group discussion, brainstorming, debate, quiz contest, situation analysis and case studies, presentations and all those techniques that engage the learners to think and analyze in a participatory manner are recommended to be used while transacting Life Skills Education.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT SUPPORTIVE OF LIFE SKILLS EDUCATION

·         Reflections of real life situations and contexts.

·         Collaboration among teachers, disciplines and students.

·         Encouragement of curiosity, exploration and investigation.

·         Responsibility for learning opportunities.

·         Acknowledgement of effort, not just performance.

·         Focus more on process than product or final presentation.

THE ROLE OF TEACHERS AND FACILITATORS IN DEVELOPING LIFE SKILLS

The role of teachers and facilitators in developing Life Skills differs from traditional instruction in their being a guide and friend to facilitate learning. The following behaviours promote Life Skills development:

¨      Justification for ideas and probing for reasoning strategies.

¨      Confronting learners with alternatives and thought provoking questions.

¨      Asking open ended questions.

¨      Serving as a master of apprentices rather than a teacher of students as in vocational education.

¨      Using Socratic discussion techniques, i.e. enquiring and debate to stimulate critical thinking.

¨      Assigning simple assignments and projects based on Life Skills.

¨      Teaching Life Skills as an independent subject as well as integrating it with other disciplines.

¨      Providing opportunities for developing Life Skills.

¨      Allowing students to practise the skills in different situations, as actual practice of skills is a vital component of Life Skills Education.

¨      Seeking cooperation and participation of parents in developing right attitudes towards life among the students, as family is also one of the basic institutions that lay the foundation of Life Skills.

¨      Acting as positive role models, as Life Skills are better caught than taught.

The Life Skills Education contributes to basic education; gender equality; democracy; good citizenship; childcare and protection; quality and efficiency of the education system; the promotion of lifelong learning; quality of life; and the promotion of peace in the society. On an individual level, it increases self confidence, self-esteem, assertiveness, social sensitivity and strong relationship bonds.

CONCLUSION

Life Skills Education would enable adolescents to articulate their issues and know their rights; build their self-esteem and self confidence; and develop the ability to take responsibility for self, relationships and (to an extent) society around them. Researchers recommend that middle schools foster these skills by providing students with opportunities to improve their Life Skills. So the major objectives of Life Skills Education are to develop skills to empower young adolescents to respond to real life situations in positive and responsible ways; to increase awareness among youth about the social concerns and to alleviate social evils. Hence life skill education is very important in this scenario.