Online Course on Developing Life Skills
ONLINE COURSE ON
DEVELOPING LIFE SKILLS
MODULE NO. 2
CONCEPTUAL BASIS OF LIFE SKILLS;
DEFINITION, NEED, AND SIGNIFICANCE
EMMRC Calicut
University of Calicut
CREDITS
Core Team Module Contributor
Prof. (Dr.) Mohamedunni Alias Musthafa Dr. M N Mohamedunni Alias Musthafa,
Professor, Associate Professor,
Department of Education, Dept. of Education,
Director IQAC Central University of Kerala
Central University of Kerala
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Online Course on Developing Life Skills
CONCEPTUAL BASIS OF LIFE SKILLS; DEFINITION,
NEED, AND SIGNIFICANCE
OBJECTIVES
After completing this module, the learners will be able to
Comprehend the conceptual basis of Life Skills and Life skills Education
Familiarize with different definitions of Life skills
Understand the need and significance of life skills education
CONCEPTUAL BASIS OF LIFE SKILLS
As we have discussed in the first module Life skills refer to a multiplicity of psycho-
social and interpersonal competencies. Competencies are coordinated bundles of habits as
observed by Goleman (1998). There is a common notion that life skills training and education
is do not need primary concern. It is treated as secondary to subject education and numeracy.
But the research evidence indicates that academic achievement alone will not provide success
in life but it is the life skills help us to lead a meaningful life. Some of the life skills are
self-directed, while others are directed towards others. Life skills prepare individuals to deal
successfully with the needs and problems of day to day life. They are crucial for everyone to
cope with a rapidly changing world that can lead us to success and accomplish both in our
professional as well as real life. If the younger generation acquires these vital skills, they can
grow to balanced adults. These vital skills include conflict resolution, decision making,
creative and critical thinking. It helps people to make responsible and informed choices and
can promote healthy lifestyles as well as career skills.
Life skills as an approach are designed to enhance efforts to positively develop or
change behavior related to healthy functioning in society. This focus on behavior change
distinguishes life skills from other approaches. Another distinguishing factor of the life skills
approach is the existence of a balance of three components:
(i) Knowledge or information,
(ii) Attitudes and values and
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Online Course on Developing Life Skills
(iii) Skills
Practical experience shows that the behavior is substantially more difficult to change
and requires more intensive approaches than knowledge and attitude change. The goal of the
life skills approach is to promote healthy, sociable behavior and to prevent or reduce risk
behaviors, as well as make an impact on knowledge and attitudinal components.
DEFINITIONS AND UNDERSTANDING OF LIFE SKILLS
Life skills, as a concept, can be broad and multifaceted, and life skills initiatives can,
therefore, include a wide range of goals, content, and approaches. Life skills, as defined by
WHO, are “innumerable, and the nature and definition of life skills are likely to differ
across cultures and settings”. This broad definitions, however, insufficient for practical
applications or for effective policy-making. WHO further defined Life skills “as the abilities
for adaptive and positive behavior that enable humans to deal effectively with the
demands and challenges of life”
It is challenging for life skills intervention to identify which skills to target, which age
group to target and which activities models might be optimal. A skill is a learned ability to do
something well. Life skills are abilities, that individuals can learn which will help them to
live a fruitful life. Life skills are defined in the Targeting Life Skills (TLS) Model as “Skills
that help an individual be successful in living a productive and satisfying life.” Areas
covered by life skills education include self-direction, leadership skills, emotional
management, adaptability, etc. Leadership skill enables the person to solve problems, attain
his/her life goal and the ability to motivate others and also to achieve a common goal. The
person will meet the high standard of accomplishments by following the ethics in his/her
personal as well as professional life. He will be able to adapt to different roles and
responsibilities. They are able to tolerate ambiguity and willing to change their priorities as
per the requirement. Thus they will be committed to their work by utilizing the time more
effectively.
UNICEF defined Life skills as “psychosocial abilities for adaptive and positive behavior
that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of
everyday life”.
Life skill education will be effective only when people are able to act upon the skills
which they have learned. In mental health and other areas, there is a considerable
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Online Course on Developing Life Skills
improvement in behavior with the help of life skill education. Professional competency is
also greatly determined by life skill competency. Life skill education enhances the self-
direction of the individual. Individuals become capable to understand which areas of their
personality need development. And also has a commitment to learning as a lifelong process.
It is very essential to understand the core life skills to comprehend the definitions effectively.
Decision making facilitates us to take constructive and timely decision in the personal
as well as social issues. Proper decision making is a key to succeed in all the spheres of life
including health, education, career, personal relationships etc. it also enable us to face the
problems positively without stress. Significant problems left unresolved can cause mental
stress. Creative thinking and critical thinking can contribute to both decisions making and
problem-solving by enabling us to understand what are the various alternative solutions for
an issue. Critical thinking is the capacity to examine knowledge and experiences with an
objective mind. Critical thinking can contribute to health by helping us to make out and
assess the elements that influence attitudes and behavior, such as values, peer pressure, and
the media.
Effective communication helps us to express ourselves, both verbally and non-
verbally, in ways that suit suitably to our varied circumstances. This means being able to
express opinions and desires, but also needs and fears.
Interpersonal relationships skills aid to relate in positive ways with the people we
connected with. This will make and keep friendly relationships, which can be of great
importance to our mental and social well-being. It enables us to keep healthy relations with
family members, which are a prime source of social support. It may also mean being able to
end relationships fruitfully.
Self-awareness includes recognition of us, of our character, of our strengths and
weaknesses, needs and dislikes. Developing .self-awareness can help us to recognize when
we are stressed or feel under pressure. It is also often a prerequisite for effective
communication and interpersonal relations, as well as for developing empathy for others.
Empathy is the capacity to envision what life is like for another person, even in
circumstances that we may not be familiar with. Empathy can help us to understand and
accept others who may be very different from ourselves, which can improve social
connections, for example, in situations of ethnic or cultural diversity.
Coping with emotions involves recognizing emotions in ourselves and others, being
aware of how emotions influence behavior and being able to respond to emotions
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Online Course on Developing Life Skills
appropriately. Intense emotions, like anger or sorrow, can have negative effects on our health
if we do not react appropriately.
Coping with stress is about understanding the causes of stress in our lives, identifying
how this affects us, and acting in ways that help to control our levels of stress. This may
mean that we take action to reduce the sources of stress, for example, by making changes to
lifestyle.
DEVELOPING LIFE SKILLS PROGRAMMES
Designing and implementing a life skills program is equally important to secure long
term support and resources for life skills education, and to engage, from the very beginning,
all the potential agencies that would have a role to play in the process of life skills program
development.
The introduction of life skills education requires input from the school and education
authorities, for teacher training and the development of teaching manuals, as well as for the
ongoing support of teaching programs once they are in place.
NEED AND SIGNIFICANCE OF LIFE SKILLS IN PRESENT SCENARIO
As we know, adolescence is a vital stage of growth and development marks the period
of transition from childhood to adulthood. There is a growing demand to educate adolescents
with life skills to help them deal with their day to day life challenges and transition into
adulthood with informed healthy choices. Demonstrating its effectiveness, significance, and
value, life skills has become a major part of many intervention programs around the globe,
particularly those aimed at the prevention of alcohol abuse, drugs, and smoking. Life skills
programs are conducted with a focus on specific life skills, depending on the setting.
World Health Organization (2009) reported that every day, worldwide, hundreds of children
and youths die as a result of interpersonal violence and many more are hospitalized with
injuries. This violence can be prevented by developing the life skills of young children.
Evidence shows that preschool enrichment and social development programs, which target
children early in life, can prevent aggression, improve social skills, boost educational
achievement and improve job prospects.
The host of factors that promote high-risk behavior such as alcoholism, drug abuse,
and casual relationships are boredom, rebellion, disorientation, peer pressure, and curiosity.
Now, it will be quiet interesting to discuss the relevance of life skills education in the context
of some evolved concept which face lifted the socio-political life…
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Online Course on Developing Life Skills
LIFE SKILLS IN THE CONTEXT OF HUMAN RIGHTS, CITIZENSHIP, AND
SOCIAL COHESION
It is well described by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and also the
Convention on the Rights of the Child, that development of respect for human rights, peace
and tolerance are the unavoidable basic functions of any education system (Figure 1). The
promotion of interpersonal and intrapersonal relations through life skills education would
help to resolve conflicts, increase understanding and respect the emotions and opinions of
others and to avoid unnecessary arguments hence to sustain peace.
Figure. 1. Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Source: UNICEF, Global
Evaluation of Life Skills Education Programmes (2012)
DISASTER RISK REDUCTION AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
The necessity for equipping children for mange their responses to various disasters
and how to participate in the team endeavors for risk reduction is a major concern over recent
years. The role of students in disaster management is well studied by different agencies on
disaster management. Disaster management and risk reduction demand critical thinking and
problem-solving abilities and tolerance to different opinions. Life skills education empowers
young people in challenging circumstances. So effective implementation of life skills
education is a need for excelling every sphere of life. This can be done through various youth
programs and through incorporation with formal education.
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Online Course on Developing Life Skills
The essential qualities for the youth including, leadership training, communication
skills, problem-solving, decision making, critical thinking, etc. are developing through such
programs.
After discussing the relevance it is necessary to analyze how life skills can be developed?
THE DEVELOPMENT OF LIFE SKILLS
The essentiality of giving life skills training from the younger years is proved by
various studies for proper attitude development in adulthood. Especially the early year's
experience from the home and family environment is identified as an important determinant.
School experiences also can contribute much for this informally as well as formally in
developing skills, behavior, and attitude related to social and personal values. The
implications for Life skills education programming is the extension of the psychosocial skills
aspects of interventions into the early childhood sector, and the need for a holistic approach
to LSE that links across the school, home and community.
Life skill education programs are not limited to a particular age group. However, the
age group targeted is mainly 10-18, adolescent years, since young people of this age group
seem to be most vulnerable to behavior-related health problems.
IMPLEMENTATION OF LIFE SKILLS EDUCATION
The intervention logic is explicit in most countries. These risks are elaborated in the
analytical framework shown in fig.2
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Online Course on Developing Life Skills
Figure [Link] logic. Source: UNICEF, Global Evaluation of Life Skills Education
Programmes (2012)
LIFE SKILLS STANDARDS, BENCHMARKS, AND INDICATORS
UNICEF has developed comprehensive guidelines for developing standards and
benchmarks for Life Skills Education (Figure 4). UNICEF advocates that continuous
assessment is one of the most effective ways of measuring long-term Life Skills Education.
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Online Course on Developing Life Skills
Figure [Link] Standards for [Link]: UNICEF, Global Evaluation of Life Skills
Education Programmes (2012)
Life skills education in schools clearly needs to take place in the context of broader education
system reforms. To be effective, life skills ultimately need to be age-aligned and inculcated in
schools that are inclusive, with trained and motivated teachers who can employ participatory
and experiential teaching practices
APPROACHES TO BUILD LIFE SKILLS
Various media have been employed to inculcate life skills or 21st-century skills such
as sport, drama and fine arts, storytelling, experiential workshops, mentoring initiatives,
interactive classroom learning, and discussion. There have been multiple innovations in the
delivery of life skills in recent times, through games and simulations, experiential activities,
and technology.
In India and globally, many approaches in delivering life skills education have also
been incorporated within other skill development activities. A collaborative approach of this
nature can often secure greater buy-in from different stakeholders, from policymakers to
funders, as it may be viewed as producing more tangible outcomes. Some of these include:
Life skills and employment:
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Online Course on Developing Life Skills
Life skills are imparted as a part of training programmes building secondary school students’
employability skills. Along with investing in technical skills, such programmes address skills
and mindsets such as taking responsibility, adaptability, entrepreneurship, effective
communication, decision-making, leadership and teamwork. The aim is to equip children
with technical knowledge as well as the soft skills required to succeed in the workplace,
thereby directly translating their education into a source of livelihood.
Life skills and value education:
Existing policy in India, by a large measure, tends to focus on inculcating such skills
through value-based education. However, unless well implemented, such approaches may be
very prescriptive in nature and seen as an add-on to existing syllabus pressure.
.
Life skills and child rights:
Within India, there are several interventions that work on building life skills as part of
a larger programme of child rights and empowerment. Such organizations address target
mindsets and abilities such as self-awareness, leadership, and social influence, through their
broader goals of tackling gender disparity, violence, health, etc.
Higher order thinking skills:
Many life skills programmes are increasingly catering to imparting 21st-century
skills. Such programmes, which have accelerated in light of increasing advocacy for a shift
from rote learning, support inquiry-based learning by building critical thinking and creative
problem-solving skills.
SUMMARY
Set of skills essential for the all-round well-being of the individuals and to become
vibrant and productive members of the society is termed as Life Skills. They facilitate persons
to accomplish their ambitions and to utilize their fullest potential. Developing life skills leads
to enhancement of self-respect, emotional management, critical and creative thinking, social
values for healthy community living like interpersonal understanding, tolerance, sociability
and tolerance, decision making etc. If life skills education properly implemented through
various formal and informal programmes, the younger generation will grow with a quality life
and can change the destiny of world positively.
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