Ms JLM

UNIT I: LIfe skILLs

DefINITIoN
A skill is a learned ability.

Life skills education is the skill set of various required skills to develop one's
personality. The students who are aspiring to be tomorrow's good leaders must
inculcate life skills to attribute towards growth and success.

Life Skills are those competencies that assist people in functioning well in the
environments in which they live.

Life skills have been defined by the

1. World Health Organisation as “the abilities for adaptive and positive

behaviour that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and
challenges of everyday life”.
2. UNICEF defines life skills as “a behaviour changes or behaviour
development approach designed to address a balance of three areas:
knowledge, attitude and skills”.

Life skills include psychosocial abilities and interpersonal skills that help people take
decisions, solve problems, think critically, communicate effectively, build healthy
relationships, empathize with others, and cope with the stress and strain of life in a healthy
and productive manner. Essentially, there are two kinds of skills- those related to thinking
called "thinking skills" and skills related to dealing with others called "social skills". While
thinking skills relate to the personal level, social skills include interpersonal skills. It is the
combination of these two types of skills that are needed for achieving assertive behaviour
and negotiating effectively.
 Components of life skills

The Ten core Life Skills as laid down by WHO are: 1. Self-awareness 2. Empathy
3. Critical thinking 4. Creative thinking 5. Decision making 6. Problem Solving 7.
Effective communication 8. Interpersonal relationship 9. Coping with stress 10.
Coping with emotion

1. Self-awareness

Self-awareness includes recognition of ‘self’ and identifying our strengths and

weaknesses, desires and dislikes. Developing self-awareness can help us to
recognise 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.

2. Empathy

Empathy is the ability to imagine what life is like for another person. 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. Without
empathy, our communication with others will amount to one-way traffic

3.Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is an ability to analyze information and experiences in an

objective manner. Critical thinking helps us to recognise and assess the factors
that influence attitudes and behaviour

4. Creative thinking

Creative thinking is a novel way of seeing or doing things that generates new
ideas, has a shifting perspective conceives something new and builds on other
ideas.
5. Decision Making

Decision making helps us to take appropriate decisions about our lives. It can
teach people how to actively make decisions and what effects these different
decisions are likely to have.

6. Problem solving

Problem solving helps us to deal constructively with problems in our lives.

7. interpersonal relationship skill

Interpersonal relationship skills help us to establish a rapport with the people

whom we interact with. This includes being able to make and keep friendly
relationships, maintain good relations with family members, and also being able
to end relationships constructively.

8. Effective Communication

Effective communication means that we are able to express ourselves, both

verbally and non-verbally, so that our ideas are effectively transmitted to others.

9. coping with stress

Coping with stress means recognising 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.

10. coping with emotions

Coping with emotions means involving recognising emotions within us and

others, being aware of how emotions influence behaviour and being able to
respond to emotions appropriately.
Need for Life skill training

Life skills as an approach is designed to enhance efforts to positively develop or

change behaviour related to healthy functioning in society. This focus on
behaviour 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
(iii) Skills as the most effective method of developing or changing behaviors. This
skill component consists of interpersonal and psycho-social skills such as
assertion, negotiation, decision making, empathy building, values clarification,
stress and coping skills. Whereas information acquisition strategies might focus
mainly on the knowledge component, the life skills approach encompasses and
balances all three of these components, namely Knowledge, Attitudes and Skills.
Practical experience shows that behaviour 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
behaviour and to prevent or reduce risk behaviours, as well as make an impact on
knowledge and attitudinal components.

Life skills education relates to the study of behaviors that allow individuals to get
used to and deal well with the demands and challenges of life. Meaning of life
skills education usually refers to the skills students need to create the most out of
life.

Generally speaking, the expression' life skills' is regularly used for any skills
wanted to deal well and effectively with life's challenges. It should, therefore, be
apparent that everyone will potentially have a different list of the skills they
consider most necessary in life.
Meaning of Life Skills Education

Life skills education provides important tools for the overall development
of students such as how to socialize and make new friends, decision-making skills
to handle any situation (dealing with a bully, personal insecurities, or any other
fear) especially when parents and teachers are not around.

It helps students build their confidence and be more communicative,

recognize the impact of their own actions.

Importance of Life Skills Education

Significantly, people should be taught to access information and activate prior

knowledge for better understanding. Assisting the transfer of knowledge and
skills to real-life situations is imperative.

 Teaching and instilling the value of routines, schedules, and the importance
of following them helps them bring discipline in life.

 Teaching students to work willingly to reflect on their classroom

experiences and reflecting on the same to increase morals and confidence.

 Giving responsibilities to students makes them manage time and learn

various values that are important for sustaining a contented life.

 Major leadership roles in school, student voice, higher-level thinking skills,

and academic goal setting.

 Practising these values regularly turns out to be a practical approach

towards the betterment of morality.

 Life skills education helps them attain success in any vicinity as they grow
and evolve.
  The decision-making procedure involves recognizing the issue, gathering
data, generating possible courses of action, appraising alternatives, and
making a thoughtful decision.

 The students should be actively involved in decision-making situations

regularly as they progress through their education.

Objectives of Life Skills

Someone living in a rural society might put driving a car as an essential skill.
By learning new skills, we equip ourselves to live a more creative and satisfying
life, finding ways to cope with the challenges that life, unavoidably, throws at us.
In addition, life skills tend to build better personality traits.

 Thoughts, feelings, notions, and ideas should be clearly expressed.

 Disagreements should be settled without hindering anyone's feelings.

 Activities should be concerned with flourishing physical health and

contribute to well-being.

 Stress should be managed positively.

 Build team working habits.

 Keep personal goals reachable.

 Be comfortable with what you are becoming.

 Learn to accept things according to the situation.

 Start challenging yourself and try to discover yourself.

 Stay true to your values.

Advantages of Life Skills Education

Any skill that is helpful in life can be measured as a life skill. For example,
tying shoelaces, swimming, driving a car, and using a computer are useful life
skills for most people as they teach many different attributes. Below mentioned
are few advantages of life skills education;

 Life skills education concerns the combination of psychological and social

factors that contribute to healthy behaviour.

 The accomplishment of life skills education in schools addresses the needs

of all children.

 It defines and flourishes the relationships of people in society.

 Life skills education can have an affirmative brunt on academic

performance.

 Life skills education comes into sight to be amongst the most extremely
valued by the potential employers of young people.

 Several studies have reported affirmative changes in self-reports of health-

related behaviour.

 Several programs have stated that those based on skills learning are more
valuable than traditional advancement based on information.

 Abundant studies have stated improvements in mental health status.

 It brings out the best from the child and helps in fostering better
behavioural steps.