Education is about giving people the opportunity to develop their potential, their personality and their strengths. This does not merely mean learning new knowledge, but also developing abilities to make the most of life. These are called life skills-including the inner capacities and the practical skills we need.
Many of the inner capacities-often known as psycho-social skills-cannot be taught as subjects. They are not the same as academic or technical learning. They must rather be modeled and promoted as part of learning, and in particular by teachers. These skills have to do with the way we behave-towards other people, towards ourselves, towards the challenges and problems of life. They include skills in communicating, in making decisions and solving problems, in negotiating and expressing ourselves, in thinking critically and understanding our feelings. More practical life skills are the kinds of manual skills we need for the physical tasks we face. Some would include vocational skills under the heading of life skills-the ability to lay bricks, sew clothes, catch fish or repair a motorbike. These are skills by which people may earn their livelihood and which are often available to young people leaving school. In fact, very often young people learn psycho-social skills as they learn more practical skills. Learning vocational skills can be a strategy for acquiring both practical and psycho-social skills.
We need to increase our life skills at every stage of life, so learning them may he part of early childhood education, of primary and secondary education and of adult learning groups.
Its importance in learning
Life skills can be put into the categories that the Jacques Delors report suggested; it spoke of four pillars of education, which correspond to certain kinds of life skills: Earning to know: Thinking abilities: such as problem-solving, critical thinking, decision-making, understanding consequences.
Learning to be: Personal abilities: such as managing stress and feelings, self-awareness, self-confidence.
Learning to live together Social abilities: such as communication, negotiation, teamwork
Learning to do: Manual skills: practising know-how required for work and tasks
In today's world all these skills are necessary, in order to face rapid change in society. This means that it is important to know how to go on learning as we require new skills for life and work. In addition, we need to know how to cope with the flood of information and turn it into useful knowledge. We also need to learn how to handle change in society and in our own lives.
Its nature
Life skills are both concrete and abstract-practical skills can be learned directly, as a subject. For example, a learner can take a course in laying bricks and learn that skill. Other life skills, such as self-confidence, self-esteem, and skills for relating to others or thinking critically cannot be taught in such direct ways. They should be part of any learning process, where teachers or instructors are concerned that learners should not just learn about subjects, but learn how to cope with life and make the most of their potential.
So these life skills may be learnt when learning other things. For example:
Learning literacy may have a big impact on self-esteem, on critical thinking or on communication skills;
Learning practical skills such as driving, healthcare or tailoring may increase self-confidence, teach problem- solving processes or help in understanding consequences.
Whether this is true depends on the way of teaching -what kinds of thinking, relationship-building and communication the teacher or facilitator models themselves and promotes among the learners.
