Module 1 Introduction to life skills

What are life skills?

“Life skill” is a term used to describe a set of basic skills acquired through learning and direct life
experience that enable individuals and groups to effectively handle issues and problems commonly
encountered in daily life.

Definition of life skills by WHO:

“Life skills are the abilities for adaptive and positive behavior that enable individuals to deal
effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life".

Life skills are defined as “a group of 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 cope with and manage their lives
in a healthy and productive manner. Life skills may be directed toward personal actions or actions
toward others, as well as toward actions to change the surrounding environment to make it
conducive to health.”

• UNICEF defines life skills as “a behavior change or behavior development approach designed
to address a balance of three areas: knowledge, attitude and skills”
 1. SELF AWARNESS

➢ The ability to introspect, analyze and accept one’s thoughts actions and feelings;
recognizing and acknowledging one’s needs and desires.
➢ Ability to know our self: Our Character, desires, likes dislikes and our strengths and
weaknesses.
➢ 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.

2. Empathy

➢ Is the ability to be sensitive to another person’s situation

➢ Is the ability to imagine what life is like for another person, even in a situation that we
may not be familiar with.
➢ Ability to imagine oneself in the shoes of someone else temporarily, i.e. a friend, parent
or others and experiences their emotions, understand their concerns, worries, fears and
needs and feeling.
➢ Empathy is the ability to accept and understand others who are different from you.
➢ Finally it helps you to move closer to findings solutions, to resolve conflicts and enhance
quality of life.

3. EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

➢ Effective communication means that we are able to express ourselves, both verbally and
nonverbally, in ways that are appropriate to our cultures and situations.
➢ Listening.
➢ Assertiveness.

4. INTER PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP

➢ Initiate and maintain positive relationships and de -link unconstructive relationships.

➢ Interpersonal relationship skills help us to relate in positive ways with the people we
interact with.

5. CRITICAL THINKING

➢ Ability to analyze information, experiences, situations and circumstances etc in an

objective manner and rationally.
➢ Recognizing and assessing factors influencing our attitude and behavior. It is not merely
criticizing.
➢ Making objective judgments about choices and risks.
➢ Critical thinking can contribute to health by helping us to recognize and assess the
factors that influence attitudes and behavior, such as values, peer pressure, and the
media.

6. CREATIVE THINKING

Ability to;

o Think differently and out of the box

o Look beyond our direct experience
o Respond adaptively
o Having flexibility to situations in daily life
o Achieving the objectives in daily life situations

➢ By thinking creatively we can find the solutions when it seems that there is no way out.
➢ Critical thinking promotes creativity. Just generating new ideas does not work. One
needs to generate new ideas which are useful and relevant.
➢ And creative thinking helps us in improving ourselves after self reflection.
➢ Creative thinking contributes to both decision making and problem solving.
➢ It helps us to look beyond our direct experience, and even if no problem is identified, or
no decision is to be made.
➢ It can help us to respond adaptively and with flexibility to the situations of our daily
lives.

7. PROBLEM SOLVING

➢ Problem solving enables 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.

P O W E R –M O D E L OF PROBLEM SOLVING

P- Identify / state the problem

O- Examine the Options

W-Weigh Each Option

E- Elect Best Option

R- Review and reflect

8. DECISION MAKING

Ability to;
o Choose the best amongst the various alternatives or option in many life situations
o Weigh the pros and cons of alternatives
o Accepting responsibility for consequences of the decision with confidence.
➢ Decision making helps us to deal constructively with decisions about our lives.
➢ This can have consequences for health if young people actively make decisions about
their actions in relation to health by assessing the different options, and what effects
different decisions may have.
 9. COPING WITH EMOTION

➢ Recognizing emotions in ourselves and others

➢ Being aware of how emotions influence behavior.
➢ Being able to respond to emotions appropriately.
➢ Intense emotions, like anger or sorrow can have negative effects on our health if we do
not react appropriately.

10. COPING WITH STRESS

Coping with stress is about recognizing the sources of stress in our lives, Recognizing how
this affects us, & Acting in ways that help to control our levels of stress by changing our
environment or life style and learning how to relax so that tensions created by unavoidable
stress do not give rise to health problems.

Components of life skills

The World Health Organization (WHO) categorizes life skills in to the following three
components (three broad categories):

1. Cognitive Skills
2. Social skills
3. Emotional skills
1. Critical thinking skills/Decision- making skills or (Thinking skills/Cognitive Skills):

➢ Thinking skills are the skill that enhances the logical faculty of the brain using an
analytical ability, thinking creatively and critically, and developing problem-solving
skills and improving decision-making abilities.
➢ Include decision making/problem solving skills and information gathering skills. The
individual must also be skilled at evaluating the future consequences of their present
actions and the actions of others. They need to be able to determine alternative
solutions and to analyze the influence of their own values and the values of those
around them.
➢ Thinking skills includes –critical thinking, creative thinking, analytical reasoning,
problem solving and decision making. These skills are essential for better dealing in
all spheres of life like personal relations, professional issues and social problems
which enable to make right decisions and avoid conflicts.

2. Interpersonal/Communication skills or (Social skills):

➢ Social skills include inter personal skills, communication skills, leadership skills,
management skills, advocacy skills, co-operation and team building skills, etc. include
verbal and non- verbal communication, active listening, and the ability to express
feelings and give feedback. Also in this category, are negotiation/refusal skills and
assertiveness skills that directly affect ones’ ability to manage conflict. Empathy,
which is the ability to listen and understand others’ needs, is also a key interpersonal
skill. Team work and the ability to cooperate include expressing respect for those
around us.
➢ Development of this skill set enables the adolescent to be accepted in society.
Theses kills result in the acceptance of social norms that provide the foundation for
adult social behavior.
➢ The major social skills are communication skills, interpersonal skills, leadership skills,
management skills, co-operation, and team building skills. It also includes active
listening, and the ability to express feelings and give feedback.
➢ Refusal or negotiation skills and assertiveness skills are included that directly
determine ones’ ability to manage conflict. Empathy is an other important skill that
helps to understand others. Cooperation and active participation in team work is
also important. Tolerance the opposing opinion and respect for others is also
included in social skills.

3. Coping and self-management skills or (Emotional skills):

➢ Emotional skills, involves, knowing and being comfortable with oneself.

➢ Thus, self–management, including managing/coping with, feelings, emotions, stress
and resisting peer and family pressure.
➢ It refers to skills to increase the internal locus of control, so that the individual
believes that they can make a difference in the world and affect change.
➢ Self esteem, self awareness, self-evaluation skill sand the ability to set goals are also
part of them or general category of self-management skills.
 ➢ Anger, grief and anxiety must all be dealt with, and the individual learns to cope loss
or trauma. Stress and time management are key, as are positive thinking and
relaxation techniques.
➢ Emotional skills, includes understanding and being comfortable with oneself and to
others. Coping with emotions, self management, coping with stress, resolving
internal conflict set care included in this. Emotional skills has the power to change
the attitude of the individual and thus to change the destiny of the world.

Importance of life skills

1. The Basic Life skills provide readily available tools to deal with challenges of daily life.

2. It also helps develop children’s personality, talents, and mental and physical abilities,
and realize their true potential.

3. Learning to know one self and others, and make effective decisions to live
harmonically together in the society.

4. Life skills education is effective in the development of students’ social, emotional

and cognitive development& dealing with their psychosocial problems.

5. Life skills training enhance critical thinking abilities, which further impacts were living
life actively, being responsible in the job and in future planning too.

6. It improves interpersonal relationship and reducing aggression and behavioral

Problems

7. Effective in preventing a wide range of problems such as substance abuse, teenage

pregnancies, violence, Bullying & to promote self-confidence and self-esteem among
the adolescents.

8. The essential qualities for the youth including, leadership training, communication
skills, problem solving, decision making, critical thinking, etc. are developing through
such programs.

9. Practicing the use of life skills in simple day to day situations makes it easy for
utilizing the min complex life situations too.

10. In order to educate individuals aware of their rights and responsibilities as citizens.
Areas where Life Skills can be applied

Origin of the concept of life skills

➢ The growth and development of any nation depends on the growth and development of
its people. The growth and development of its people can be achieved only by the
optimum use of the human resource development of the people. For making use of the
human resources, knowledge is necessary. Knowledge can be imparted only through the
process of education. Then, how to impart education to the illiterate common people of
the country was the question that disturbed the educationalists years ago. This made
them to give priority on the literacy programmes.

➢ While launching the literacy programmes it was understood that the conventional
method of education would not work up to the expectation. Therefore, it took a shift
from the classroom style to the situational context of the learner making the learning
process directly and immediately useful to the learner and improving his life situation.
This was the turning point where we understood the applicability of education and
literacy to help people develop better life skills and livelihoods.

➢ The adolescent group in general was having so many physical and psychological quarries,
which were never answered by the curriculum content. UN agencies then started
focusing on the health aspects of the adolescents through life skill approach.

➢ Studies have shown that the past three decades have witnessed a phenomenal growth
in the pattern of education, which is informed by a basic assumption that access to
education would lead to multiple benefits at individual, community and national levels
➢ Beginning in 1979, noted behavioral scientist and professor of psychiatry, Dr. Gilbert
Botvin published a highly effective Life Skills training program for youth in the seventh
standard, through nine grades.

➢ Life-Skills Based Education (LSBE) has a long history of supporting child development and
health promotion. In 1986, the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion recognized Life-
Skills in terms of making better health choices.

➢ The 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) linked Life Skills to education by
stating that education should be directed towards the development of the child's fullest
potential.

➢ The 1990 Jomtien Declaration on 'Education for All' took this vision further and included
Life-Skills among essential learning tools for survival, capacity development and quality
of life.

➢ The 2000 Dakar World Education Conference took a position that all young people and
adults have the human right to benefit from "an education that includes learning to
know, to do, to live together and to be", and included Life-Skills

➢ The failing of the formal education system, and the realization that non-formal
education offers a viable alternative, through imparting of critical knowledge and skills,
have added momentum to the need and provision of this form of education. Adult
learning is a gateway to enhanced participation in social, cultural and economic life. It is
also viewed as essential for creative citizen participation in the sustainable development
of other countries

………………………………………………..Thank you…………………………………………………………….