The terms ‘Livelihood skills’ or
occupational/vocational skills refer to capabilities,resources and
opportunities to pursue individual and household economic goals and relate
to income generation. Thus, Life skills are distinct from livelihood skills.
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 cope with managing their lives in a healthy and productive manner.
Essentially, there are two kinds of skills - those related to thinking termed
as "thinking skills"; and skills related to dealing
with others termed as "social skills". While thinking
skills relate to reflection at a personal level, social skills include
interpersonal skills and do not necessarily depend on logical thinking. It is
the combination of these two types of skills that are needed for achieving assertive
behaviour and negotiating effectively.
World Health
Organization suggested ten Life Skills for the well balanced physical and
Mental growth of the adolescents.
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.
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
toaccompanying physical strain.
Creative thinking contributes to
both decision making and problem solving by
enabling us to
explore the available alternatives and various consequences of our actions or non-action.
It helps us to look beyond our direct experience, and even if no problem is identified,
or no decision is to be made, creative thinking can help us to respond
adaptively and with flexibility to the situations of our daily lives.
Critical thinking is an ability to
analyse information and experiences in an objective manner. Critical thinking
can contribute to health by helping us to recognise and assess the factors that
influence attitudes and behaviour, such as values, peer pressure, and the
media.
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, but also needs and fears. And it may mean being able
to ask for advice and help in a time of need.
Interpersonal
relationship skills help
us to relate in positive ways with the 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 keeping
good relations with family members, which are an important source of social support.
It may also mean being able to end relationships constructively.
Self-awareness includes our
recognition of ourselves, of our character, of our strengths and weaknesses,
desires 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 ability to
imagine what life is like for another person, even in a
situation 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
interactions, for example, in situations of ethnic or cultural diversity.
Empathy can also help to encourage nurturing 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.
Coping with
emotions involves
recognising emotions in ourselves and others, being aware of how emotions
influence behaviour, and 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.
Coping with stress
is
about recognising the sources of stress in our lives, recognizing 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 our physical environment or lifestyle. Or it may mean
learning how to relax, so that tensions created by unavoidable stress do not
give rise to health problems. The life skills described above are dealt with
here in so far as they can be taught to young people as abilities that they can
acquire through learning and practice. For example, problem solving, as a
skill, can be described as a series of steps to go through, such as: 1) define
the problem; 2) think of all the different kinds of solutions to the problem;
3) weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of each; 4) chose the most
appropriate solution and plan
how to realise it.
How are Life
Skills important for growing minds?
We find that
behaviour does not always follow the mind. This is when incidents of “I know
but I can’t help it” occur. What we need is the ability to act responsibly.
Life skills enable us to translate knowledge, attitudes and values into actual
abilities.
(b) Why is there a
need for Life Skills Education?
The host of
factors that promote high risk behaviour such as alcoholism, drug abuse and
casual relationships are boredom, rebellion, disorientation, peer pressure and
curiosity. The psychological push factors such as the inability to tackle
emotional pain, conflicts, frustrations and anxieties about the future are
often the driving force for high risk behaviour. Life skills training is an
efficacious tool for empowering the youth to act responsibly, take initiative
and take control. It is based on the assumption that when young people are able
to rise above emotional impasses arising from daily conflicts, entangled
relationships and peer pressure, they are less likely to resort to anti social
or high risk behaviours.
(c) Who needs Life
Skills?
The Life Skills
programme is a school based programme where Life Skills are imparted in a
supportive learning environment. They are applicable for all ages of children
and adolescents in school. However, the age group targeted is mainly 10-18, adolescent
years, since young people of this age group
seem to be most vulnerable to behaviour related health problems. . Adolescence,
a vital stage of growth and development, marks the period of transition from childhood
to adulthood. It is characterized by rapid physiological changes and
psychosocial maturation. Adolescence is also the stage when young people extend
their relationships beyond parents and family and are intensely influenced by
their peers and the outside world in general. As adolescents mature cognitively
The programme is for the promotion of health and well being and targeted group is
all children.
(d) How are they
imparted?
The method used in
teaching of Life Skills builds upon the social learning theory and on what we
know of how young people learn from their environment; from observing how
others behave and what consequences arise from behaviour. It involves the
process of Participatory learning using 4 basic components:
1. Practical
activities
2. Feedback and
reflections
3. Consolidation and
reinforcement
4. Practical
application to day to day life challenges
(e) Peer Educators
Approach?
The peer training
approach, involves one teacher and 3-4 student
representatives
from each school (forming the core life skills team) at the
school. They learn
these skills through active learning and participation in a
6 session inter
school training workshop programme. They further train their
peers at school in
these skills through the same process. They follow up with
the main resource
team for feedback, discussions, training material etc.
(f) Different
methods that can be used to enhance Life Skills in students?
Each workshop is
specially designed to impart a particular skill and involves
all or some of the
following techniques:
Class
discussions
Brainstorming
Demonstration
and guided practice
Role
plays
Audio
and visual activities, e.g.,arts, music, theatre, dance
Small
groups
Educational
games and simulations
Case
studies
Story
telling
Debates
Decision
mapping or problem trees
IMPORTANCE OF
IMPARTING LIFE SKILLS:
1. Life skills are
essentially those abilities that help promote overall wellbeing and competence in
young people as they face the realities of life.
2. Life skills are
the beginning of wisdom which focuses on behaviour change or developmental
approach designed to address a balance of three areas- knowledge, attitude and
skills.
3. Life skills
enable individuals to translate knowledge, attitude and values into actual
abilities. what to do and how to do it,
given the scope and opportunity to do so.
4. Life skills
however are not a panacea of “how to do abilities” as they are not the
only factors that affect behavour. There are many factors such as social support,
culture and environment that affect motivation and ability to behave in
positive ways.
5. Effective
acquisition and application of Life Skills can influence the way one feels
about others, ourselves and will equally influence the way we are perceived by
others. It contributes to perception of self confidence and self esteem.
6. Life skills for
psychosocial competence needs to be distinguished from other important skills
that young people will acquire as they grow up such as reading, numbers, technical
and livelihood skills.
7. Life skills
education involves a dynamic teaching process. The methods used to facilitate this
active involvement includes working in small groups and pairs, brainstorming,
role plays, games and debates.
1
“We are guilty of
many errors and many faults, but our worst crime is abandoning the children,
neglecting the foundation of life. Many of the things we need, can wait. The
children cannot. Right now is the time his bones are being formed, his blood is
being made and his senses are being developed to him we cannot answer
“Tomorrow”. His
name is “Today”
Thanks
REFERENCE:
1.Bandura, A. (1977). Social
Learning Theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
2.Botvin, G.J., Eng, A. and
Wlliams, C.L. (1980). Preventing the onset of cigarette smoking through Life
Skills Training. Preventive Medicine, 11, 199-211.
3.Botvin, G.J., Baker, E., Botvin,
E.M.. Filazzola, A.D. and Millman, R.B. (1984). Alcohol abuse prevention through
the development of personal and social competence: A pilot study. Journal of
Studies on Alcohol, 45, 550-552.
4.Caplan; M., Weissberg, R.P.,
Grober, J.S., Jacoby, C. (1992). Social competence promotion with inner city
and suburban young adolescents: effects on social adjustment and alchohol use. Journal
of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 60 (1), 56-63.
5. Errecart, M.T., Walberg. H.J.,
Ross. J.G., Gold, R.S., Fielder, J.F. Kolbe, L.J. (1991). Effectiveness of
Teenage Health Teaching Modules. Journal of School Health. 61(1).
6.Gonzalez, R. (1990) Ministering
intelligence: a Venezuelan experience in the promotion of cognitive abilities. International
Journal of Mental Health, 18 (3). 519.
7. Parsons, C, Hunter, D. and Warne,
Y. (1988). Skills for Adolescence: An Analysis of Project
Material, Training and Implementation. Christ Church College, Evaluation
Unit, Canterbury, UK.
8. WHO/GPA. (1994) School Health
Education to Prevent AIDS and STD: A Resource Package for Curriculum Planners. World
Health Organization/Global Programme on AIDS, Geneva.
9.. Zabin, L.S.. Hirsch,
M.B., Smith, E.A., Streett. R. and Hardy. J.B. (1986). Evaluation of a
pregnancy prevention programme for urban teenagers. Family Planning
Perspectives, 18
Thank You for Sharing information Life skill Program
ReplyDelete