Life skills education workshop

LIFE SKILL EDUCATION

Life skills are behaviours that enable individuals to adapt and deal effectively with the demands and challenges of life. 10 core life skills 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 emotions

Life Skills Education is the study of abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and the challenges of everyday life.‘Adaptive’ means that a person is flexible in approach and is able to adjust in different circumstances. ‘Positive behaviour’ implies that a person is forward looking and even in difficult situations, can find a ray of hope and opportunities to find solutions. Self management is an important skill including managing/coping with feelings, emotions, stress and resisting peer and family pressure. 

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.

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 .

BMM II teacher training college , Kottarakara  conducted a Life skill workshop on 6 March 2020 at the seminar hall. The session was conducted by Dr Suresh Pillai and, he discussed issues with the teens and gave her experienced insights. The skills discussed in this Second session included Coping with Emotions, Coping with Stress, Inter Personal Relationship.The skills were practised in the session through 5 activities.

 Activity 1 - Strength and weakness analysis . Students were asked to write their strength and weakness in a paper .The skill developed through this session was SELF AWARENESS.

Activity 2 - One to one interaction .Students were asked to sit in a pair and talk to each other. Through this activity skills developed was EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION SKILL , COPING WITH STRESS , COPING WITH EMOTIONS. 

Activity 3 - Creative thinking . The faculty gave a topic DREAM and asked students to write something about the topic. This was to develop the CREATIVE THINKING SKILL of students.

Activity 4 - Video analysis . Here a video is played for students and asked them to analyse and  write about the video .CRITICAL THINKING and CREATIVE THINKING were developed.

Activity 5 - Group discussion and generalisation. Students were divided into 5 groups and gave some papers which was the answers of students in the previous activities . Then asked to evaluate and discuss in group .Then asked students to generalise all the stuffs they got and to present . Through this activity the skill developed was DECISION MAKING . 

The Interactive session was very much enjoyed.