What do you need to know to get by in life?
Digital competence, interpersonal communication, or maybe knowledge of ecology and healthy eating? What do we need to know now to cope with life and a rapidly changing world? Is there an optimal set of competencies that will ensure our happiness and success? Some clues are provided by WHO research.
What are life skills?
Life skills .
(life skills) are psychosocial competencies (skills) - through them we translate knowledge, attitudes and values into action. According to the 1997 definition of the World Health Organization (WHO), they are "skills that enable a person to engage in positive adaptive behavior so that he or she can successfully cope with the tasks (demands) and challenges of daily life." A new definition of life skills was developed in 2018 by the partners of the Life Skills in Europe (LSE) project. According to them, "life skills are part of the ability to live and work in a specific social, cultural and environmental context. Types of life skills emerge as a response to the needs of the individual in real life situations." From a health promotion and primary prevention perspective, WHO distinguishes two groups of skills:
Basic skills for daily life to enable well-being, interpersonal relationships and health-promoting behaviors
Specific skills developed in conjunction with basic skills and to cope with risks, e.g.: assertive refusal to use drugs, participate in acts of violence, etc.
What do you need to be able to do in the 21st century?
The WHO Department of Mental Health has identified five areas of basic life skills that are universal regardless of cultural background:
Decision-making and problem-solving - looking for alternatives, assessing risks, obtaining information and evaluating it, assessing the consequences of actions and behaviors, setting goals for yourself
Creative and critical thinking - the ability to create new points of view, use, analyze and synthesize and evaluate information, observe, gain experience, reflect, reason and communicate
Communication and interpersonal skills - active listening, giving and receiving feedback, verbal and non-verbal communication, assertiveness, negotiation skills, conflict resolution, cooperation, teamwork
Self-awareness and empathy - self-assessment, identifying one's own strengths and weaknesses, positive thinking, building self-image and body image
Dealing with emotions and stress - self-control, dealing with pressure, anxiety, difficult situations, seeking help, time management
Why exactly these skills? The WHO has consciously focused on psychosocial skills rather than practical skills like cooking or financial management. These are broad skills that can be developed over time through conscious effort, improving one's self-efficacy, sense of purpose and cognitive abilities. Moreover, these skills interconnect and influence each other. Improving communication skills can affect stress management, critical thinking skills will help us make decisions, while developing empathy can improve communication, and so on.
Who will teach us this and when?
The need to develop life skills in children and adolescents is not new - it has always been mainly the task of parents (family) with the support of school. A new element of the concept proposed by the WHO is the broader inclusion of life skills education in the core tasks of school. So far, the development of soft skills in students has focused mainly on the needs of the labor market and industry requirements. The life skills approach recommended by the WHO is school education that is not limited to imparting information, but balances three components:
knowledge + attitudes and values + skills.
Developing these skills is particularly important at a young age, as it promotes:
proper psychosocial development, realization of developmental tasks and satisfaction of needs
Preparing for life in a changing world, coping with difficulties
primary prevention in a wide range of health and social problems
In recent years, more and more countries have been adapting their education systems to the realities of modern social and economic life. In some European Union countries, separate school subjects devoted to personal and social development have already been introduced. In Poland, despite the recent reform of the education system, there is still much to be done in this area. Overloaded with information and exams, Polish school does not adequately prepare people to cope with modern reality, let alone the future. It even seems that it was the generations of the pre-digital era - BB, X and even some of Y - that had more real opportunities to acquire a range of psychosocial competencies than Z, CC and children currently entering education. This is already recognized by employers and recruiters. Author:
Psychologist, career counselor, crisis intervener, coach, trainer
Usable sources of information:.
Partners in Life Skills Education - Conclusions from a United Nations Inter-Agency Meeting, Department of Mental Health World Health Organization, Geneva, WHO/MNH/MHP/99.2
"School for the Innovator. Formation of pro-innovative competencies" - Report commissioned by the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Technology, 2018
Shaping life skills - Barbara Woynarowska, Institute of Health Psychology, psychologia.edu.pl/reading room
