Life Skills Education (Kenya Institute of Education)

Definitions Life Skills are psychosocial competences which enable an individual develop
adaptive and positive behaviour so as to deal effectively with challenges and demands
of everyday life. The development of Life Skills is a lifelong process that starts in early
childhood and continues throughout ones life.

Psycho – those skills that deal mainly with the mental functions and processes, such as
the problem solving skills. Social – Those skills that deal with one’s interaction with self,
others and the environment.

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.

Challenges facing the youth

• Psychological e.g. preparing for examinations, peer pressure, etc.

• Social e.g. peer pressure, inter-relationships, etc.
• Economic e.g. lack of resources (such as finance, basic necessities), excessive
resources.
• Emotional e.g. anger management, hormonal influences, etc.
• Spiritual e.g. exposure to conflicting religious beliefs.
• Etc.

Categories of Life Skills CATEGORY 1: SKILLS OF KNOWING AND LIVING WITH

ONESELF

o Self-awareness
o Self esteem
o Coping with emotions
o Coping with stress

CATEGORY 2: SKILLS OF KNOWING AND LIVING WITH OTHERS

•
o Empathy
o Effective communication
o Conflict resolution and negotiation
o Friendship formation
o Assertiveness
o Peer pressure resistance

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CATEGORY 3: SKILLS OF EFFECTIVE DECISION MAKING

o Critical thinking
o Creative thinking
o Problem solving
o Decision making

IMPORTANCE OF LIFE SKILLS EDUCATION

Where life skills education is well developed and practiced, it enhances the wellbeing of
a society and promote positive outlook and healthy behaviour. In particular, it enables
the individual to:

• translate knowledge, attitude, skills and values into action;

• behave responsibly and this leads to healthy living;
• develop positive attitude towards themselves and others;
• develop full potential;
• promote the state of mental well being as this motivates them and others;
• promote risk free behaviour;
• communicate effectively;
• develop negotiation skills;
• improve self perception by:
• building self confidence
o building self esteem
o building self-worth

Life Skills Education has long term benefits to the society. These include educational,
social, health, cultural and economic benefits.

(a)Educational benefits

• Strengthens teacher pupil relationship

• Leads to desirable behaviour change
• Improves discipline in schools
• Reduces learner problems such as truancy, absenteeism drug and substance abuse
and teenage pregnancies
• Helps learners to improve their performance

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(b)Social Benefits

• Improves the socialization process among learners such as relating to others in a

friendly way
• Enables learners to choose good and reliable friends
• Helps learners to use their leisure time properly
• assists learners to recognize and avoid risky situations
• Bring about meaningful interaction among learners, teachers and the school
community
• Helps in character building.

(c)Health Benefits

• Leads to prevention and control of diseases such as STIs, HIV and AIDS
• Contributes to a person’s general well being (physical, mental, emotional and
social)
• Leads to less strain on health facilities
• Helps people to be responsible for their own and other people’s health

d)Cultural Benefits

• Enables people to adopt and maintain meaningful cultural practices and avoid
practices that may put self and others at risk
• Promotes harmonious interaction between people of different cultures
• Helps in the clarification of values in the society

e)Economic Benefits

• It leads to high productivity due to a motivated, strong and energetic labour force
• Savings are increased as money used eg on management and control of HIV and
AIDS can be invested elsewhere. Resources such as time and money are saved as
learners acquire skills to manage themselves and their environment.
o rehabilitation of drug and substance abuses
o repair of damaged property
o buy teaching learning resources

ASSUMPTIONS IN LIFE SKILLS EDUCATION

• The learners are able to make rational decisions if they are equipped with adequate
information, skills and desirable attitudes
• Life Skills Education is an effective intervention measure in responding to socio-
cultural problems like: HIV and AIDS, drugs and substance abuse, school unrest
among others.
• Life Skills Education responds to critical needs of the youth
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 • Life skills are well developed when based on the learners real life experiences
• Development of life skills is a life long process that starts in early childhood and
continues throughout one’s life.

Self-Awareness and Self-Esteem

Self-awareness involves being aware of different aspects of the self including traits, behaviors, and
feelings. Essentially, it is a psychological state in which oneself becomes the focus of attention. Self-
awareness is one of the first components of the self-concept to emerge. While self-awareness is
something that is central to who you are, it is not something that you are acutely focused on at every
moment of every day. Instead, self-awareness becomes woven into the fabric of who you are and emerges
at different points depending on the situation and your personality. Self-awareness is knowing yourself.
It is understanding your feelings, motives, goals, and biases. Psychologists have identified two types:
internal self-awareness and external self-awareness. Internal self-awareness focuses on your thoughts,
feelings, strengths, weaknesses, values, and so on. External self-awareness is being tuned to how other
people perceive you.

Types of Self-Awareness
Psychologists often break self-awareness down into two different types, either public or private.

Public Self-Awareness

This type emerges when people are aware of how they appear to others. Public self-awareness
often emerges in situations when people are at the center of attention, such as when giving a
presentation or talking to a group of friends.

This type of self-awareness often compels people to adhere to social norms. When we are aware
that we are being watched and evaluated, we often try to behave in ways that are socially
acceptable and desirable.

Public self-awareness can also lead to evaluation anxiety in which people become
distressed, anxious, or worried about how they are perceived by others.

Private Self-Awareness

This type happens when people become aware of some aspects of themselves, but only in a
private way. For example, seeing your face in the mirror is a type of private self-awareness.

People with strong self-awareness skills can:

• Recognize their strengths and challenges.

• Understand and talk about their needs and feelings.
• Recognize other people's needs and feelings.
• See how their behavior affects others.
• Develop a growth mindset and learn from their mistakes.
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Johari window four regions to use in self-awareness
1. Open area, open self, free area, free self, or 'the
arena‘: what is known by the person about
him/herself and is also known by others -
2. Blind area, blind self, or 'blindspot‘: what is
unknown by the person about him/herself but
which others know
3. Hidden area, hidden self, avoided area,
avoided self or 'façade’: what the person knows
about him/herself that others do not know
4. Unknown area or unknown self: what is
unknown by the person about him/herself and is
also unknown by others.

Coping with emotions

Definitions of Emotions

Emotion: Emotions are strong feelings in response to situations, issues and needs. These
may cause mood swings in children and young people in their various developmental
stages. Such emotions include: love fear, anger, shyness, self-doubt, hate, joy, frustration,
sadness, guilt, jealousy.

Behaviour that shows coping with emotions

• Letting rationality take control of the situation as far as possible

• eeping calm in words and actions
• Accepting reality
• Thinking through the possible outcomes of a situation and taking positive
alternative lines of action in good time
• Carrying on with essential duties even if there is an upsetting event
• Seeking or accepting suitable advice or assistance
• Recovering quickly from a sad event.

Managing Emotions

• Identify the problematic emotion

• Analyse underlying cause of emotion
• Reflect on the effect on self and others
• Weigh capacity to handle emotions
• Seeking guidance/counselling
• Delaying action
• Self distraction
• Walking away
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 • Expressing emotion through writing,

NB: Fighting/physical confrontation, verbal confrontation is a negative way of managing

emotions and should be discouraged.

Coping with stress

Stress is an individual’s response to overwhelming internal and external demands. When

people are stressed they are unable to respond appropriately to challenging issues and
situations. Examples of causes of stress among the young people include: academic
pressure, rejection by peers’ changes taking place in their bodies (biological, physical and
mental), poor communication in the family and death of loved ones among others.

Ways of coping with stress

• Recognizing onset of stress

• Identifying cause of stress
• Improving self awareness skill
• Engaging in physical exercises
• Talking to a trusted friend
• Setting realistic goals
• Good time management
• Engaging in positive leisure activities
• Being assertive
• Choosing and keeping good friends
• Making rational decisions
• Nurturing personal values

Types of Stress

• Dystress – This is the negative stress which affect ones normal functioning and

requires to be managed

• Eustress – This is the positive stress which one needs in his/her daily life for
normal

Functioning

FRIENDSHIPS FORMATION AND MAINTENANCE

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A friend is a person one is in a good relationship with and with whom one shares personal
information and materials with. The teacher should involve the learners in acquiring
knowledge values and skills on how to identify good friends, qualities of a good friend.
He /she should also discuss things friends do together and the importance of having
friends. He or she should emphasize to the learners the importance of establishing and
maintaining friendships

Types of friendships at various levels

• family
• among the peers
• in the community
• teacher – learner
• tutor – trainee
• counselor – client
• doctor – patient
• employer – employee
• trader – customer
• spiritual leader – follower

Peer influence and peer pressure Peer influence is the strong pressure to an individual to
adopt the attitude, values, behaviour and thoughts of his or her peer group. The pressure
might be positive or negative.

Peer Pressure Resistance

Peer Pressure is the influence one has from friends and others of his/her own age to do
things that he/she doesn’t approve of and really don’t want to do.

Positive and Negative Peer influence

Positive Peer Influence

• contributes to achievement of personal goals

• builds self confidence
• leads to respect of values and belief in society
• promotes of positive use of leisure time
• discourages risky behaviour
• promotes unity and co-operation
• encourages mutual trust
• enhances performance
•

Negative Peer Influence

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 • leads to riots and school unrest
• promotes harmful traditional practices
• leads to pre-marital sex
• drug and substance abuse
• bullying
• dropping out of school
• involvement in cuts and occultism

Strategies of peer pressure resistance

• application of negotiation skills

• being assertive
• relating with positive socializing agents
• developing and upholding positive values system

Effective Communication

This is the exchange of ideas, feelings, opinions, wants, needs and actions verbally or non-
verbally. Effective communication is more than sending and receiving messages. It
entails sending accurate information and receiving feedback that the message has been
received without distortion. It can be enhanced by:

➢ clarity of message
➢ use of appropriate language
➢ observing appropriate timing
➢ active listening
➢ asking questions
➢ observing non-verbal actions or reactions
➢ considering the type of audience.

Effective communication helps individuals to clarify ideas, correct misconceptions, share

experiences, reduce stress and provide feedback for improvement. One needs to
internalise this skill in order to be able to overcome his/her inhibitions and maintain
healthy social relationships.

The Situations that require effective communication include:

➢ seeking or providing guidance

➢ dealing with gender stereotypes
➢ child abuse
➢ domestic violence
➢ harmful cultural and religious practices
➢ interpersonal relationship

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 ➢ peer pressure e.g. drug abuse, pre-martial sex
➢ risky situations, e.g. car- jacking, rape among others

Forms of communication

➢ verbal e.g. debates, barazas, etc

➢ non-verbal eg. Print, gestures, signals, puppetry. miming

CONFLICT RESOLUTION

Conflicts are serious disagreements among individuals or groups which may results in
verbal or physical confrontation. They may also be internal when an individual has two
opposing feelings or views about an issue or situation. This threatens peaceful co-
existence or relationships among people. The existence of conflict between individuals or
self may result to; rape, broken families, drugs and substance abuse, unwanted
pregnancies, wars, ethnic clashes and riots in institutions among others. Conflict
resolution is the ability to handle disagreements calmly and peacefully. Conflicts have
serious and far reaching effects among young people. It is therefore necessary to
understand the causes of conflicts and the consequences of using poor or inadequate
conflict resolution skills. The teacher should inculcate among the learners the values and
skills of resolving conflicts peacefully.

Types of conflicts

• Intrapersonal
• Interpersonal
• Community
• International/national

Situations that may lead to conflict

• physical and emotional abuse

• effects of drug and substance abuse
• violation of human right
• discrimination based on gender, race, education, tribe etc
• inequality in distribution of resources
• different political indication
• negative ethnicity
• strained resource
• communication breakdown
• social cultural prejudices/biases

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Barriers to conflict resolution

• prejudice
• low self esteem
• envy
• pride
• dishonesty
• suspicion
• ignorance
• peer pressure
• luck of communication
• stereotyping

Effects of unresolved conflicts

• strained relationships
• physical confrontation
• disruption of social order
• physical injuries and psychological trauma
• displacement of people
• destruction of property
• loss of life
• social political instability
• fear and insecurity
• reduced involvement in economic activities

Methods of conflict resolution Conflict resolution refers to the process of bringing

misunderstanding or hostilities to an end. The best way to resolve a conflict is to approach
it in non-violent way: Some of the conflict resolution the methods are:

• Adjudication:

Arbitration – This involves almost the same process as outlined under mediation
However, the arbitrator makes the final discussion for both partieis he/she acts like a
judge in finding out who is in the wrong for example when and pupils are quarreling a
teacher or head teacher may settle their quarrel.

Negotiation: This is a process that involves people involved in a conflict meeting and
talking to each other about the conflict. Through a process of give and take where they
try and reach an agreement on the problem. Apart from resolving conflicts negotiation
skills can be used to present spread of STI’s including HIV/AIDS and unwanted
pregnancies abortions. Abstinence etc. Mediation: This is a process in which two or more
people or parties in a conflicts involve a third person that is someone who is not part of
the conflict to help them reach an acceptable agreement. The third person:
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 • Brings the people/parties in a face to face discussion of the issues
• Allows each party to tell should focus on how the conflict started and developed.
The mediator may allow them to ask each other questions for the purposes of
clarification
• Discusses with then the facts and issues involved in the conflict and helps then to
see what want wrong
• Discuss the with the possible solution to the problem
• Involves both parties to arrive at a final solution to the conflict and to reconcile.

Importance of resolving conflict peacefully

• Promotes peace and unity in homes, schools, communities and the country
• Promotes co-operation and development

Creates good relationships among people

• Promotes human dignity

• Prevents violence thereby protecting life and property

Empathy

Negotiation Skills

Effective decision making

Session Objectives

By the end of the session the participants should be able to:

• Explain the meaning of the term decision making.

• Identify types of decisions
• Differentiate between creative thinking, critical thinking and problem solving
• Explore situations that require decision making
• Explain the steps of decision making process

Meaning of Decision

It is a choice that one makes between two or more possible options. One will need to
make more and more decision as he/she goes through life. Some of these decision will
affect him/her the rest of his/her lives. Decision making is the process of making a
decision

Types of decision (i) impulsive (without thinking) (ii) rational involves reasoning

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Critical thinking: This means an attempt to understand what really constitutes the
problem. It also means analyzing the problem and what may have caused it to emerge.
Creative thinking: Once the problem is understand and analysed as to its cause and its
components, the next step is creative thinking. This involves looking for solutions. One
may come up with various options.

Decision making: This involves weighing each option. It goes back to critical thinking
around each option.

CORE LIVING VALUES

Values are the principles and beliefs that influence the behaviour and way of life of a
group of people or community.

The things, ideas beliefs and principles that are of worth to a person shapes his or her
values. A person’s values help to define who he/she is and help determine the choices
he/she makes. Living values provide principles and tools for development of the whole
person recognising that the individual is comprised of the physical, intellectual, social
emotional and spiritual dimension. Life Skills Education is best enhanced by living
values. Therefore it is important for the teacher to understand and apply Living values
so as to enhance acquisition of life skills.

The Core Living Values • Cooperation • Freedom • Happiness • Honesty • Tolerance •

Unity • Peace • Respect • Responsibility • Simplicity • Humility • Love

LOVE Where there is love, there is a world. Love looks on all with a vision of equality
Love is all giving without any thought of a return A heart that has love is able to
accommodate The whole universe and still has space for more. Selfless love is truly
unlimited; It forgets and forgives the weakness And sees only beauty and specialities in
everyone

HONESTY Speak with honesty and you will get a chance to learn. The one who is honest
will speak about themselves first, not about others. Others won’t get impressed by your
words. Or even by your face… But by your honesty and truth To speak that which you
think and to do that Which you speak is honesty.

TOLERANCE Where there is tolerance, You are able to remain quiet and happy inside.
One who has tolerance has the power to Accept and accommodate all situations. Only
when you are contented internally can there be tolerance When you are contenedt, then
just like a mother who has love for her child, There is no limit to tolerance.

SIMPLICITY

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Simplicity is identifying and being comfortable with those elaborate circumstances which
shape our lives without worrying or making matters complicated. It requires facing any
complexity with a plain and simple mind Simplicity starts with the self and overflows to
everything else around us. A life lived in simplicity is a satisfying life Which inspires
everyone yet possessed by one.

PEACE

Peace is the original quality of the self. In its purest form, peace is inner silence. It consists
of positive thoughts, pure feelings and good wishes To have peace you need patience
When you are peaceful, you create an atmosphere of peace, Peace in the world can only
be realized When there is peace in the minds of man.

HAPPINESS There is happiness when each moment is used in a worthwhile way.

Happiness is such nourishment that it can transform a person, from weak to powerful, it
makes difficult things easy heavy things light To remain happy and share happiness with
others is the greatest act of charity No matter what happens, your happiness should not
be lost.

COOPERATION It is based on faith, love, trust and understanding. It is not a bargaining

game, in which one person’s success is achieved at the expense of another’s Real
cooperation takes place when there are good wishes and pure feelings for each other. The
highest cooperation is to partake of God’s task; And in return He will cooperate with you
forever

HUMILITY Humility is dedication to the extent that no acknowledgement is sought for

the self. Humility allows you to learn. There is great strength in humility It never holds
on to anyone for support Everyone bows down to those who bow down first. Humility
is not subservience but greatness. It is visible when there is love Have love for humility.
It helps you to remain happy

RESPECT True respect is valuing one’s Own existence and the existence of others. It is
not connected to a person’s role, Social position, nor his capacities or talents, It is the
awareness that everyone has value; Everyone is unique When there is respect, there is
understanding, Giving and taking on basis of love. Only when you give respect do you
earn the respect of others.

RESPONSIBILITY The world’s a stage and we are all actors Each actor plays a unique
part and He is responsible for his own actions. Responsibility means playing our part
Accurately no matter what the task may be Each one of us has a huge part in creating a
better world. Just respond to the abilities Within you and become responsible.

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FREEDOM Freedom starts in the mind. Understanding the self is the key to freedom The
more one understand the self, the easier it is to be liberated from waste. Freedom means
to be uninfluenced, Unaffected and to be at peace with the self. True freedom is to
experience the true essence of one’s being and that is peace.

UNITY Unity is harmony within and amongst individuals. It is built from a shared vision
For the common good. Unity is appreciating the values of each Individual and their
unique contributions. When there is the willingness Within the self to accommodate
others, unity blossoms When I take the first step to mend fences, others will also change.

BENEFITS OF CORE LIVING VALUES • Values bring happiness in life • Values are the
treasure of life, making humans wealthy and rich • A life filled with values is a life of
self-respect and dignity • Values bring independence and freedom • They expand the
capacity to be self-sufficient • They liberate one from external influences • They offer
protection and those who get it are able to share with others • Values bring
empowerment and remove weaknesses and defects • They open the heart and transform
human nature so that life is filled with compassion and humility • Students also thrive
in a value-based atmosphere in a positive, safe environment of mutual respect and care.
Where students are regarded as capable of learning to make socially conscious choices

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