Saturday, November 16, 2013

LS Lesson 2: Definition of Life skills and its core components

What are Life Skills ?


Life skills comprise particular attitudes, knowledge and skills (Nelson-Jones, 1991) which 
enable the individual to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life 
(Division of Mental Health WHO, 1993). Nelson-Jones (1992:232) recommends that specific 
life skills should be regarded as comprising three dimensions: attitude, knowledge and skill.

 Attitude:  An  appropriate  attitude  to  any  skill  is  that  one  should  assume  personal 
responsibility for acquiring, maintaining, using and developing it. One may lose some or all 
of a life skill if one fails to work at using and developing it. A personally responsible 
attitude is the motivational or ìwanting to do itî dimension of a life skill.

Knowledge: Any life skill involves knowing how to make the right choices. People who 
have been exposed to good models may have this kind of knowledge, albeit implicitly 
rather than explicitly. Though they may not be able to say why, they know which choices 
are correct, for example for being a good speaker. People with shortcomings in certain 
areas of skills may require the relevant knowledge to be clearly articulated or ìspelled outî, 
so that this can guide their actions. This is the ìknowing how to do itî dimension of a life 
skill.
Skill:  The  skill  dimension  entails  putting  attitude  and  knowledge  into  practice.  In 
appropriate circumstances, one translate one's ìwanting to do itî and ìknowing how to do 
itî into ìactually doing itî (Nelson-Jones, 1992:232).

Therefore Life skills are “the abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour that 
enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life” 
(WHO). ‘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.

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. Technical skills on the other hand are those things that a person can do like crossing a road safely, mending a dress, etc. while Health skills are those like putting on makeup, brushing teeth and taking showers, cleaning the house.Thus, Life skills are distinct from livelihood, technical and health skills.

Life skills core components and example :
source http://www.lifeskillshandbooks.com/LIFESKILLS-HANDBOOK.pdf

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