Description
Book SynopsisThis open access volume critically reviews a diverse body of scholarship and practice that informs the conceptualization, curriculum, teaching and measurement of life skills in education settings around the world. It discusses life skills as they are implemented in schools and non-formal education, providing both qualitative and quantitative evidence of when, with whom, and how life skills do or do not impact young women’s and men’s lives in various contexts. Specifically, it examines the nature and importance of life skills, and how they are taught. It looks at the synergies and differences between life skills educational programmes and the way in which they promote social and emotional learning, vocational/employment education, and health and sexuality education. Finally, it explores how life skills may be better incorporated into education and how such education can address structures and relations of power to help youth achieve desired future outcomes, and goals set out in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Life skills education has gained considerable attention by education policymakers, researchers and educators as being the sine qua non for later achievements in life. It is nearly ubiquitous in global and national education policies, including the SDGs, because life skills are regarded as essential for a diverse set of purposes: reducing poverty, achieving gender equality, promoting economic growth, addressing climate change, fostering peace and global citizenship, and creating sustainable and healthy communities. Yet, to achieve these broad goals, questions persist as to which life skills are important, who needs to learn them, how they can be taught, and how they are best measured. This book addresses these questions.
Table of ContentsSection 1: Examining Life Skills Education Scholarship and Programs for Youth.- 1. Life skills for adolescents in developing countries: What are they and why do they matter?.- 2. Linking Life Skills Education and Social-Emotional Learning: From Conceptualization to Practical Application in a Global Context.- 3. Life skills for ‘at risk’ youth: From individual life skills to a relational approach.- 4. A social justice based approach to life skills: Insights from the Prerna School.- Section 2: Empirical Cases of Life Skills Education.- 5. Transfer and re-contextualization of life skills education: Case studies from Uganda.- 6. Employability and Soft Skills Curriculum Development in Context.- 7. Career skills as Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) competencies: Bridging the personal and the political.- 8. Incorporating life skills for developing personal agency to prevent child marriage: A case study from rural areas of Honduras.- 9. Developing girls’ life skills through sport: Are programs measuring up to the task? .- 10. Conclusion.
