“Life skills are positive behaviour skills that enable the individual to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life”. (Definition of the World Health Organization (WHO)). These ‘Life Skills’ mainly include psychosocial competences and interpersonal skills that help people make informed decisions, solve problems, think critically and creatively, communicate effectively, build healthy relationships, empathize with other people and deal with their lives in a healthy and productive way. The ten most important life skills as defined by the WHO are:
- Self-awareness
- Empathy
- Critical Thinking
- Think creatively
- Make decisions
- Troubleshooting
- Communicate effectively
- Establish interpersonal relationships
- Dealing with stress and dealing with emotions
Applying life skills influences the way a person feels about themselves and others and can increase one’s productivity, purpose, self-esteem, and self-confidence. Therefore, life skills are generic skills that are relevant to many different experiences in life. In the CL4L project, we assume that students acquire these skills in such a way that they have an impact on their lives.