10 ideas for developing life-skills in the classroom

Role Models Director of Character Education, Louise Treherne, wrote a brilliant article for the publication 'The Voice for Secondary Education' recently. Louise offers 10 ideas on how teachers can teach life-skills as part of their day-to-day lessons.

There is much agreement among educators on the importance of life-skills such as resilience, confidence, tenacity and a growth mindset when it comes to preparing pupils to flourish. But how can teachers actively help to develop these skills? Here are 10 ideas.

Vocalise feeling

Through being more transparent about feelings and emotions, teachers can help to develop emotional awareness within their pupils. Rather than hiding every emotion to remain “unflappable”, teachers can (where appropriate) talk through their feelings aloud. Through sharing with your class that you are feeling upset by some sad news you received, or slightly nervous about a presentation, pupils learn to understand these feelings are all normal, and although potentially uncomfortable, they are part of life.

Let them know when you don’t know

Admitting that you do not know all the answers is a golden opportunity to demonstrate a growth mindset. Getting something wrong in front of your pupils and being comfortable with fallibility is also a wonderful way to demonstrate humility and a mature approach to learning. When you are asked a question, to be able to say, “I don’t know the answer to that, let’s make a plan on how we can find out more”, is a great way to model the approach we hope pupils will adopt in their own learning.

Challenge yourself

Learning alongside your pupils helps them to understand that we never stop learning in life. Choosing a new skill, hobby or simple challenge and then sharing this with your pupils, allows them to see you “walk the talk”. This could be a physical challenge or learning a new language or instrument. Share with them your progress, the struggles, your motivation, your resilience and tenacity. You can encourage your pupils to also choose their own individual challenge (non-academic related) or even decide on one collectively as a class. When your pupils see you willing to try something new, struggle and then make progress, it serves as a great reminder that effort can pay off.

To read all 10, please read the rest of the article by clicking here