THE TEN CORE LIFE SKILLS

...as laid down by WHO

Life skills are abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour, that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life.

They should be acquired in the adolescent years of between 13 and 19, that is, during the children's Secondary and Junior College education periods.

1. Self-awareness - this is the ability to recognize our own identity, character, feelings, preferences, behavior, the manner we present ourselves to others and includes the capacity for self-directed learning.

2. Empathy - this is the capacity to understand and appreciate the feelings, needs, desires and position of others.

3. Critical thinking - this encompasses the ability to subject information to logical analysis and think objectively and independently.

4.  Creative thinking - this has 4 components – fluency (the prolific generation of relevant ideas), flexibility (the taking of different perspectives), originality (the conceiving of something new), and elaboration (the refining of known ideas).

5. Decision-making - this is the ability to weigh different options and arrive at the best compromise.

6. Problem-solving - involves defining the problem clearly, looking for relevant information and making connections between them, establishing all the alternative viable solutions, evaluating them, taking the right actions in good time, reviewing the outcome and re-formulating new solutions.

7. Interpersonal relationship skills - describe the knack of being able to relate to others and maintain friendly relationships with them.

8. Effective communication - includes a proficiency in expressing ourselves, whether verbally and non-verbally, in a clear and appropriate manner.

9. Coping with stress - this is the ability to face challenges by recognizing the presence of stress, identifying its sources, assessing its effects and taking action to prevent or control it.

10. Coping with emotions - this involves the ability to focus and exercise self-control in the face of the different emotional influences and responses to different situations.