Life Management Skills Improve in India

By Central Square Foundation

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment for the Award of the Degree of MBA 2019-2021

Submitted By: Santosh kumar

University PRN : 1928100049

BHARATI VIDYAPEETH DEEMED TO BE UNIVERSITY, PUNE

SCHOOL OF DISTANCE EDUCATION, PUNE
Academic Study Center - BVIMR, New Delhi
An ISO 9001:2008 Certified Institute
NAAC Accredited Grade “A” University
Page no. 01
 Format of Student Undertaking Certificate of Originality

I Santosh kumar, Course-MBA and Semester - I would like to declare that the
project report entitled " Life Management Skills " Submitted to Bharati
Vidyapeeth University Pune, School of Distance Education Pune, Academic Study Centre
BVIMR New Delhi in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of the degree.

It is an original work carried out by me under the guidance of _

All respected guides, faculty member and other sources have been properly acknowledged
and the report contains no plagiarism.

To the best of my knowledge and belief the matter embodied in this project is a genuine
work done by me and it has been neither submitted for assessment to the University nor
to any other University for the fulfillment of the requirement of the course of study.

Student Name with Signature

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Page no. 2
Project report inculcates applied elementary creative thinking/working. It gives us immense
pleasure to prepare this study on “Life Skill Improvement by Center Square Foundations ”.This
learning has many contours and impacts. This learning has many contours and impacts. I wish to
express my deepest gratitude for all those people who made this project possible. I am indebted
to BVUSDE honourable Director Mr. A. R. Deshmukh without whom co-operation the project
would have not been possible. Also I would like to express my profound sense of gratitude to the
project guide Ms. Surinder Kaur Walia for guiding me as well as providing me the support to
conduct this project.
Last but not the least, I take this opportunity to thank all the library members of BVIMR, New
Delhi, respondents, friends, and my parents without their concern and cooperation this project
would have not been possible.

NAME OF THE STUDENT:

Santosh kumar

Table of Contents

S. No. Topics. Page. No.

Page no. 3
● Chapter 1 : Introduction to the topic. 05
Related To Subject,
Objective and Vision of Projects,
Limitations of the Project,Literature Review

● Chapter 2 : Research Methodology. 14

Research Design (Exploratory, Analytical etc.)
Primary and Secondary data
Instruments for Data Collection.
Method for Data Collection

● Chapter 3 : Findings & Analysis. 24

● Chapter 4 : Conclusions 36
● Chapter 5 : Recommendations / Suggestions 38
● Chapter 6 : Limitations of the Study. 43

UNIT - 1 INTRODUCTION

Page no. 4
 ● Introduction

The goals of education, and of a school, indisputably include building cognitive abilities such as
reading and Maths. Increasingly, however, it also implies that children should be equipped with
other abilities that prepare them for success and meaningful contribution to the society they
live in. We will broadly call such traits–such as communication, critical thinking, creativity, self-
management, decision-making, perseverance - life skills.

This note aims to synthesise and contribute to the growing discussion around the development
of life skills education in India. We propose that life skills should be explicitly woven into school
education by exploring evidence on why such skills matter and which skills are important for
learning and future outcomes. The following sections then review how these skills are typically
nurtured in or out of schools and how feasible these interventions may be. We conclude by
analysing present opportunities for building the scope of life skills education in policy and
practice in India.

Page no. 5
The Life management skills course is designed to teach us more about ourselves and the
important decisions we make in our life. The course covers such important issues as adequate
nutrition, alcohol and drug abuse, stress relieving techniques, sexual health, good time and
finance management strategies, employment and parenting skills development etc. The main aim
of the course is to encourage young people to take active position in life and promote healthier
and more positive habits, and finally make better and informed decisions. Making good decisions
requires a person to know the facts, clearly understand the possible consequences, and have the
confidence to make good choice.

Page no. 6
At Eduboard our experienced Life Management Skills tutors will help you navigate through the
course providing relevant information, instruction, and encouragement. They can also assist you
in developing tools for effectively expressing your feelings and opinions, teach you on how to be a
smart consumer.

The Life Management Skills by Eduboard is a vital course for well-organized and purpose-driven
life.

“A winner is someone who recognizes his God-given talents, works his tail off to develop them
into skills, and uses these skills to accomplish his goals.”
- Larry Bird

● Life Skiils

The term ‘Life Skills’ refers to the skills you need to make the most out of life.

Any skill that is useful in your life can be considered a life skill. Tying your shoe laces, swimming,
driving a car and using a computer are, for most people, useful life skills. Broadly speaking, the
term ‘life skills’ is usually used for any of the skills needed to deal well and effectively with the

challenges of life.

● Objective and Vision of Life Managment Skills

Life Managment skills training equips people with the social and interpersonal skills that enable

them to cope with the demands of everyday life. The objectives of this training are to build self-

confidence, encourage critical thinking, foster independence and help people to communicate

more effectively.The Following Objective of Life Management Skills.

1. Independence

Life skills enable people to be more independent.Someone who learns to read and write doesn't

need to depend on others to perform basic tasks like writing letters or filling in forms
Page no. 7
 2. Confidence

A primary objective of life skills training that focus on personal development is to promote

confidence and well-being in young people and adults. It helps participants become more

assertive, communicate effectively with others by developing good listening skills.

3. Communication

Life skills training helps people to communicate with the outside world and to enjoy a better

relationship with family and friends. Computer literacy, for example, is viewed as a life skill

because information technology is an important part of daily living. People use computers to shop

online, communicate with friends and coworkers, search for jobs and complete work-related tasks

using computer software like documents and spreadsheets. Parenting classes or classes to help

people deal with caring for elderly relatives focus on communication skills.

4. Healthy Living

People are less likely to be exploited by others if they are physically and emotionally self-reliant.

Teenagers, for example, are less likely to be influenced by peer pressure to experiment with

drugs. Someone who is assertive and confident is more likely to enjoy nurturing relationships by

being able to express his feelings and negotiate successfully with others. He is better equipped to

make rational decisions that will benefit himself and others.

5. Stress Free

Time management: Reduce the demands on yourself: Ensure that you get enough fun out of life:

Positive thinking: Practise assertiveness: Look after your physical well-being:

Page no. 8
 6. Successful in life

Benefits for the individual. In everyday life, the development of life skills helps students to: Find

new ways of thinking and problem solving. Recognise the impact of their actions and teaches

them to take responsibility for what they do rather than blame others.

● Limitations of Life Management Skills

The first fall, while you are managing your time, is one area of your life which leaves an impact

onthe other areas. To avoid any compromising situation just understand that learning about Life

management theory is mainly implementing a change in lifestyle. In other words, there is a

needfor coherent values adoption for effective life management.It can be pretty hard for

someone who doesn’t embrace punctuality and value time. There are very few downsides to time

Page no. 9
management. The main Limitations of Life Management Skills.

1. Non-clear Objectives

The productive behavior is definitely one of the main goals in time management. Sometimes, it

leads to non-clear objectives which usually struck people for worse. An unaware person doesn’t

know what to do? If you are not being able to do better management of workload, you will get

more struck in non-done tasks in no time.

2. Mismanagement.

Organized results to less rework and mistakes but excess organizing craze leaves a person in

blunder. The items, details, and instructions are if forgotten then leads to extra work and a blame

of mismanagement. A person has to do a task more times if he forgets something. It will lead to

fatigue and it happens because of predictive behavior.

3. Can’t say “no”

You might have forgotten an appointment, or missed deadline and all happened because of

working on others task as saying ‘no’ will be tough for you. Such crazy situations incline life

friction. You can avoid creating such problems by planning and preparing exactly. No body can

create more time but it can be used in better way by managing time undoubtedly. It’s always

better to keep back because people simply can’t say no to anyone.

4. Obstacles.
Page no. 10
Simple actions like shifting commute or getting a work done early, produce more issues in life. The

time management leads you towards an obstacle. When you know what you need to do, you hate

wasting time in idle activities and that leads to disputes and disturbances. Instead of thinking

what to do next, concentrate on steps ahead of work, as anything can go wrong. The people face

many problems due to it.

5. Inactivity.

The common misconception makes time management an extra effort. To the contrary, proper

time management makes a human life easier and inactive. If things are asking for less effort than

the usual time, then the consumption of time leads to dullness.

Manage time for improving life, as time management is all about spending time in right places,

and on the right things but sometime the obsession for doing right makes your life stagnant.

6. Load of different works at one time

When you work according to time management, then sometimes in over confidence you take too

many tasks in hand. That particular condition leaves you in total blunder. The people keep too

much expectations from you just because of your flaunting behavior and at last you feel a load of

work on your shoulders. And such confusion creates a mismanagement situation.

7. Fatigue and stress become part of Life.

Fatigue and stress is common problem that leads you to a tired phase. The tiredness leads a

Page no. 11
human being to irritate and fed up of life. They also feel demoralized because they again and

again think about their unsuccessful attempt of adopting time management in their life. They

consider their

unsuccessful attempt as halt in their way and leave interest in all things.

Majority of people make themselves prone to diseases. The proper planning is not a cup of tea of

all. The first and last thing only adopts those skills which give you relaxation from hardships of

hectic life instead of putting you deeper.

8.No time for recreation:

Recreation vanishes from those people’s life, who get involved in time management more than

their personal skills. They waste most of their time in doing planning instead of taking action.

Intellectuals usually define, action speaks louder than words. And those people can never become

successful who spend their money and time in planning. Recreation has become a need of today’s

life. If someone is not doing it then life of these people becomes a burden on them and they led

their life in stagnant way.

● Review on Life Management Skill.

A systematic review was conducted to investigate the literature on effectiveness of life skills

programs. The aim of this review was to gain a comprehensive understanding on the effectiveness

of life skills education globally, and to identify research gaps and priorities. Findings revealed

differences in life skills education within developing countries and developed countries. In

general, developed countries conduct more systematic life skills education programs promoting

Page no. 12
positive behavior, with research articulating outcomes on individual youth. In contrast, the

majority of

developing countries’ life skills programs lack systematic implementation, evaluation and

monitoring. Programs are often conducted to yield short term results only. This review will be

useful to administrators, policy makers, researchers and teachers to implement effective life skills

programs. The findings can be used as inputs for developing sustainable life skills programs.

..

Page no. 13
UNIT - 2 RESEARCH & ANALYSIS ON LIFE MANAGMENT SKILL

One of India's biggest challenges is providing quality education to its 240 million children. The

scale and complexity of education in India demands that the brightest talent engage in finding

solutions.

At Central Square Foundation, we seek to achieve transformational standards of educational

excellence for children in disadvantaged communities in India. We support exceptional social

entrepreneurs with powerful ideas, provide a platform for the sharing of innovation, and find

policy solutions to enable sustained change.

CSF's team members combine a deep commitment to education with operational excellence. We

are a young organisation with a dynamic entrepreneurial environment dedicated to achieving

landmark reform in the Indian education system.

Page no. 14
One of the key areas of CSF's work is supporting Governments with design, roll-out and

management of critical education initiatives. In this regard, CSF has been working closely with the

Central Government and key States on their reform priorities.

● Life Skills Education in India

Page no. 15
 A. The goals of education, and of a school, indisputably include building cognitive abilities

such as reading and Maths. Increasingly, however, it also implies that children should be

equipped withother abilities that prepare them for success and meaningful contribution to

the society they live in. We will broadly call such traits–such as communication, critical

thinking, creativity, self-management, decision-making, perseverance - life skills.This note

aims to synthesise and contribute to the growing discussion around the development of

life skills education in India.

B. We propose that life skills should be explicitly woven into school

education by exploring evidence on why such skills matter and which skills are important

for learning and future outcomes.

C. The following sections then review how these skills are typically nurtured in or out of

schools and how feasible these interventions may be. We conclude by analysing present

opportunities for building the scope of life skills education in policy and practice in India.

● Defining the life skills

Life skills may be viewed as a range of psycho-social and cognitive abilities that equip children
Page no. 16
to make informed decisions and choices, manage their emotional well-being, and communicate

effectively.

Efforts to address the achievement gap have typically focused on core subjects such as Maths

and English. A common belief is that life skills are optional and secondary to achieving basic

literacy and numeracy, only if resources are available.

Research, however, unequivocally shows that students who develop social-emotional skills and

academic mindsets are better equipped to succeed in school and are able to transfer theoretical

concepts to real-life situations early on.We will explore evidence on this need for life skills

education in more detail in Section 2..

Page no. 17
 ● Categorising Life Skills

Life skills encompass a wide-ranging and often unstructured set of skills and attitudes that is
difficult to rigidly define and that has not been officially codified or categorised.2 A number of
related terms are used in this context; some of these include:
1. Life skills

2.21st century skills

3. Non-cognitive skills
4. Non-academic skills
5. Character skills
6. Soft skills
7. Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)

● Life management skills Defined (As per by Central Square Foundation)

Table 1: Life skills as defined by different organisations

Hilton- World Health Collaborative for Character for 21st

Pellegrino Organisation Academic, Social and Lab Century

framework (WHO Emotional Learning Skills

(CASEL)5

1.Cognitive 1.Decision-making 1. Self-awareness: 1.Curiosity 1.Learning

Competencies: 2.Problem-solving 2. Self-management: 2.Gratitude Skills:

Page no. 18
2.Cognitive 3. Creative 3. Social awareness 3.Zest . Critical

Processes thinking 4. Responsible 4. Social . Thinking

3. Knowledge 4.Critical thinking decision-making Intelligence Creative

4.Creativity and 5.Communication 5. Relationship skills 5. Self- . Thinking

6.Interpersonal Control .

5.Innovation skills 6. Grit Collaboratin

6.Intra- 7.Self-awareness g

personal 8.Empathy .

7.Competencie 9.Coping with Communica

s: emotions ting

8.Work Ethic 10.Coping with 2. Literacy

9. Positive Self- stress Skills:

Evaluation .

10.Intellectual Information

11.Openness

12.Inter- . Literacy

personal . Media.

13. Literacy

Competencies: .

Teamwork and Technology

Collaboration Literacy

Leadership Life Skills:

3.Flexibility

Page no. 19
 Initiative

. Social

Skills

4.Productivi

ty

Leadership

● Categorising Life Management Skills

Life Managment skills encompass a wide-ranging and often unstructured set of skills and attitudes

that is

difficult to rigidly define and that has not been officially codified or categorised.2 A number of

related terms are used in this context; some of these include:

Life Managment skills

1.21st century skills

2.Non-cognitive skills

3.Non-academic skills

4.Character skills

5.Soft skills

6.Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)

● Measuring Life Skills

While programmes targeting life skills have evolved significantly in India, such skills remain
Page no. 20
abstract and difficult to measure. The measurement of outcomes from life skills programmes

may be seen as three-fold:

1. Measurement of immediate-term outcomes

Understanding the immediate benefit of an intervention, perhaps occurring while the

intervention taking place, on students’ behaviour, mindsets and abilities, typically through a self-

report questionnaire or sometimes through observational tools used by facilitators

2. Measurement of short-term outcomes

Understanding the short-term outcomes of an intervention, which may occur post the

intervention but while children are still in school. Examples of these include behavioural measures

as well as academic performance, school dropouts.

Page no. 21
 3. Measurement of long-term adulthood outcomes:

Understanding the impact of a life skills intervention on students’ longer-term life outcomes.

These may include educational attainment through school and college, earnings, juvenile crime

rate, risk behaviours such as smoking, etc. Given that momentum among life skills practitioners is

still building, the measurement of immediate-term outcomes from such programmes should be a

Page no. 22
key area of focus. Knowledge of measuring these skills, however, is still under-developed.

Page no. 23
UNIT - 3 Findings & Analysis

● The Case for Life Managment Skills Education in India

Discourse around education quality has typically been limited to educational attainment and
improvements in test scores. A critical question relates to the learning outcomes that are truly
relevant for children to succeed in the 21st century. In this section, we outline the case for
emphasising on competencies additional to reading, Maths and subject knowledge.

Given several challenges in our education system, it is still worth noting that teachers may be
trained faster than systems can be reformed. A trained teacher can still play a positive role and
embed soft skills into their daily teaching practice, particularly when education systems are
weak. Addressing teacher capacity can involve the development of life skills courses or modules
in pre-service teacher training, on-going and sustained block- or district-level in-service support
systems, and teacher self-assessment tools.

● Life Skills Education Policies in India

A. Programme content:Developing relevant information, attitudes, and skills

B. Mechanisms:Implementing participatory teaching practices, modeling of skills and

reinforcemen

C. Teacher training: Building teachers’ belief in the potential of and capacity in delivery of life

skills education

D. Commitment:Advocating for the integration of life skills education in school curriculum

● Life Skills Education in India: An Overview of Evidence and Current Practices

Page no. 24
● The National Curriculum Framework (NCF) 2005 has emphasised on constructive learning
experiences, and on the development of an inquiry-based approach, work-related
knowledge
and broader life skills. Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), in 2005, introduced
life skills education as an integral part of the curriculum through Continuous and
Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) for classes 6 to 10 and developed life skills manuals for
teachers teaching classes 6, 7 and 8. These manuals provide teachers broad guidelines for
each of the ten core life skills identified by WHO. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) also has,
under its agenda, life skills training for girls in on upper primary classes.While there have
been dispersed efforts around life skills17, focus on curriculum integration and teacher
development remains poor.

● Many of these efforts take a general approach to ‘life skills information delivery’
(sometimes more as moral/values education) without a particular context.

● There are certain difficulties in successfully integrating life skills in Indian school education
without systemic reform: Moving life skills from the margins (i.e. extracurricular or as
passive ‘values education’) to the centre of schooling and creating multiple learning
opportunities or reinforcement within schools Introducing a learner-centric pedagogy, not
solely reliant on rote learning or exam-based assessment Building a school culture toward
life-skills based education Improving the capacity. motivation of teachers to develop and
integrate such life skills into their classroom practice
Life skills education in schools clearly needs to take place in the context of broader
education system reforms. To be effective, life skills ultimately need to be age-aligned, and
inculcated in.

● Mechanisms to Build Life Skills

1. Life skills and employment: Life skills are imparted as part of training programmes

Page no. 25
 building secondary school students’ employability skills. Along with investing in technical
skills, such programmes address skills and mindsets such as taking responsibility,
adaptability, entrepreneurship, effective communication, decision-making, leadership and
teamwork. The aim is to equip children with technical knowledge as well as the soft skills
required to succeed in the workplace, thereby directly translating their education into a
source of livelihood. Examples in India include InOpen (life skills education as part of
computer literacy programmes), IGNIS Careers (English language learning), Medha (soft
skills for the workplace), and Lend A Hand India (vocational education).

2. Life skills and values education: Existing policy in India, by a large measure, tends tofocus

on inculcating such skills through values-based education. However, unless well

implemented, such approaches may be very prescriptive in nature and seen as an add-on.

3. Early childhood education: Early childhood interventions lay strong foundations for

children during the most critical development phase of their lives, i.e. from ages 3-6 years.

Such interventions explicitly target a wide range of cognitive, language, emotional and

social skills, from communication, self-regulation, conflict resolution skills, etc. Examples

include Sesame Workshop India and Bodh Shiksha Samiti.

4. Life skills and child rights: Within India, there are several interventions that work on

building life skills as part of a larger programme of child rights and empowerment. Such

organisations address target mindsets and abilities such as self-awareness, leadership, and

Page no. 26
 social influence, through their broader goals of tackling gender disparity, violence, health,

etc. Examples in India include Educate Girls, Sanlaap, Ibtada and Shaishav.

5. Higher order thinking skills: Many life skills programmes (of which a large number are

for-profit providers) are increasingly catering to imparting 21st century skills.

Sucprogrammes, which have accelerated in light of increasing advocacy for a shift from

rote learning, support inquiry-based learning by building critical thinking and creative

problem solving skills. Examples in India include Creya and THOTS Labs.

6. National Institute of Education and Nanyang Technological University recently developed a

computer game to build students’ social problem-solving skills. The game, Socialdrome,
targets 9-12 year olds and has been rolled out in some schools. Learning objectives include
recognising and managing emotions, cooperating with others, and handling difficult
situations.

Page no. 27
7. skills and mindsets such as taking responsibility, adaptability, entrepreneurship, effective
communication, decision-making, leadership and teamwork. The aim is to equip children
with technical knowledge as well as the soft skills required to succeed in the workplace,
thereby directly translating their education into a source of livelihood. Examples in India
include InOpen (life skills education as part of computer literacy programmes), IGNIS
Careers (English language learning), Medha (soft skills for the workplace), and Lend A Hand
India (vocational education).

1.
Stanford University’s Project for Education Research That Scales (PERTS) has focused on
mindset interventions, with programmes targeting academic tenacity or growth mindsets,
and measuring how they affect academic performance.

2. In addition to developing resources and practices for educators and parents to foster
learning mindsets, PERTS has undertaken a study on online learning environments with
Khan Academy to gauge whether developing a growth mindset in children with fixed
perceptions would help them perform better.

3. GlobalSocialdromeIn Singapore, researchers from National Institute of Education and

Nanyang Technological University recently developed a computer game to build students’
social problem-solving skills. The game, Socialdrome, targets 9-12 year olds and has been
rolled out in some schools. Learning objectives include recognising and managing
emotions, cooperating with others, and handling difficult situations.

4. GlobalStudio SchoolsA Studio School is a type of secondary school in the United Kingdom
offering both academic and vocational qualifications, created with the goal of actively
equipping 14-19 year old students with skills needed to succeed in life and work. 21st
Page no. 28
 century skills are embedded throughout all school activities using the CREATE
employability skills framework.

● Teacher Development

A. The efficacy of a life skills intervention depends heavily on the capabilities and attitudes of
the teachers implementing it and their ability to impart such skills. Ensuring adequate
training for teachers and other educators is, therefore, a key factor contributing to the
success of life skills education.

Page no. 29
B. Certain factors must be considered in the design of training programmes that help
teachers incorporate soft skills into practice. Such capacity-building should explicitly
provide opportunities for teachers to self-assess their own attitudes, values, and life skills
proficiency, which strongly influence how they teach such skills to children.

C. Teacher development has to allow for the practice and internalisation of these skills,
without which there will be a natural tendency to fall back upon familiar information-
delivery teaching methods. In addition to content knowledge, training must help build
Page no. 30
 confidence and allow teachers to become more.

D. comfortable with life skills and build better relationships with their students.
Given several challenges in our education system, it is still worth noting that teachers may
be trained faster than systems can be reformed. A trained teacher can still play a positive
role and embed soft skills into their daily teaching practice, particularly when education
systems areweak.

E. Addressing teacher capacity can involve the development of life skills courses or modules
in pre-service teacher training, on-going and sustained block- or district-level in-service
support systems, and teacher self-assessment tools.

F. Teacher development has to allow for the practice and internalisation of these skills,
without which there will be a natural tendency to fall back upon familiar information-
delivery teaching methods. In addition to content knowledge, training must help build
confidence and allow teachers to become more.

G. National Institute of Education and Nanyang Technological University recently developed a

computer game to build students’ social problem-solving skills. The game, Socialdrome,
targets 9-12 year olds and has been rolled out in some schools. Learning objectives include
recognising and managing emotions, cooperating with others, and handling difficult

Page no. 31
 situations.

● Measuring Life Skills

1. While programmes targeting life skills have evolved significantly in India, such skills remain

abstract and difficult to measure. The measurement of outcomes from life skills

programmes may be seen as three-fold:

1. Measurement of immediate-term outcomes: Understanding the immediate benefit of an

intervention, perhaps occurring while the intervention is taking place, on students’

behaviour, mindsets and abilities, typically through a self-report questionnaire or

sometimes

through observational tools used by facilitators.

2. Measurement of short-term outcomes: Understanding the short-term outcomes of an

intervention, which may occur post the intervention but while children are still in school.

Examples of these include behavioural measures as well as academic performance, school

dropouts.

Page no. 32
3. Measurement of long-term adulthood outcomes: Understanding the impact of a life skills

intervention on students’ longer-term life outcomes. These may include educational

attainment through school and college, earnings, juvenile crime rate, other risk behaviours

such as smoking, etc. Given that momentum among life skills practitioners is still building,

4. the measurement of immediate-term outcomes from such programmes should be a key

area of focus. Knowledge of measuring these skills, however, is still under-developed, and

approaches are characterised by a lack of consistency and comparability.Life skills

measurement tools typically include three broad categories.

5. Self-rating scales: These are the most commonly used means of tracking progress, with

students self-reporting on a range of their behavioural characteristics and attitudes. For

instance, in the well-established Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the statements refer to

one’s

beliefs about being able to influence outcomes, cope with stress, and attain goals as well
Page no. 33
 as

pride in oneself, one’s achievements and background; the responses indicate the degree

of

agreement with the statements.

6. Other scales employed for the assessment of specific mindsets and abilities include

Rotter’s Locus of Control Questionnaire, Cantril’s Self-Anchoring Scale.

7. Labour market research relies has heavily on the Rosenberg and Rotter scales.20 A clear

limitation, however, is that these are subject to social desirability bias (i.e. the potential

for students to fake or exaggerate answers) and even memory recall limitations.21 This

issue could become more significant if measures of students’ non-academic ability are

incorporated into teacher and school accountability, and evaluation systems.

8. Teacher rating reports: Here, the teacher or facilitators rate students on target skills,

competencies and attitudes based on observations during the programme. For instance,

Page no. 34
 Dream a Dream has developed a simple observational tool with the support of clinical

psychologists to allow facilitators to measure development of five critical life skills

(interaction, problem solving, taking initiative, managing conflict, understanding and

following instructions) on a Likert scale. While these may also be cheap and easy to

20 Belfield et al., The Economic Value of Social and Emotional Learning (Center for

Benefit-Cost Studies in Education,

9. organisations address target mindsets and abilities such as self-awareness, leadership, and

social influence, through their broader goals of tackling gender disparity, violence, health,

etc. Examples in India include Educate Girls, Sanlaap, Ibtada and Shaishav.

10. learning show measurable benefits that exceed its costs, often by significant amounts. A

recent evaluation of such interventions found a positive return on investments for all with

a return of eleven dollars on average, for every dollar invested equally across six SEL.

11. there are several interventions that work on building life skills as part of a larger

programme of child rights and empowerment. Suchorganisations address target mindsets

and abilities such as self-awareness, leadership, and social influence, through their

broadergoals of tackling gender disparity, violence, health, etc. Examples in India include

Educate Girls, Sanlaap, Ibtada and Shaishav.

Page no. 35
UNIT - 4 CONCLUSIONS

● A more effective approach towards life skills first requires understanding and articulating
them better. Life skills, as a concept, can be broad and multifaceted, and life skills
initiatives can therefore include a wide range of goals, content and approaches. Life skills,
as defined by WHO, are “innumerable, and the nature and definition of life skills are likely
to differ across cultures and settings”. This broad definition is, however, insufficient for
practical applications or for effective policy-making.

● To our knowledge, a list of life skills that is age-level appropriate and practically applicable
has not been developed. This ambiguity hinders both the effective design of life
skillsinterventions, and the development of metrics to measure them. It is challenging for
a life skills intervention to identify which skills to target, which age group to target and
which activities/delivery models might be optimal.

Page no. 36
● There are certain difficulties in successfully integrating life skills in Indian school
educationwithout systemic reform: Moving life skills from the margins (i.e. extracurricular
or as passive ‘values education’) to the centre of schooling and creating multiple learning
opportunities or reinforcement within schools Introducing a learner-centric pedagogy, not
solely reliant on rote learning or exam-based assessment Building a school culture toward
life-skills based education Improving the capacity. motivation of teachers to develop and
integrate such life skills into their classroom practice

● Life skills education in schools clearly needs to take place in the context of broader
education system reforms. To be effective, life skills ultimately need to be age-aligned, and
inculcated india.

● citizenship, and reduced risky behaviours like violence and drug use.13 Literature on
character skills makes it clear that such skills are a vital determinant of future outcomes,
not only in terms of employment. Such mindsets and abilities have direct effects on crime,
smoking, teenage pregnancy, and an individual’s capacity to lead a responsible and
productive life in society.

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UNIT - 5 Recommendations/Potential Opportunities

● Promote research on the measurement of life skills:

There is a lack of consensus on common metrics used to evaluate life skills. Outcomes from such
interventions, if at all measured, are rarely measured consistently or in a comparable manner. A
sharper definition of life skills and the use of more reliable assessment tools to measure such skills
would help inform policy and practice in India.

● Promote development of an evidence base for life skills education in India:

Evidence on the effectiveness of life skills approaches in India and their future impact is minimal.
A few studies in India include evaluations undertaken of Going To School, Akanksha Foundation,
Dream a Dream and Expressions India programmes. Further research is needed to build the case
for life skills education and teacher training in the country.

● Academic achievement:

That learning outcomes in India remain abysmally low is no longer a debate, with the rate of

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progress over the years appearing to be negative.6 Student learning, however, is now
commendably beginning to move to the forefront of the government’s agenda. Cognitive
achievement and life skills are strongly interdependent, with academic achievement relying
heavily on abilities like self-discipline and motivation.7

● Whether self-esteem and sense of agency (Krishnan et al, 2009),

self-control or diligence (Duckworth, Seligman, 2005), academic tenacity (Dweck, 2012), there are
several behaviours, skills, attitudes, and strategies - beyond content knowledge and academic skill
- necessary for sustained and significant improvements in learning outcomes.8 The role of non-
cognitive factors in improving school performance remains a critical and relatively unexplored
area in india

● Employment outcomes

There is also preliminary evidence that differences in such skills explain variation in education and
employment outcomes that are not explained by cognitive skill differences.9 Research has
consistently found that cognitive abilities explain only a fraction of variance in wages, finding that
other, non-academic skills play a complimentary role in shaping longer-term outcomes.10
Evidence from the GED testing programme in the U.S. is significant where, on the surface, the
programme appears successful in terms of test scores, yet in terms of later life outcomes
including labour market success, GED recipients lag far behind.

● Return on investment:

Predictive power of life skill development has been found to be equivalent to or exceeding that of
cognitive skills.14 Research has highlighted that interventions focusing on social and emotional
learning show measurable benefits that exceed its costs, often by significant amounts. A recent
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evaluation of such interventions found a positive return on investments for all with a return of
eleven dollars on average, for every dollar invested equally across six SEL interventions, a
substantial economic gain.

Addressing tangible learning outcomes is often seen as a greater need than investing in life
skills education for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. However, there is a strong
evidence base demonstrating that cognitive skills and life skills are complementary in affecting
socio-economic outcomes, and that building character skills can be life-changing for children
from such backgrounds.16 It is evident that psycho-social competencies, such as resilience, self-
esteem and problem solving are vital in helping children move up and out of poverty.

● Adulthood outcomes

Social and emotional competencies do not just raise academic achievement and educational
attainment, but have also demonstrated strong correlations with personal satisfaction and
growth, citizenship, and reduced risky behaviours like violence and drug use.13 Literature on
character skills makes it clear that such skills are a vital determinant of future outcomes, not only
in terms of employment. Such mindsets and abilities have direct effects on crime, smoking,
teenage pregnancy, and an individual’s capacity to lead a responsible and productive life in
society.

● policy-makers can help develop a common language and discuss best practices with
respect to intervention models, deliverymechanisms (such as technology-enabled
delivery), etc

Page no. 40
 ● Cognitive achievement and life skills are strongly interdependent, with academic
achievement relying heavily on abilities like self-discipline and motivation.7 Whether self-
esteem and sense of agency (Krishnan et al, 2009), self-control or diligence (Duckworth,
Seligman, 2005), academic tenacity (Dweck, 2012), there are several behaviours, skills,
attitudes, and strategies - beyond content knowledge and academic skill - necessary for
sustained and significant improvements in learning outcomes

● A recent evaluation of such interventions found a positive return on investments for all
with a return of eleven dollars on average, for every dollar invested equally across six SEL
interventions, a substantial economic gain.

● Potential Opportunities

A. Identifying and funding innovations: With life skills education in India gaining traction,
numerous entrepreneurs are innovating and developing their own approaches to life skills
delivery. This provides funders an opportunity to understand development of an effective
life
B. skills approach and support the implementation and scale-up informal after-school
programmes to school-linked out-of-school programme, to a formal in-school model and
teacher training.

C. Promote development of an evidence base for life skills education in India: Evidence on
the effectiveness of life skills approaches in India and their future impact is minimal. A few
studies in India include evaluations undertaken of Going To School, Akanksha Foundation,

Page no. 41
D. Dream a Dream and Expressions India programmes. Further research is needed to build
the case for life skills education and teacher training in the country. Convene
entrepreneurs and practitioners: Bringing together innovators, researchers and policy-
makers can help develop a common language and discuss best practices with respect to
intervention models, deliverymechanisms (such as technology-enabled delivery), etc

E. . For example, stakeholders can work towards defining a more focused pedagogical
framework forlife skills, with clarity about which skills should be taught as life skills, why
these skills are chosen, and how they should be taught..

F. Promote research on the measurement of life skills: There is a lack of consensus on

common metrics used to evaluate life skills. Outcomes from such interventions, if at all
measured, are rarely measured consistently or in a comparable manner. A sharper
definition of life skills and the use of more reliable assessment tools to measure such skills
would help inform policy and practice in India

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UNIT - 6 Limitations of Study

● Addressing tangible learning outcomes is often seen as a greater need than investing in life

skills education for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. However, there is a strong
evidence base demonstrating that cognitive skills and life skills are complementary in
affecting

● socio-economic outcomes, and that building character skills can be life-changing for
children from such backgrounds.16 It is evident that psycho-social competencies, such as
resilience, self-esteem and problem solving are vital in helping children move up and out
of poverty.

● Bibliography

1. Eduboard.com

2. The classroom.com

3. Center Square Association (Survey in India)

● Reference

1. Center Square Association (Survey in India)

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● Annexure

A. CASEL Guide for Effective Social and Emotional Learning Programs.

1. Grade-by-grade sequence: Every student should receive planned, on-going, systematic

SEL
education every year from preschool through elementary school.Average number of
sessions per year: Programs vary in terms of the amount of class time they provide or
require, ranging from 8 to 140 sessions annually. Some programs do not have a defined
set of lessons, and instead enhance teacher practices and methods generally.

2. For those approaches, number of sessions or length is not applicable, since the program
is
designed to change the overall climate and culture through on-going classroom
instruction.
These programs receive a “not applicable” (n/a) rating for this element.

3. Assessment Tools for Monitoring Implementation: Programs sometimes offer tools to

monitor implementation, either through teacher self-report measures or assessments
completed by observers. There may also be tools that can be used to assess the
program’s impact on student behaviour.

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