SESSION 1
UNIVERSITY OF LIVINGSTONIA
LAWS CAMPUS
FACULTY OF EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TEACHING STUDIES
Course Outline
Life Skills Education
1. Programme : University Certificate of Education
2. Subject : Education
3. Course Title : Life Skills Education
4. Course Code : EDU 1101
5. Prerequisite : None
6. Year of study : 1
7. Duration : 16 weeks
8. Lecture Hours Per Week: 2
9. Tutorial/Seminar Hours Per Week : 2
10. Student Independent Learning Hours : 4
11. Practical Hours Per Week : None
12. Total Course Credits : 4.8
13. Assessment Weighting Continuous Assessment 40%
Final Examination 60%
14 Course Description
The course is aimed at strengthening the ability of individual students to meet the needs
and demands of the present society and helps in dealing with the challenging issues in a
manner to get desired behaviour. Is also aimed at imparting life skill training through
inculcating life skill education in order to help them to overcome difficulties in life.
15 Aim(s) of the Course
To equip students with life skills knowledge that would assist them to make meaningful
decisions in everyday life and be able to solve problems affecting them and the society at
large.
16 Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, students must be able to:
a. examine various life skills strategies
b. explain the importance of Life Skills
c. evaluate management of HIV and AIDS
d. Examine HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections by various
stakeholders and as well as covid-19, Post TB disability
17. Topics of the Course
a. Life skills Education
i. meaning of Life skills Education
ii. importance of life skills Education
iii. Society and life skills education
iv. Social context of life skills education
b. Types Of Life Skills
i. Social context of life skills and Learning elements:
ii. Elements of Society: Democracy, human rights, Rule of law,
inclusiveness, globalization, diversity, economy, sustainable development,
equality, media etc.
iii. Skills and aptitudes
iv. Values, beliefs and attitudes
c. Categories of life skills (Core of life skills)
i. Cognitive life skills:
1. Problem solving/Decision making, Critical thinking,
2. -creative thinking
3. -critical thinking skills
4. -analyzing peer and media influences, self -evaluation and value
clarification, analyzing one’s perception of social norms and
beliefs
ii. Social Skills
1. Communication, Negotiation/refusal skills, Assertive skills,
2. interpersonal skills (for healthy relationships),
3. cooperative skills, empathy and perspective taking
iii. Emotional coping skills:
1. managing stress,
2. managing feelings, anger skills for increasing
internal locus of
control (self- management and self-monitoring
3. self-awareness
d. Developing life skills:
i. Social skills:
1. application of the social skills deficit model (substance abuse,
high-risk behaviour, conflict management and violence prevention)
ii. Cognitive skills:
1. learning how to think critically
2. resisting peer and media influence
3. self-evaluation
4. application of the social -cognitive models-the habit of thought
model)
iii. Emotional coping skills:
1. self-management and controlling stress and social problem
management
2. anger reduction/conflict management
3. social competency and substance abuse problems
4. cognitive relaxation coping skills (emotional and physiological
arousal
5. managing anxiety
6. strengthening internal locus of control (learning to delay
gratifications of short term rewards
e. Defining information/Context areas
i. applying skills generically and factoring in normative content
ii. content relevance to young people: sexuality, substance abuse, films,
interpersonal Conflict
iii. addressing values and beliefs
f. Teaching methodology of life skills:
i. Use of interactive, collaborative and participative approaches: (debates,
role play, drama, group discussions, simulations, one-on -one approach,
Situation analysis, case studies etc.)
g. HIV and AIDs
i. Definition of the terms
ii. Prevalence and incidences
iii. Social and economic impact
iv. As risk-behavior: application of life for control and management
h. Sexually transmitted infections (STIs)
i. Types: bacterial, fungal, viral, protozoa, ectoparasites
ii. Signs and Symptoms
iii. Prevalence and incidence
iv. Prevention and control- application of life-skills as risk-behaviour
i. Post TB disability and ways of dealing with it
i. Review of TB infection
ii. Definition
iii. Example of PTBD
iv. Risk factors
1. For both TB infection and relapse
2. Post Tb disability and coping mechanisms
3. physical and psycho-social impairment
j. Theoretical frameworks of life skills: Learning theories
i. Social learning theory
ii. Problem -behaviour Theory
iii. Social influence Theory
iv. Cognitive -problem solving theory
v. Resilience and Risk theory
k. Life skills education programs
i. Synergies: community, health, education initiatives
ii. definition of sexual reproductive health, safety,, privacy, equality,
expression, education, access to care
iii. right to sexual integrity
iv. adolescence and sexual reproductive health
v. behaviour and outcome
18. Mode of delivery, Teaching and Learning Methods
Face -to-face and online, Group work, role play, seminars, debate
19. Prescribed Text
Bansal, M., & Kapur, S. (2022). Facets of life skills education–a systematic review.
Quality Assurance in Education, (ahead-of-print).
Cullinane, C., & Montacute, R. (2017). Life lessons: Improving essential life skills for
young people.
Saravanakumar, A. R. (2020). Life Skill Education through Lifelong Learning. Lulu. com.
Rivers, W. M. (2018). Teaching foreign language skills. University of Chicago Press.
20. Recommended Texts
Bowley, C., Cropley, B., Neil, R., Hanton, S., & Mitchell, I. (2018, September). A life
skills development programme for youth football coaches: Programme
development and preliminary evaluation. British Psychological Society.
Latchem, C. (2018). Open and distance non-formal education in developing countries.
Singapore: Springer.
MacLennan, N. (2017). Coaching and mentoring. Routledge.
Van Nieuwerburgh, C. (2020). An introduction to coaching skills: A practical guide.
Sage.
