What are the most important Life Skills for students?

Let’s take a look at some of these important life skills for high school students:

1. Creative and critical thinking

The ability to think outside the box or creative thinking is highly valued in today’s innovation-driven world.

Critical thinking and analysis, another key skill, improves a student’s ability to analyse and comprehend complex problems, helping them to find rational solutions.

2. Collaboration

Learning how to work with others is a 21st-century skill that every student must acquire.

As students move up to higher grades from secondary school, the high school equivalent in Singapore, there will be an increasing and continuous need for peer collaboration in school-based assignments, university projects, and eventually at their workplace.

3. Communication skills

Effective communication is a skill that will enable a student to bolster trust, reduce misunderstandings and get the work done.

This is even more important in today’s digitally-connected world where one needs to constantly interact and convey messages in a virtual set-up, an experience quite different from in-person interactions.

4. Decision-making skills

Whether it is making subject choices or choosing the stream of studies or a university programme, defining moments such as these will have a lasting impact on a student’s future. The ability to think clearly and make sound decisions will help them in every stage of their life.

5. Financial literacy

Gone are the days when financial literacy was essential only when one started to earn. In today’s world, students need to be prepared early to make better financial decisions.

Effective management of finances like knowing how to save, invest, and so on can enable them to reach their financial goals in life.

6. Time management and organisational skills

Like they say, either run the day or the day runs you! Time management and organisational skills are values that drive success as setting aims, breaking them down to smaller goals, prioritising work, all lead to an increase in productivity levels.

Whether it is getting ready for school or finishing a school assignment or meeting friends, students need to manage their time for short-term and long-term gains.

7. Managing stress

It’s a no-brainer that as students move to higher grades, there’s an increasing pressure that may build up in an attempt to balance out studies and extracurricular activities.

While stress tolerance is also a skill that’s gaining prominence in the world of work, managing stress is directly related to emotional well-being.

Activities like daily goal setting, breaking down tasks, reaching out for help, and taking time off from routine work, will all help in easing out stress.

8. Self-assessment and reflection

Self-reflection builds perspective, allowing students to understand their strengths, weaknesses, and record progress to improve.

It helps them to think deeply when solving a problem, think from both practical and emotional perspectives, helping them to reflect on what they would do differently so that they can improve upon their work. This also prepares them for the future when they face similar challenges.

9. Resilience

Failure is a part of life, and so is moving on! Students must also learn to accept failure in order to improve. Resilience or the ability to accept failure with grace and learn from prior mistakes is an important skill every student must aim to strengthen.

10. Empathy

The ability to understand and share the feelings of others may not come easily to some people. However, education systems can play a key role in fostering human-centric soft skills like empathy among the students. This would not only help students as individuals but also build a future society that is inclusive.

 

As the students of today belong to a constantly evolving world, it is almost imperative for them to learn these life skills to feel confident, empowered, and geared towards the future.

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