Pathways to Life Skills in High Schools and Universities-Teachers’ Perceptions and Experiences

Abstract

Education needs to reshape the individual's role in the societies of the future. In an unknown world of different technologies, job requirements, and societal structures, the current education systems may not be sufficient to equip young generations with the competences needed to succeed and thrive in the world they will inhabit as adults. In order to develop the skills needed for the future, learners should have access to an education that emphasizes both the importance of hard skills and life skills in a close relationship and interdependence. Built upon the impact of teachers’ belief system on educational practice and using an inductive approach, our study aims to investigate perceptions and experiences of high-school teachers and professors from different faculties regarding life skills. Our foci were on the perceptions of life skills needed in education, barriers and effective practices related to life skills development and educators’ life skills. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 7 professors from 3 universities and 13 teachers from 13 high-schools in Romania. The findings from the thematic analysis revealed three main themes emerging from participants' responses: “the conceptualization and impact of life skills”, “educating life skills”, “teachers’ and professors’ life-skills in action”. Practical implications and recommendations are discussed.

Keywords

• life skills
• life skills education
• teachers’ perceptions
• critical thinking
• qualitative research