Students are taught an immense amount of knowledge at school and the importance of education indisputable.
When students first leave the education system to join the real world, be it at aged 16 or aged 22 they may lack some life skills and many of these are not taught in school.
Of course we do learn some life skills at school including teamwork, conversation, swimming, public speaking, table manners and many more.
However, in the “real world” there are so many more life skills that we learn later in life which I feel could have been beneficial to have learnt at school.
I know there will be some schools that may teach some of these skills to their students, but the Majority of schools will not.
1 Money
Understanding the value of money is a key skill which is usually taught by parents to their children. But there is so much to learn about Money, in fact I still have lots to learn myself.
There are some financial skills that could be taught to children at school, and I feel these could really benefit students.
- How to save money and budgeting expenses?
- How much effort does it take to earn £10?
- How does compound interest work?
- How credit cards should be used?
- Financial Planning and Investing
- What taxes you will be paying?
Of course there are many other useful lessons students can learn here, this is just the tip of the iceberg.
2 Time
The two most important commodities in life in my opinion are time and money. We can always earn more money, but we can never earn more time. Therefore Time is so important and needs to be looked after using effective Time Management.
Here are a few things I believe would be beneficial to learn about at school, some of these will be taught at school.
- Working around deadlines
- Making a revision plan
- Scheduling appointments
- Prioritising in order of importance
- Using a family calendar
3 Cooking
At school we are taught food technology where we learn to cook a few items such as scones or a cake. This is nice to learn, but in the real world, being able to cook to feed yourself would be far more beneficial.
Learning to cook a whole meal from start to finish would be a hugely important skill that will help children for the rest of their lives not only to eat healthier but to save money.
Learning about the types of ingredients you can grow in your garden will not only save money but taste better (because you grew it yourself).
Some University students only know how to cook pasta when they begin university. Nowadays with the help of the internet and YouTube students are able to put together a decent meal.
4 Buying a house
The average 14 year old has no idea on the processes involved in buying a house. Many think its just like buying a car where you see a house you like, give the owner the money to buy it and simply move in. Unless a child has recently moved house this is how they believe it works.
There are so many things children can be taught when it comes to buying a house including the following:
- What is a mortgage?
- How big a mortgage can I apply for?
- What legal processes are there?
- How long the whole process can take?
And it doesn’t end there because once you have bought the house, you need to think about:
- Renovation
- Decorating
- Maintenance fees and bills
5 Looking after your Mental health
Over the last few years schools have begun to understand the importance of mental health in children. There are so many shocking statistics in the UK which can be improved by helping children look after their own mental health.
There are some key points to look for if you think your child may have a mental health issue. These can be taught to students and parents in a short evening session at the school by inviting mental health professional to delivery it.
6 Survival skills
We can learn survival skills by joining out of school clubs such as cubs/scouts but not all parents are able to make the financial commitment for these groups. Which is usually between £200-300 per year.
Some of the skills that would be useful to learn include:
- Using a compass to navigate
- Basic first aid
- Setting up a tent
- Surviving without electricity which includes starting a camp fire
7 Job Application and Interview Skills
There are some skills here that are taught in schools. Firstly, each school usually has a careers advisor who is usually a schoolteacher at the school who has undergone some additional training. But schools need to be inviting external professionals in the field to give students the best value.
Choosing a career is one of the most important decisions your child will make, you want them to be well informed before making any such decision. Once they have chosen their career, they will know exactly what subjects to pick at school and whether they need to go to University or do vocational qualifications. If they make a poor decision here, it could cost a few years of their life.
The next step is applying for a job by completing a job application, there are usually several questions on a job application that students can prepare for in general.
Here are some of the common questions students can prepare for and many of these can also be asked in an interview:
- Why did you apply for this job?
- Why are you a good candidate for this job?
- Give an example of where you have led a team
- How would you deal with a stressful situation?
- Talk about your weaknesses
- Talk about a time where you have failed
8 Household Maintenance
There are many household maintenance tasks that could be taught at school. Some of these include changing a light bulb, isolating a water supply, restarting a fuse box and putting up a shelf.
Changing a car tyre is a useful skill which almost everyone will need to use at some point in their lives, a recent study suggests that only 27% of 18-23 years olds can change a car tyre.
9 How to Avoid getting Scammed?
With the world going digital, its very easy to get scammed. Young people that are more tech savvy are less likely to be scammed.
I’m sure everyone knows someone that has been scammed by a telemarketer claiming to be from Microsoft, Amazon, or your local bank. These scammers can be very convincing, but there are skills that people can be taught which can help to identify the difference between a genuine person and a scammer. I personally get at least 3 scammer phone calls per week, 5 scammer text messages per week and over 50 scammer emails every week.
Some common ones include "Your Apple Pay has been suspended", "Your Royal Mail parcel was overweight and needs additional payment", and "a £50 transaction was made on your bank account, was this you?"
A school could put together a short 2-3 hours course one evening to teach not only the students, but their parents too on “how to avoid being scammed”. As these scams are constantly evolving so this course would need to be repeated regularly.
10 Coding/Programming
Coding is going to be a crucial skill in the next few years, whether is be coding some html to design a website, creating a mobile app or a computer program. Schools are now offering classes for coding to students but in the UK but are very basic until secondary school. Many countries in the world especially developing countries understand the importance of coding and teach students as young as 5 how to code.
11 Basic Self Defence
The world is a dangerous place and muggings are very common. I have been mugged twice in brought daylight. Had I known some self defence, maybe I would have used it and it wouldve prevented me from getting mugged.
Of course, there are all kinds of external martial arts classes that you can enrol your child on which will cost around £250 per year for one class per week. Some schools do offer basic self-defence in school for free, but not all. It could be run as a short course during PE lessons and the school could invite a professional to teach the class.
12 Real World Maths
As a Maths teacher, I used to hate being asked this when I worked in school, however now I love it when I get asked this question because now, I can answer it better. Helping students to understand where a certain aspect of Maths is taught in the real world will usually mean that they are more willing to learn it and are more likely to remember it.
Nowadays, I encourage my students to ask me this question when we learn something new, because every Mathematical skill has some sort of real-world use.
Conclusion
These are my top 12 Life Skills that I would like to be taught in schools.
If you were to add a skill to this, what would it be?
