Health Promotion: The importance of Life Skills Education

The successful development and implementation of a model of Life Skills Education (LSE) in Schools, led by Fe y Alegria Colombia, has inspired the open elective course “Betting on life strengthening life skills and coexistence”, offered by the Faculty of Psychology of the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogota to students from all careers, who participate on a self-interest basis. The course is offered since 2007. You can learn more about this course and other activities on Health Education at http://www.javeriana.edu.co/medio/salud_integral/educacionsalud.htm

The LSE working materials of Fe y Alegria Colombia propose a competence model aimed at school settings, which includes teacher training on how to teach the 10 life skills proposed by the WHO 1993 initiative on LSE in schools, to students ranging from 10 to 15 years old. Besides the psychological theories, the model includes in its framework ethics of care and Paulo Freire's theory on popular education. The materials can be easily adapted for use with students beyond and below the age range originally targeted, and also for use in non-school or community education experiences.

The model of Fe y Alegria Colombia has also proven useful as a tool for the development of citizenship competencies as stated by the Colombian Ministry of Education. This focus was studied by a group of students of the MA in Pedagogy of the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (Garzon, G. et al. 2007).

This presentation will describe and discuss the status and trends of LSE and its importance to better the quality of life in academic settings.