A Program Implementation for the Development of Life Skills of Primary School 4th Grade Students

Abstract

Life skills are the competencies that an individual must have in order to be able to carry on his/her existence effectively in the process of change. By means of life skills, the individual is aimed to facilitate his/her life by using all his/her achievements in the education process. In this study, a program covering the dimensions of "Communication, Self-recognition, Self-confidence, being able to say “No”, and Problem-Solving Skills" was developed and applied to the students who attended the 4th grade in Gölcük Barbaros Primary School in fall semester of the 2015-2016 academic year. In the study, undergraduate students of Guidance and Psychological Counseling program in Faculty of Education at Kocaeli University also worked as trainers. The trainers were trained by the faculty members in charge of the study. The study was conducted according to the experimental model and a five-session student life skills training program was applied to 247 (126 girls, 121 boys) students. The "Life Skills Assessment Form", which examines the skills aimed to be gained in the process of the project, has been implemented as a pretest-posttest by the teachers and the parents of students. As a result of the analyses made, it has been found that the program applied is effective. In addition, according to the results of evaluation forms taken from the students at the end of each session, the students evaluated the activities as fun, useful, and as activities where they both had fun and learnt.

Keywords: Life skills, Communication, Self-recognition, Self-confidence, Problem-Solving Skills