"Empowering Young Minds: Assessing Preschool Teachers' Readiness To Teach Life Skills"

Abstract

Objective: Early childhood years or the formative years are critical for cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development. Stimulating learning environment, proper nutrition, age-appropriate opportunities set the foundations for Lifelong learning. Blending Life Skills within the curriculum framework can facilitate a child to have positive attitudes and face the challenges of life with ease and confidence. Life Skills includes many skills like Communication, Creative Thinking, Coping with Emotions, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving abilities, Coping with Stress, Inter-Personal relationship, Empathy, Self-Awareness etc.  Life Skills go beyond rote memorization and are skills which are learnt by doing. The importance and need for empowering young children with these skills cannot be undetermined. The benefits of Life Skills can be reflected as improvised mental well-being, better self-esteem, healthy communication and interactions skills, effective decision making amongst the young learners. A trained teacher can help children build resilience and grit required in an increasingly complicated fast changing environment. This paper emphasizes to stimulate and encourage teachers to set transformational standards to prepare our children for the coming years.

Results: This Research paper aims to highlight the Readiness of teachers to impart Life skills who play a pivotal role in our education system. The importance of adequately preparing teachers cannot be overstated, as the quality of education is directly related to the calibre of those who instruct our children. This paper aims to facilitate a teacher to gain the skills and competencies required for immersive engagement, encourage cooperative learning, and provide supportive feedback to impart Life Skill Education to young learners.

Methods: The present study includes a questionnaire which was presented to 50 teachers from Kohinoor International School having more than five years of experience in the field of education.

Conclusion: In conclusion, a teacher transmits knowledge, motivates, and plays a significant role in imparting education. School authorities should facilitate professional Development programs to enhance the capabilities of teachers and create an ideal balance between Academic skills and Life Skills.