Why Schools Should Teach Life Skills for Student Success

Hot take: Schools should teach real, applicable life skills.

Life skills. These two words seem simple enough, yet the fact is, too many students graduate from high school without a strong grasp of the practical skills they need to navigate—and thrive in—adulthood.

Children in the United States spend roughly 12 years of their formative lives in school. Every school day, they are learning subjects like math, science, reading, and writing—and in most schools, they are also spending a lot of time preparing for state-mandated, standardized tests at the end of each semester.

This means that students are learning facts and information, but are they learning the life skills necessary for self-empowerment, which will allow them to thrive in real life?

What Are Life Skills?

While academic knowledge teaches us what to know, life skills teach us how to live well. The following key life skills are essential for long-term student success:

Life Readiness

Being life-ready means you have the tools to handle real-world problems with confidence. This doesn’t just mean knowing how to do chores or take care of your health—it also means understanding emotions, setting personal goals, managing time and expenses, and knowing how to handle during stressful situations. Students who are life-ready are more likely to:

Be independent and organized
Respect others and show kindness
Speak up when something feels wrong
Care for their mental and physical health
Avoid risky behaviors like drugs or violence
Handle setbacks and find solutions to overcome obstacles

College Readiness

For those choosing the path of higher education, going to college can be exciting—and it can also be overwhelming. Students may move away from home for the first time, handle busy schedules, and face new types of stress.

That’s why life skills are so important. They give students a solid foundation to succeed—on and off campus. Without life skills, many students drop out or burn out. With them, students are more likely to stay motivated, stay healthy, and reach their goals.

Career Readiness

Today’s jobs require more than just knowing facts. Workers need to be creative, flexible, and good at working with others. That’s where life skills really shine. Employers say they want young people who can:

Show up on time and meet deadlines
Think through problems and come up with solutions
Handle constructive feedback without getting upset
Work as part of a team
Lead projects and take initiative
Manage time and workload

In many ways, these skills are even more important than test scores. For example, a student who learns to solve problems in a group project at school may later use those same skills to help their coworkers fix a big issue at work.

Career readiness also means being emotionally strong. Life skills teach young adults how to stay calm in busy workplaces, deal with stress, cope with failure, and keep learning as they grow. When schools help students practice these skills early, they are giving them a huge head start in life.

Additional Life Skills

Other life skills schools should teach include:

Self-awareness: This means knowing what you’re feeling, what your strengths are, and how your actions affect others. It helps kids build confidence and understand who they are.
Self-management: This includes setting goals, managing time, and staying calm under pressure. It helps students stay focused, especially during tests or hard lessons.
Social awareness: This skill helps students understand other people’s feelings and points of view. It builds empathy and respect for differences.
Relationship skills: These are about making and keeping friends, listening carefully, and solving arguments peacefully.
Responsible decision-making: This teaches students how to think through choices, understand the consequences, and make good decisions—even when no one’s watching.
Problem-solving: When students face challenges, they can learn to look at the problem, think of ideas, and find the best solution.
Emotional regulation: This helps kids manage feelings like anger, sadness, or frustration without acting out.
Financial literacy: This includes learning how to budget, save money, set financial goals and avoid debt.
Healthy habits: Eating well, exercising, getting enough sleep, and caring for your mental health are also an important part of this skill.

While academic knowledge teaches us what to know, life skills teach us how to live well.

Schools Should be Mandated to Teach Life Skills

Subjects are important, of course. And assessing what is learning is also important. Yet “teaching-to-the test” is now overwhelmingly looked upon as an outdated, ineffective way to assess what has been learned.

Not only is state testing an ineffective way for assessment, but other drawbacks also include:

The pressures and anxieties that prepping for state testing places on both students and teachers.
The time it takes away from actual learning moments, because preparing students for standardized state testing takes months each school year.

What is missing from this scenario? Helping students learn about navigating successfully through life and grow and evolve into mature, independent adults.

Things like solving problems, making friends, managing stress, and even understanding money? They’re just as important as school subjects.

Life skills are tools that students use every single day, even outside the classroom. When schools teach life skills, they help students feel more confident, stay focused, and get ready for life after graduation.¹ These skills make a difference—not only in school, but in homes, communities, colleges, and careers.

Over the past couple of decades, many school districts have incorporated life skills into their curriculum. Yet it should it be mandated across the board to provide all students with the most well-rounded educational experience possible.

Teaching Methods That Bring Life Skills to Life

Teaching life skills isn’t just about adding another subject to the school day—it’s about transforming the how, why and what of student learning. The most inspiring instruction methods make real-world application the centerpiece of the classroom experience. Here are some of the most effective, student-friendly approaches schools use today:

Student-Centered Learning

Student-centered learning shifts the focus from the teacher to the student. It gives students more voice and choice in how they learn and demonstrate understanding.

In the context of life skills education, this might look like students setting personal goals, reflecting on their social interactions, or choosing how to complete a project. It encourages responsibility, decision-making, and self-awareness—key life skills that students take with them far beyond the classroom.

Progressive Teaching Methods

Progressive education prioritizes creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking over rote memorization. It’s a holistic approach that sees students as individuals with different learning needs. Life skills are naturally woven into progressive methods, especially when students are encouraged to work in teams, resolve conflicts, manage their time, or advocate for themselves.

Experiential Learning

Learning by experiencing is the core of Experiential Learning. This is one of the most powerful ways to gain real-world life skills. Through hands-on activities like role-playing, simulations, community service, or school garden programs, students practice communication, empathy, and problem-solving in meaningful contexts.

For example, managing a classroom “store” can teach financial literacy, while organizing a school event can build teamwork and planning skills.

Project-Based Learning (PBL)

In PBL, students tackle complex, real-world questions or challenges through extended projects. They often work in teams to research, design, and present solutions.

Life skills like collaboration, time management, research, resilience, and adaptability are built naturally through the process. A class might create a public health campaign or launch a recycling initiative—experiences that build civic responsibility and leadership.

Social and Emotional Learning: SEL-Integrated Instruction

Many schools embed SEL practices across all subjects.² Whether it’s using morning meetings to build community, teaching emotional regulation during science labs, or resolving peer conflicts during group work, SEL encourages self-awareness, empathy, and emotional intelligence—core components of life readiness.³

Why Some People Say that Life Skills Don’t Belong in School

Although a recent survey showed that the majority of school-age parents support life skills education,⁴ doubts still exist.

The following highlights a few of the concerns—and the facts that answer them:

“There’s already too much to teach.”

It’s true that teachers have a lot to cover. But research shows that instead of taking time away in the learning process, life skills actually boost academic performance.⁵ Students who feel supported emotionally are better able to concentrate and succeed in class.

“This is something parents should teach.”

Parents do play a big role, but unfortunately, not every student has the same support at home. Schools give equal access so that every child has a chance to learn skills for success in life, including self-confidence, regardless of their home environment.

“Teachers aren’t trained for this.”

Many teachers would agree that they weren’t taught how to incorporate life skills into their lesson plans. That’s why schools can offer training and tools, just like they do for other subjects. There are many great instruction programs, both online and onsite, with ready-to-use lesson plans.

“It’s too personal or political.”

Life skills aren’t about politics. They’re about being kind, staying safe, solving problems, developing critical thinking skills, and learning to navigate all chapters in life with a strong sense of self.

They are also about teaching practical things that every high school student should know, like how to budget; how to take care of themselves and their home; and, how to understand themselves and others around them, so that they will be ready for the next steps after high school.

Schools can zero in on specific life skills for each grade level, with a consistent focus on universal and ageless values—like respect, honesty, and responsibility—that apply to everyone.

Real-Life School Examples of Life Skills in Action

P.S. 60 Alice Austen School — Staten Island, NY

This school includes “mindful minutes” and social check-ins every morning. Students use emotion charts to talk about how they feel. Additionally, core teaching methods include student-centered learning, where students take ownership of their educational journey.⁶

Life Skills Academy — Lake Alfred, FL

Life Skills Academy focuses on project-based learning, where students lead real-world projects and learn by doing. They build communication skills, teamwork, and emotional resilience.⁷

Positive Action Program — Nationwide (U.S.)

Used in many states, the Positive Action SEL program includes life skills to help students understand how positive actions lead to positive feelings and outcomes.⁸ (Read more about the effects of positive school culture.)

Teachers infuse SEL with project-based and experiential learning methods into core curriculum, that often includes community collaboration, fun activities, and the arts to support and inspire students throughout their academic journey.

Schools Should Teach Life Skills to Prepare Students for Life

Life is full of twists and turns—and schools are the perfect setting to prepare students not just for tests, but also for the complexities of life. As part of a core education reset toward holistic education, schools should add life skills to classrooms to help students become not just better learners, but better, more empowered people. The future belongs to young people who are smart, kind, and confident—and life skills give them the tools to get there.

The Education Revolution Association (ERA) supports these goals. ERA believes that every child, from kindergarten age to high school graduate, should have an equal opportunity to be instilled with the knowledge and confidence needed to thrive in the real world.

It’s way past time to make life skills a priority in every U.S. school—because success isn’t just about what you know, but how you live. Read more about ERA’s mission and work—and how you can join the education revolution!

References

Cassidy, K., Franco, Y., Meo, E. (2018). Preparation for adulthood: A teacher inquiry study for facilitating life skills in secondary education in the United States. Journal of Educational Issues, 4(1). https://doi.org/10.5296/jei.v4i1.12471 ↩︎
Greenberg, M. T. (2023). Evidence for social and emotional learning in schools. The Learning Policy Institute. https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/evidence-social-emotional-learning-schools-brief ↩︎
Casel. (n.d.). Fundamentals of SEL. https://casel.org/fundamentals-of-sel/ ↩︎
Panorama Education. (2023). New survey reveals Americans think schools should focus on developing life skills to help students catch up academically. PR Newswire. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-survey-reveals-americans-think-schools-should-focus-on-developing-life-skills-to-help-students-catch-up-academically-302011927.html ↩︎
Sánchez-Hernando, B., Juárez-Vela, R., Antón-Solanas, I., Gasch-Gallén, Á., Melo, P., Nguyen, T. H., Martínez-Riera, J. R., Ferrer-Gracia, E., & Gea-Caballero, V. (2021). Association between life skills and academic performance in adolescents in the autonomous community of Aragon (Spain). International journal of environmental research and public health, 18(8), 4288. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18084288 ↩︎
Bonnano, D., Horton, D. (2022). Case study: Alice Austen (PS 60) School. The Core Collaborative. https://thecorecollaborative.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/casestudy-PS60.pdf ↩︎
Life Skills Academy. (2025). Our mission. https://www.lifeskillsacademy.org/about-us/our-mission/ ↩︎
Positive Action. (2025). Empower your students to discover the joy and wonder in learning. https://www.positiveaction.net/ ↩︎