What are personal, social and emotional life skills?
Personal, social and emotional life skills are three “soft skills”. Personal skills refer broadly to how we interact with those around us, social skills refer to how we communicate with others, verbally and non-verbally, and emotional skills refers to our ability to recognize and regulate our emotions and recognize the emotions of others (1). It is critical for students to develop their personal, social, and emotional life skills in school to help enhance their learning, build positive relationships, and gain necessary employability skills for the future, as employers are increasingly placing value on transferrable “soft” skills (1). Developing these skills also improves the overall well-being of children and young people and is a key aspect of their personal development (1).
Why is this important to Ormiston Trust?
Promoting the development of personal, social, and emotional skills directly aligns with Ormiston Trust’s core values of caring for people, empowering each other, and focusing on outcomes and sustained success. Enhancing these three skills empowers children to communicate and work effectively with others, understand their emotions to care for themselves, and builds marketable skill sets for sustained professional success. OT is committed to providing their students with tools that extend beyond the classroom to lead fulfilling lives and funding projects that cultivate personal, social and emotional life skills is a part of this.
Grant Programme Examples: Social action, Personal Social Health Education (PSHE), work/volunteer experience, afterschool clubs, public speaking competitions, mentoring, adventure residentials, emotional intelligence workshops, group/individual therapy sessions, stress management workshops.
Desired Outcomes:
