LIFE LESSONS

LIFE LESSONS

Improving essential life skills for young people

Carl Cullinane and Rebecca Montacute ? October 2017

Contents

Foreword.........................................................................................................................2 Executive Summary............................................................................................................3 Recommendations.............................................................................................................5 Methodology.....................................................................................................................6 1. Introduction..................................................................................................................7

Why do these skills matter?...................................................................................................7 The role of life skills in social mobility.............................................................................8 What do we know about how to improve life skills?.............................................................8 What is currently being done?................................................................................................9 Where are the gaps?............................................................................................................10 2. The importance of life skills...........................................................................................11 Case Study 1: School 21.............................................................................................13 3. Current provision of life skills.........................................................................................14 Extent of life skills provision in state schools...................................................................14 How schools are providing for life skills..........................................................................15 Case Study 2: St Francis Xavier's College, Liverpool..........................................................20 4. Life skills and the workplace..........................................................................................21 Case Study 3: Envision...............................................................................................24 5. What are the challenges for school in supporting school development?........................................25 6. Conclusion.................................................................................................................27

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Foreword

With increasing pressure on young people around exams, and regular restructuring of GCSEs and A levels, it is easy to focus on academic results as the primary consideration for a young person's success in life. But education is, and should be, about a lot more than that. Adult life requires a range of skills in order for people to flourish, both in the workplace and in their daily lives, from the confidence and motivation to seek challenges and complete tasks, to the interpersonal skills that aid teamwork and other social interactions. These essential life skills are crucial to people achieving their potential, and therefore it is natural that they should also lie at the heart of our education system.

These essential skills have long been cultivated by the best independent schools. Visiting both state and independent schools recently, I saw some excellent work in state schools. However, I saw too how the extra resources available to independent schools allow them to impart essential life skills through lessons more consistently than in state schools. Discussions that often only take place at A level in the state sector are easier earlier in smaller independent school classes. Also, independent schools offer a broader array of co-curricular activities, such as drama, debating and public speaking. As Sutton Trust research has shown, those who have attended independent schools are consistently over-represented in the top professions in this country, from law and banking to medicine and the arts. This is not merely the result of the academic excellence of these schools, but also of the essential life skills they build in their pupils.

In fact, as research from Harvard University has shown, in the US social skills are becoming more important in the workplace all the time. With increasing automation, it is the ability to show flexibility, creativity and teamwork that are increasingly becoming just as valuable, if not more valuable, than academic knowledge and technical skills. At the Sutton Trust's Pathways to Banking launch earlier this year, our research showed that job candidates' presentation and 'work culture fit' were key priorities for employers as much as qualifications.

This is why it is crucial that the development of these essential life skills should not be reserved for those who can pay. Every young person should have the opportunity to build their confidence, motivation and resilience in ways that will benefit them for life. The Department for Education's recent moves towards a focus on these skills is welcome in this regard. But more needs to be done so that every state school embeds the development of life skills in their ethos, curriculum and extra-curricular activities so that they are as natural a part of school life as English and maths.

Young people from less well-off backgrounds in particular don't have access to the benefits that enrichment activities outside the classroom can bring, such as debating, volunteering and the performing arts. We need to ensure we close these gaps in access, so life skills can be harnessed as a driver of social mobility.

Our new research shows a staggering recognition among teachers, employers and young people on how important life skills are to the success of our young people. From the Education Endowment Foundation we increasingly have the evidence on which programmes work. We now need to build on this consensus in order to give every young person the chance to flourish.

I am very grateful to the authors for this important new research.

Sir Peter Lampl Founder and Chairman of the Sutton Trust and Chairman of the Education Endowment Foundation

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Executive Summary

? Essential life skills such as confidence, motivation, resilience and communication are associated with better academic outcomes and better prospects in the workplace, and there is an increasing emphasis on their value, given labour market trends towards automation. While 'character' has traditionally been at the centre of British private school education, provision in the state sector has been patchy, and it is only recently that a concerted move has been made towards prioritising life skills education for all children.

? There is wide recognition of the importance of such life skills, with 88% of young people, 94% of employers and 97% of teachers saying that they are as or more important than academic qualifications. In fact, more than half of teachers (53%) believe that life skills are more important than academic qualifications to young people's success and 72% believe their school should increase their focus on teaching life skills. However, they reported that only half of schools had a shared approach or policy on the issue, and just 13% knew where to get information to support the development of those skills in their pupils.

? Three quarters of young people believe that better life skills would help them get a job in the future, and 88% say that they are as or more important than getting good grades. However, only 1 in 5 pupils say that the school curriculum helps them `a lot' with the development of life skills.

? Extra-curricular activities can contribute to the development of these skills, but there are substantial gaps between the level of provision of clubs and activities reported by teachers, and actual take up by pupils. 78% of teachers report the availability of volunteering programmes to build life skills, but only 8% of pupils say they take part. 45% of teachers said their school provided debating, yet just 2% of young people reported participating. Almost two in five young people (37%) don't take part in any clubs or activities.

? There are also substantial socio-economic gaps in access to extra-curricular activities, with pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds less likely to take up activities than their better off peers (46% compared to 66%), with just half of those receiving free school meals (FSM) taking part. This is concerning, as it is disadvantaged groups that have most to gain from taking part in such activities. There are also substantial gaps in provision, with schools with higher numbers of FSM pupils less likely to offer certain activities. Schools with the lowest proportion of FSM pupils are twice as likely to offer debating clubs as schools with the highest (70% compared to 35%).

? Secondary schools provide a wider range of extra-curricular activities than primary schools, however classroom strategies to improve life skills, such as small group/collaborative approaches and social and emotional learning programmes are substantially less common in secondaries. As secondary pupils get older they value life skills more, but report lower levels of provision, particularly in Years 10 and 11 when pupils are approaching their GCSEs.

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? 94% of employers say that life skills are at least as important as academic results for the success of young people, with nearly one third saying even more so, however 68% say 18 year old school leavers they are looking to recruit don't have the required skills for the workplace. Employers' confidence in university graduates is higher, yet little over half (52%) believe they have the skills required.

? Employers believe that young people who have completed apprenticeships are best prepared with the life skills needed in the workplace, with two thirds (64%) agreeing that apprentices have the right skills, significantly higher than university graduates. Almost two thirds of employers (62%) also feel that more apprenticeships are one of the best ways of filling the skills gap in the workplace.

? Unequal access to opportunities for developing life skills plays a role in the over-representation of those with independent school backgrounds of the UK's top professions. Giving young people from all backgrounds a greater opportunity to develop those skills can therefore be an engine for opportunity and social mobility.

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Recommendations

? Schools should focus on ensuring a wider range of their pupils develop a broad array of nonacademic skills, through both classroom strategies and extra-curricular enrichment activities such as debating, cultural visits and volunteering. There should be a particular focus on increasing take-up by those from a disadvantaged background.

? The Government should introduce a means-tested voucher system, or encourage schools to do so, as part of the pupil premium. Through this, lower income families could access additional support and enrichment, including extra-curricular activities and one-to-one tuition.

? Schools should take a 'whole-school' approach to engendering life skills in young people. Life skills education should be embedded in the day to day curriculum, through extra-curricular activities, and through dedicated programmes. Social and Emotional Learning programmes and the Personal Social Health and Economic Education curriculum can help to develop skills such as confidence, resilience and ability to work with others. These values should be embedded in the school ethos, assemblies, lessons, school clubs and societies, and in staff-student and staff-parent relationships. It is this consistency of message and environment that is crucial for embedding life skills. A dedicated school lead would help to facilitate this approach.

? Government and Ofsted should work with the sector to provide a greater level of resources, information and tools to support teachers who wish to develop the essential life skills of their pupils. Greater co-ordination between government and organisations such as the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) would help highlight these resources to teachers. Evidence should be at the heart of life skills education and resources provided by the EEF and Early Intervention Foundation should be used to inform the most effective strategies for schools and teachers. The EEF has already funded 12 trials in this area, and is planning a number more over the next three years.

? Programmes for developing life skills require robust evaluation, so that schools have better guidance on the most effective approaches. A number of approaches currently being trialled appear promising: including training teachers to improve mindsets and resilience in their students, structured after-school clubs, social action activities, and social and emotional learning programmes.

? The development of essential life skills by schools should be incentivised and rewarded. While significant challenges remain to the reliable measurement of outcomes, the extent to which schools are actively promoting life skills development through the curriculum, extra-curricular activities and dedicated programmes ? particularly for those from more disadvantaged groups ? should be included in Ofsted inspection criteria.

? With the Department for Education encouraging greater cooperation between employers and schools, employers should engage with schools and young people to develop their understanding of the wider non-academic skills that are most needed in different workplaces. Businesses could also expand their work experience and apprenticeship programmes to ensure that young people entering the job market are better prepared for the workplace. Young people should also have access to high quality careers guidance that promotes the development of these skills.

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Methodology

The study of life skills remains a complex area, with a variety of definitions, frameworks and concepts, and little consensus. Drawing on literature reviews conducted in 2013 and 2015, this report focuses on five core skill areas: self-control, self-perceptions (including self-confidence and self-efficacy), social skills (including teamwork and communications skills), motivation and resilience.1

For the purposes of the surveys conducted for this report, these domains were expressed in terms that could be easily understood by the groups under research.

Table 1. Life skills domains and terminology

Domain Self-control Self-perceptions Social skills Motivation Resilience

Survey Measure Self-control Confidence Communication Motivation Ability to cope with stress

In order to explore perceptions about the importance, provision and demand for life skills, the Sutton Trust, along with the EEF, commissioned three surveys from key populations: state school teachers, employers and young people in schools themselves.

Teachers were surveyed through the National Foundation for Educational Research's Teacher Voice survey, a three-times yearly poll conducted online with teachers from the maintained sector in England, in both primary and secondary schools. 1,361 practising teachers, from headteachers to newly qualified class teachers, were surveyed in March 2017. The school sample is nationally representative of key factors, including free school meals eligibility, region, school performance, school type and local authority type.

Employers were surveyed via the YouGov Business Omnibus, a poll of senior business decision makers (excluding sole traders) in Great Britain. 1,133 employers were surveyed at the end of May/ beginning of June 2017 through an online questionnaire. Data are weighted and are nationally representative of business size.

Young people were surveyed through the Ipsos MORI Young People Omnibus, a representative survey of 11-16 year olds attending mainstream state schools in England and Wales. Interviews of 2,612 young people were carried out through a self-completion questionnaire across over 100 schools between February and May 2017. Data are weighted by sex, age and region to match the population.

Ipsos MORI determines the affluence of young people's backgrounds through a series of four questions in the questionnaire (frequency of family holidays, having one's own bedroom in the family home, number of computers in household, whether the family owns a vehicle). Of the total number of 11-16 year olds interviewed, 1,449 were determined to come from `high' affluence backgrounds and 220 from `low' affluence backgrounds.

1 Gutman and Schoon (2013) The impact of non-cognitive skills on outcomes for young people. London: UCL Institute of Education. Goodman et al (2015) Social and emotional skills in childhood and their long-term effects on adult life. London: UCL Institute of Education.

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1. Introduction

Schools' main focus is on developing children's core academic knowledge and skills in literacy, numeracy, and range of curriculum subjects. But there are other skills that are increasingly seen as important to children's wider development: `essential life skills' such as confidence, social skills, selfcontrol, motivation, and resilience. These are the attitudes, skills and behaviours that are thought to underpin success in school and work, and include the ability to respond to setbacks, work well with others, build relationships, communicate effectively, manage emotions, and cope with difficult situations. Such skills are often referred to as `social and emotional skills', `soft skills', `non-cognitive skills' or `character'. They are usually seen as distinct from academic knowledge and skills, however, they are increasingly thought to play an important part in learning, as well as contributing to children's wider development, well-being and readiness for life beyond school. When we refer to `life skills' in this report, we are referring to these essential life skills.

Why do these skills matter?

There is growing evidence that these life skills are associated with a range of positive outcomes at school and later in life. For example, many longitudinal studies show that non-academic skills in childhood, including self-control, self-perceptions and social skills, are strong predictors of adult outcomes, including employment, well-being, and physical and mental health.2 For example, research shows that having an `internal locus of control' ? one's belief in their ability to influence events ? appears important in shaping a broad range of outcomes such as educational attainment, labour market success, socioeconomic status, mental health and wellbeing, and some physical health outcomes.3 Another study shows that young children's self-control skills, such as conscientiousness, self-discipline and perseverance, predict their health, wealth and criminal history in later life regardless of IQ or social background.4

Indeed, some argue that these skills are as important, or more important, than academic skills ? and that their importance in the future jobs market is growing. For example, recent research from the United States has argued that there are clear benefits to life skills in the workplace, arguing that jobs requiring high levels of social interaction have grown substantially.5 While labour market returns for cognitive abilities have stalled over the last 30 years in the US, the returns for both social skills and non-cognitive skills have substantially increased. As this work and a recent report from the Sutton Trust point out, technological trends in the labour market affecting routine occupations mean that the value of interpersonal skills is likely to be even greater as automation takes further hold, and those with the educational background to take advantage will benefit the most.6

Reinforcing this message, the Confederation for British Industry's (CBI) most recent survey of employers on education and skills found that "businesses are clear that first and foremost they want to recruit young people with attitudes and attributes such as resilience, enthusiasm and creativity. They are not selecting simply on the basis of academic ability."7 The CBI emphasises the central importance to employers of young people having a positive attitude and resilience, demonstrated for example by a

2 Goodman et al (2015), Gutman and Schoon (2013) 3 Goodman et al (2015) 4 Moffitt et al (2011) A gradient of childhood self-control predicts health, wealth, and public safety in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 108:7. 5 Deming (2017) The Growing Importance of Social Skills in the Labor Market: NBER Working Paper No. 21473. Cambridge: NBER. 6 Sutton Trust (2017) The State of Social Mobility in the UK. London: Sutton Trust. 7 Confederation for British Industry (2016) The Right Combination: Education and Skills Survey 2016. London: CBI.

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