3, October 2026

Life Skills Education as a Pathway to Resilience and Adaptive Behaviour among Upper Primary Students

VOLUME-12; ISSUE-10; OCT-2026

Author(s): O P Fousiy, 2 Prof. (Dr.) T Mohammed Saleem

Authors Affiliations:

1Research Scholar, Farook Training College Kozhikode, University of Calicut, Kerala, India

2Principal, Farook Training College Kozhikode, University of Calicut, Kerala, India

 

DOIs:10.2015/IJIRMF/202610003     |     Paper ID: IJIRMF202610003


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The rising complexity of children’s academic, social, emotional and digital contexts has increased the demand for education that goes beyond academic knowledge. Life skills education is an important pathway for children to develop the cognitive, emotional and social abilities needed to respond constructively to everyday problems. Of these competences, self-awareness, emotional regulation, problem solving, decision making, communication, empathy, interpersonal interactions and coping with stress are particularly crucial for the development of resilience and adaptive behaviour. This paper explores the conceptual and empirical association between life skills education, resilience and adaptive behaviour in upper-primary school students. Drawing on the life-skills framework developed by the World Health Organization, resilience theory, social-emotional learning perspectives and UNICEF’s comprehensive life-skills framework, the article argues that life skills are individual and relational resources that increase children’s ability to interpret challenges, regulate emotional responses, mobilise support, choose constructive strategies and adapt to evolving circumstances. The upper-primary years are important as they represent a developmental phase when children are increasingly confronted with scholastic pressures, peer influences, interpersonal problems, changing expectations and rising needs for autonomy. Existing research shows that school-based treatments can promote resilience and life-skills programs are connected with gains in socio-emotional and school-related outcomes. However, the data also indicates deficits in the transfer of learned skills to everyday conduct, in age-specific interventions and in culturally sensitive approaches. The essay presents a conceptual route of Life Skills Education → Personal Resources → Resilience Processes → Adaptive Behaviour, and considers implications for curriculum design, teacher preparation, assessment and school-based intervention. The essay concludes that life-skills education should be conceptualised not as an additional set of activities, but as a developmental process which provides learners with resources for adjusting, recuperating, learning and functioning productively in the face of everyday problems.

life skills education, resilience, adaptive behaviour, upper primary students, social-emotional learning, self-regulation, problem-solving, school education, India

O P Fousiya,  Prof. (Dr.) T. Mohammed Saleem (2026); Life Skills Education as a Pathway to Resilience and Adaptive Behaviour among Upper Primary Students, International Journal for Innovative Research in Multidisciplinary Field, ISSN(O): 2455-0620, Vol-12, Issue-10, Available on –   https://www.ijirmf.com/

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