“Effectiveness of the life skills educational program in teenagers

in an educational institution from Huancavelica, 2006”

Raúl Choque Larrauri

Lima, April 2007

Víctor Alzamora Castro Graduate School

SUMMARY

Objectives: To determine the effectiveness of a life skills educational program by learning communication skills, self-esteem, assertiveness and decision-making, in school teenagers of an educational institution from Huancavelica in the school year 2006.

Methodology: A quasi-experimental research with pretest and posttest with comparison group. Were studied 284 high school students. The variables analyzed were communication, self-esteem, assertiveness, decision-making, gender, age and educational methodology.

Results: There was a significant rise in communication skills and assertiveness in students from the experimental group compared to those in the comparison group. Likewise, interactive and participatory methodology was used more frequently in the experimental group than in the comparison one.

Conclusions: The life skills educational program is effective in a school year in the learning of communication skills and assertiveness, however self-esteem and the ability of decision-making don´t show a statistically significant change, so it is necessary to reorient implementation.

Keywords: life skills, evaluation, effectiveness

Research location

Features of Huancavelica Region

It is the poorest region of Peru 83.7% in poverty 61.1% in extreme poverty HDI: 0.4687 (low human

development) 24% illiteracy

Research problems

There is a high deficit of life skills in school teenagers.

In Peru, 31.3% of schoolchildren show serious deficiencies in their social skills (communication skills, ability to reduce anxiety, personal self-affirmation and assertion skills for bonds of friendship).

In the Huancavelica Region 64.7% of students show serious deficiencies in their life skills.

Theroretical Framework

Incorporation of LS in PCC

 Teacher training

Classes in tutoring hours

Assessment of the learning process

Life skill learning

Improvement of Health behaviors

Educational Center

Inst

itutio

nal

Educ

atio

nal

Cou

nsel

ing

Life

Sk

ills

Gui

de

Health Center

Carry out in one school year

LS: Life skills

STRUCTURE IMPACT

Life Skills Educational Program Model

PROCESS RESULT

Research Question

Which was the effectiveness of skills educational program for life in the learning of assertiveness skills, communication, self-esteem and decision-making in school teenagers who participated in the program?

Theoretical framework

“The life skills are the abilities and skills in social- emotional field of people, including social skills, cognitive and emotional management, allowing them to successfully face the exigencies, demands and challenges of daily life, acting competently and contributing to the human development“.

Theoretical framework

Life skills Theories

To whom is aimed at?

LIFE SKILLS

What are they?

Children and Teenagers Development T.

Constructivist T.

Social Learning T.

Conceptual Pedagogy T.

How to develop them?

Affective pedagogical T.

Multiple Intelligence T.

Emotional Intelligence T.

General purpose

Determine the effectiveness of the life skills educational program and the factors that most influence on the achievement in school teenagers in an educational institution from Huancavelica district, in the school year 2016.

Specific objectives

Determine the effectiveness in learning assertiveness skills, communication, self-esteem and decision-making.

Determine differences in the learning of life skills in relation to gender and age.

Determine differences in interactive methodology and expository methodology applied for the development of life skills.

Study hypothesis

H1: Students participating in the life skills educational program to improve your assertiveness skills, communication, self-esteem and decision-making in relation to the control group.

H2: There are some sociodemographic variables that differentiate the degree of learning life skills such as gender and age.

H3: The interactive and participatory educational methodology is more effective than expository methodology applied in the development of life skills.

Methodology

TYPE OF STUDY

The research was quasi-experimental with pretest and posttest, with nonrandom control group., quantitative.

Group Pretest Independent variable Posttest E Y1 X Y2

C Y1 - Y2

Experimental IE: “Ramón Castilla Marquesado”.Control IE: “César Vallejo”

Experimental group (E)Control group(C)X = Participation in the educational program of life skills

Population and sample

The population is made up of male and female teenagers of two public educational institutions of high school from Huancavelica district.

The sample is set with the formula for the comparison of two groups. For each educational institution, the sample was composed by 142 students for the experimental group and 142 students for the control group.

The sampling was probabilistic, using the simple random sampling of the official list of students .

Participants features

53% of students are male and 47% of students are women 65% of students have Quechua as mother tongue 71% of students live with both parents.  8% of students have repeated. 24% students' mothers is illiterate. 3% of students work. 20% of students meets overage. 10% of students drop out between April and December 2006.

Life skills Experimental Group

Control Group

p

Media

S Media

S

Assertiveness 2.85 1.268 3.03 1.220 0.112

Comunication 3.08 1.223 3.25 1.300 0.052

Self-steem 3.06 1.284 2.89 1.073 0.059

Decision-making 2.73 1.019 2.70 1.072 0.113

Life skills Experimental Group

Control Group

p

Media

S Media

S

Assertiveness 3.20 1.162 3.00 1.226 0.019*

Comunication 3.64 1.257 3.29 1.269 0.048*

Self-steem 3.33 1.177 2.93 1.115 0.055

Decision-making 2.84 1.177 2.69 1.073 0.389

Life skills results

Basal

Final

Prueba t de student

Value Gl Sig.Asymptotic (bilateral)

Chi-square 10.732 4 0.030*

OR 2.029 IC 95% (1.255 – 3.279)**

Assertiveness result

Assertiveness results

Value gl Sig.Asymptotic (bilateral)

Chi-square 11.814 4 0.019*

OR 1.664 IC 95% (1.027 – 2.697)**

Regarding the assertiveness ability, we found a statistically significant increase in this ability in the experimental group, when comparing the results of the baseline and final measurement. Therefore, it is twice more likely to develop assertiveness skills after participating in the educational program of life skills.

Regarding the comparison group, we found no statistically significant difference in the ability to compare the results of the baseline and final measurement.

Regarding the comparison in the final moment of the experimental and comparison group, we found a statistically significant difference favoring the experimental group. It is 1.6 times more likely the experimental group show assertiveness skills compared to the comparison group.

Assertiveness results

Communication results

Value Gl Sig. asymptotic (bilateral)

Chi-square 16.389 4 0.003*

OR 2.027 IC 95% (1.212 – 3.388)**

Resultados comunicación

Value Gl Sig.asymptotic (bilateral)

Chi-square 9.611 4 0.048*

OR 1.740 IC 95% (1.034 – 2.930)**

Regarding communication skills, we found a statistically significant rise of this ability in the experimental group, when comparing the results of baseline and final measurement. It is twice more likely to develop communication skills after participating in the educational program of life skills. It is twice more likely to develop communication skills after participating in the educational program of life skills.

Regarding the comparison in the final moment of the experimental group and the comparison group, we found a statistically significant difference favoring the experimental group. It is 1.7 times more likely the experimental group show assertiveness skills compared to the comparison group.

Communication results

Comparison by gender variable

Learning the life skills by gender variable,doesn´t show statistically significant difference.

Comparison by age variable

The analysis found that there are higher levels of learning in older students, however it wasn’t significant.

Results of gender and sex variables

Educational methodology results

Value Gl Sig. Asymptotic (bilateral)

Chi-square 20.529 1 0.000

OR 3.144 IC 95% (1.903 – 5.195)

Educational methodology results

Value gl Sig. Asymptotic (bilateral)

Chi-square 13.189 1 0.000

OR 2,499 IC 95% (1.505 – 3.984)

Regarding educational methodology, we found a statistically significant increase in the frequency of participatory educational methodology in the experimental group, when comparing the results of the baseline and final measurement increment. It is 3.1 times more likely the participatory methodology application in the development of life skills education program in the experimental group.

Regarding the comparison in the final moment of the experimental group and the comparison group, we found a statistically significant difference favoring the experimental group. It is 2.5 times more likely the experimental group shows participatory methodology compared to the comparison group.

Educational Methodology Results

Assertiveness and communication skills had a statistically significant difference. The skills of self-esteem and decision-making showed no significant differences. The ability of decision-making requires an affective, emotional and cognitive analysis. It also requires critical thinking to evaluate and detect a problem. Moreover, the ability of self-esteem requires skills sub-developed such as self-awareness, self-concept, self-evaluation and self-respect.

Debate

Debate

Teenagers aged between 15 to 18 years had better life skills learning. The theory states that there are two cycles of thought in teenagers who are the formal cycle from 11 to 14 years, where there are symbolic systems and intellectual operations and the categorical thinking from 15 to 18 years, where teenagers integrate different propositions in articulated systems and there is scientific thought.

Participatory and active educational methodology is essential in the development of life skills. The theory states the importance of learning attitudes through interactive actions.

Conclusions In the assessment of life skills education program, a significant

increase was found in assertiveness skills and communication in high school students of an educational institution compared to one that didn't receive the intervention, in the district of Huancavelica in 2006.

It was found that there is no statistically significant difference in learning life skills in relation to sex and age variables, in high school students of an educational institution compared to one that didn't receive the intervention, in the district of Huancavelica in 2006.

It was found that there is a statistically significant increase in the application of participatory methodology in educational sessions school tutoring where learning the life skills developed in the high school students of an educational institution compared to one that doesn't received the intervention, in the district of Huancavelica in 2006.

RecommendationsGive continuity to the life skills educational program, especially in poor areas like Huancavelica, refocusing the self-esteem learning and the decision-making ability in a greater temporality, and incorporate the intercultural approach in educational sessions of life skills. Also, self-esteem should not be considered as a skill since it is a more complex psychological construct, related to emotional development.

The educational program must be separately on two levels in high school: one directed to the 1st. and 2nd. year of high school and the other addressed to the 3rd., 4th. and 5th. year of high school. This is in order to meet the development process and cognitive, emotional, affective and social maturity of teenagers.

Promote the implementation of participatory educational methodology in educational sessions of school tutoring, facilitating the training of teachers, implementation with audiovisual material, teaching materials and methodological guide to facilitate the life skills learning.

Teachers training and instrument implementation

Experimental School Students