Life Skills for Primary and Secondary School Children: Development of a Multilingual, Inclusive Education Program

Abstract

The presented paper combines applied research and development in the field of cultural diversity and inclusive education. It addresses the improvement of primary and secondary school children's transversal skills through a specific personal development teaching and learning program and presents an ongoing study as an accompanying action-based research element. In a first step, the theoretical international frameworks for life skills and inclusive education programs are discussed and combined with the claim for lifelong learning and the need for making pre-existing competencies visible. The presented personal development program tackles individual learning processes and transversal skills and shifts the teaching and learning culture towards child-oriented and cooperative learning. This shift can bear challenges for teacher trainers, teachers, students, and the entire educational system as belief systems, traditions, standard teaching practices, and the individual child's view are under change. In a second step, the development of the inclusive personal development program is discussed, focusing on the participatory process and stakeholders of the three partner countries Kosovo, North-Macedonia, and the Republic of Moldova. Alignment to curricula, integration into curricula, development of teaching and learning material, and training programs are presented as relevant issues and stepstones. The personal development teaching and learning material for grades one to nine is explained as an open-source material in different languages. In a third step, the ongoing action-based research study is presented and discussed, highlighting the first results and consequences for the development of teaching and learning materials and training programs.