Life skills education in secondary language classrooms: Empathy, communication and interpersonal relations

Background: Life skills education (LSE) has prevailed since the early 1980s, and despite international policy ambitions, there are few indications of LSE in formal school contexts outside of education programmes. This study adds to existing literature by investigating LSE in Norway, shortly after its introduction into the 2020 national curriculum; acknowledging the value of developing students’ ability to understand and influence factors that are important for managing their own life.Objectives: The primary aim was to investigate how LSE was infused into the language subjects English and Norwegian during naturally occurring instruction in four lower secondary schools.Methods: Participants involved 11 teachers and their students across 18 classes. Using a mixed methods design, we combined quantitative and qualitative analyses of classroom video recordings (74 lessons). Analyses relied on the validated EDUCATE observation protocol and thematic analysis.Results and Conclusions: When themes relevant for LSE were included in these language lessons, they were mainly taught as subject-specific themes unconnected to LSE, while some lessons offered explicit connections to help students manage their lives. When such connections were made, the themes mainly concerned empathy, communication and interpersonal relations. The main difference between the two subjects, was the teaching of LSE relevant themes mainly through fiction in Norwegian, and by bringing current events into the English classroom, whereas multiple literacies (i.e. traditional, emotional, critical) were addressed in both subjects.