The Role of Pedagogy in Developing Life Skills

In response to recent concerns expressed by Indian industry about the ‘employability’ of school and university graduates, this article examines the role of pedagogy in developing life skills (or twenty-first-century skills) and how these can be incorporated in the school/university curriculum. Recent curricular frameworks have incorporated life skills within the school curriculum by stressing the importance of inquiry and collaborative work through all subjects taught in school. The article finds a similar emphasis in the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) in India, but classroom observations and textbook analyses show that learning objectives in schools are frequently incorrect or misaligned with the NCF vision. The article briefly touches on how the beliefs of teachers affect their classroom practices and recommends that attention should be paid to the professionalisation of teachers, as only then can students acquire skills that are relevant for the twenty-first century, which is what employers want. JEL Classification: O15, J24, I21