Youth workers can help schools to teach young people life skills

Alongside selecting our next set of UK Youth Parliament representatives and Youth Cabinet members, young people were also balloted on the most important issues that they want to see action taken on.

Top of the list wasn't transport. Or health. It was life skills; highlighting once again that it isn't just business leaders who are worried about a lack of so-called soft skills and the impact on their bottom line. Young people themselves want to see life skills education taken a lot more seriously.

Defining life skills can be tricky. Those business leaders calling for change always place an emphasis on communication, teamwork and time management. For them a lack of these skills can really affect their customer's experience and have an impact on employees' performance, progression and motivation.

While those working directly with young people are more likely to highlight the importance of developing self-awareness, mindfulness and empathy. For them it is all about young people achieving their full potential so that they have more choices, more control over their lives.

But whatever the perspective, there's broad agreement that life skills are the things that we all need in order to deal effectively with the demands and challenges we come across almost everyday at school, at work or in our personal lives.

There's also agreement that we still have a long way to go. We've been trying for years to get life skills education right. I can vaguely remember my own experience growing up in Bristol in the mid 1980s. It was called Design for Living, or DFL for short. It happened in a grey portable classroom a couple of times a week and it was a complete waste of time. Dismal. Forgettable. Lousy.

So, have things moved on much in the 30 years since? Well, not far enough according to the thousands of young people who took part in our poll. For them, and no doubt for millions of other young people across the country, life skills education is still falling far short of their expectations.

And while it is positive to see the Department for Education announce that the Children and Social Work Bill is to be amended to make sex and relationships education compulsory in all state schools, is it time to ask if school is really the best place for young people to learn about themselves?

For a start, the academic timetable in most schools is already bulging. Then there is the question of just how well equipped teachers are for this role and if the classroom is the right setting to do this work. Just how realistic are we being to expect schools to do everything?

Back in the 1980s, it was youth work, not school, that gave me a great life skills education. A local youth centre really made a difference to my personal and social development, with youth workers who empowered me to try new things, engaged me in exploring important issues and encouraged me to see and think about the world differently.

Improving life skills is a challenge that schools shouldn't have to resolve themselves. Non-formal education has a huge and untapped contribution to make in enabling young people's social and emotional learning. Good youth work helps young people learn about themselves, others and the society they live in through activities that combine enjoyment, challenge and fun. Most importantly of all, it develops the ability of young people to think for themselves.

If we are to make real progress it will no doubt require a joint effort by both schools and youth services. It isn't about schools employing youth workers to stand in front of classes of 30 children. That sort of misses the point.

It's about recognising that for many young people, life skills can't be taught at 2pm on a wet Tuesday afternoon just because the timetable says so. Young people need to be ready and willing to learn about themselves and the people around them. They need to be able to choose who to learn with, and how.

To do this properly we will need to invest in the voluntary, community and statutory sectors to provide a high-quality youth work offer which works for all young people and complements more formal learning.

One thing is for sure, change is needed and we must be prepared to start spending on life skills if we want to see improvement. The UK Youth Parliament has been calling for the place of life skills education, and personal, social, health and economic education to be radically overhauled through a youth-led UK-wide review. This wouldn't be a bad place for the Department for Education to start the work to ensure we can prepare all our young people for life.

Michael Bracey is director of children's services, Milton Keynes Council