The life skills institute has started its journey... join us as we look for new people to work with, and progress with our research.

1. The Lifeskills Institute
WHAT IS IT?
(A UK BASED CHARITY)
WHERE SHOULD IT FIND A HOME?
SREELA BANERJEE
CO-FOUNDER

2. Aiming for work-ready young
people at each entry stage
READY TO WORK
 CONVERSANT WITH SELF MANAGEMENT
 ABLE TO CO-OPERATE ACROS S CULTURES
 WITH AN ACCEPTABLE LEVEL OF F INANCIAL
L I T E R A C Y A T L E A S T O N A ‘ R U L E O F T H U M B ’
BAS I S
 WITH SOME IDEA OF HOW SOCIAL MEDIA I S
USED IN THE WORKPLACE, AND PRIVATELY

3. History : It all started last summer
- FROM THE ‘WALLACE PROJECT’
the Wallace Fund has given me a
(very) small grant to start work
Amongst others, the
CBI talked about four
areas of knowledge
which its members
found were lacking in
new entrants to the
workforce:
1.Self management
2.Finding common
ground with a diverse
community of people
3.A basic idea of how
the world works,
including financial
literacy
4. Social media
(dangers and rules of
digital collaboration)

4. This wasn’t set out that clearly – it
involved a lot of reading –
sometimes between the lines
All party parliamentary
committee on financial
literacy
Research by a team from
the LSE on how finanical
literacy is taught most
effectively – with micro
loans in Latin America
Activise teaching tool –
teaching by articulation
and discussion –
particularly useful for
girls and women
Vocational Training
report by Dr Alison
Woolf
And much more besides

5. Sometimes what I found turned out
to be unexpected – like this graffiti
in Sicily ! But some of it was obvious
Employers have found
many ways of saying -
‘our new workers don’t
know how to pay
attention and learn
things in one go’
Simultaneously, there
has been a small group
of people teaching just
this – through a process
called ‘mindfulness
training’.
Now, NICE the NHS
regulatory body,
recommends this AND
PARLIAMENT
ENDORSED IT (APPG)
We will call it ‘check
YOU out’ or attention
focus exercises

6. Employers are cautious of a new
employee who is used to (digitally)
‘travelling’ everywhere in an instant
They want their
employees to know the
business model of the
social media companies.
Etiquette on business
social media is
important – ‘client
engagement’ and
‘employee engagement’
are both done using
social media
New entrants need to
have an
understanding of how
these tools operate
within the company
and outside it

7. Father and son checking messages–
a mixed race family has an
advantage in some ways !!
The ‘politically correct’
teaching of religions is
not a sufficient basis for
individuals to find
common ground
between races and
cultures
Yet, young people newly
in the workplace often
find themselves
collaborating with
people from all parts of
the world… They
MIGHT BE MORE
CONFIDENT if they
already know of
common ground, across
traditions and cultures

8. There is no such thing as an average
young person – and YET they all
need to know how the world works
A BASIC LEVEL OF
FINANCIAL LITERACY
IS CRUCIAL FOR
SURVIVAL IN
WHATEVER FIRM A
YOUNG PERSON
JOINS
- JOIN UP THE
DIFFERENT ROLES
OF PEOPLE IN THE
ECONOMY – WHAT
ARE –
- TAXPAYERS,
CONSUMERS,
INSURERS,
BANKERS, SAVERS
INVESTORS,
DRIVERS,
CORPORATES AND
EXPORTERS,
WORKERS, BOSSES

9. PACKAGE THIS FOR THE
‘EDUCATION’ SECTOR ?
TEACHERS NEED TO
LEARN HOW TO
TEACH THIS
PUPILS AT DIFFERENT
LEVELS WILL NEED
TO LEARN HOW TO
USE THIS
TEACHER TRAINING
COLLEGES
SCHOOLS
FE COLLEGES
UNIVERSITIES
BUT UNLESS IT HAS
THE BLESSING OF
EMPLOYERS, IT WILL
LACK CREDIBILITY

10. SHOULD BE TRANSFERABLE and
available WORLDWIDE
TEACHING UNITS
FOR TEACHERS
DESIGN
PILOT
ACCREDITATION
TEACHING
---------------------
DELIVERY METHOD :
Learning SOME OF
THIS by articulation
and self testing for
confidence USING
SOFTWARE WHICH
HAS BEEN
IDENTIFIED
COMBINED WITH
MUSIC to embed the
experience

11. WHERE SHOULD THIS
INSTITUTION SIT?
STAGE 1 –
SET UP AS A NON-PROF IT FOR THE DES IGN
PILOT AND ACCREDITATION STAGE – IN AN
UMBRELLA ORGANI SAT ION FOR EMPLOYERS ? I
THINK IT S SPIRITUAL HOME HAS TO BE IN A
BODY OF EMPLOYING ORGANSAT IONS
STAGE 2
LAUNCH AWAY FROM THE
‘ S P O N S O R I N G ’ O R G A N S I A T I O N ( S )
AND STAND ON IT S OWN TWO FEET

12. LOOKING FOR A GOOD
‘HOME’ FOR THIS ORGANSIATION
- CHAMPION WITHIN HE ? PREFERABLY YES
- CHAMPION WITHIN INDUSTRY ? ES SENTIAL
- COST S , FUNDING AND T IMESCALES NEED TO
BE SET OUT, BUT ONLY WHEN IT HAS A
HOME. SEEKING A RESEARCH GRANT FOR
PHASE 1
- NEXT STEPS – DOING THE RESEARCH AND
T H E N B E I N G ‘ A D O P T E D ’