Life Skills

Our life skills courses and qualifications will help you learn about:

managing your time and money
cooking and making healthy choices
parenting and engaging with your local community
expectations at work and how to plan your career

They'll help you gain some essential skills you need to get on in life and at work, giving you a solid basis for further learning and employment.

Is this qualification right for you?

Our Life Skills qualifications are for learners working towards entry levels 2 and 3.

Before you start we'll check which level of qualification you should be working towards. We'll then see what skills you already have in the different areas of the qualification, for example time management or healthy eating. This helps us to work out which courses are right for you, so you don't cover things you already know.

Here's a simple guide to explain what these levels mean.

How will you learn?

You'll enrol and learn online at one of our centres, where you'll get face to face support from our friendly staff. You can also join our online community where you can talk with other learners, ask for help and make new friends too.

Getting your qualification

When you've completed all your courses you'll take a short test. We'll make sure you have lots of practice beforehand so you're totally prepared.

How much will it cost?

Thanks to Government funding our life skills courses and qualification are free for most of our learners, but we'll confirm this before you start.

What do you learn?

These qualifications are made up of the following subject areas. We'll put together the right courses from each to suit your needs.

Getting and Keeping a Job

Whether you're looking for work, changing career or you'd like to progress in your current job, our courses on work will help you:

prepare for job hunting and interviews
understand how the modern workplace works
plan some career goals
communicate with others at work
explore jobs in different sectors, from the daily activities you'd be doing, the qualifications and experience needed, to routes of promotion

Depending on the level you're working towards, the courses you could do for this part of your qualification are called Welcome to Planet Work; Working with Others; WorkWise; and Planning your Career.

Managing your Money

In these tough times, we all need to make our money go further. As the credit crunch bites, many of us are worried about being in debt and need help getting out of it. Our courses on money are packed with practical tips, techniques and advice to help you:

become a smarter spender
manage your money
stay out of debt
get to know the basics about bank accounts or the benefits system
learn new techniques to help your money go further

Depending on the level you're working towards, the courses you could do for this part of your qualification are Money MOT and DebtBuster Challenge.

Planning your Time

Do you ever make plans to do something but never manage to get everything finished? Learn how to:

prioritise your plans - making sure you do the things that are most important at the correct time
improve your time management skills - making sure you know how to fit lots of tasks around other responsibilities, like work or family
use normal diaries and computer diaries
work with others to complete your tasks

Depending on the level you're working towards, the course you would do for this part of your qualification is called Not Enough Hours.

Parenting and Community Skills

These courses cover practical tips and advice to help you become a better parent and role model, whatever the age of your child. These courses can help if you need to:

improve your English and number skills to help with homework
understand jargon about your child's education
know how to keep your newborn baby safe
set rules and boundaries and deal with temper tantrums
build an open relationship with your teenager and talk about difficult issues
set a good example by being a responsible member of your community

Depending on the level you're working towards, the courses you could do for this part of your qualification are called Helping your Child; Parenting Challenge; Switched on Talk Radio: Proud Parent; and Your Place - Your Community.

Healthy Living and Eating

Taking regular exercise and eating a healthy diet can improve your chances of a longer, healthier life. These courses give you practical advice on how you and your family can enjoy a healthier life and make the right food choices. Whether you need to:

get more organised in the kitchen
find out more about the dangers of smoking, alcohol and drugs
put together a healthy eating plan
improve your word and number skills to understand graphs and tables, food labelling and calorie charts
understand different kinds of exercise

… then these courses can help.

Depending on the level you're working towards, the courses you could do for this part of your qualification are Health and Fitness; Healthy Lifestyles Show; Healthy Living Challenge; and Ready to Cook.

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Not only do the qualifications look great on my CV for prospective employers but it's a real confidence-building exercise too.

Tracey White
43
Loughborough

Getting started

Please contact your local centre to check which qualifications they offer before travelling

Find your local centre

Get face to face tutor support
Free access to a computer and the internet to do your learning
Meet other learners and make new friends

Find your local centre:

Or call 0800 101 901 if you need more information about learning with us.