Life Skills Assessment: The Context of Grade 12 Students in a Philippine Catholic School

Abstract

Aims: This study assessed the life skills level of Grade 12 students in a Catholic school in Central Philippines during 2023–2024 in terms of self-awareness, empathy, effective communication, interpersonal relations, creative thinking, critical thinking, decision-making, problem-solving, coping with emotions, and coping with stress when they were taken as a whole and also grouped according to biological sex, academic strand, family structure, and family monthly income.  Likewise, demographics were correlated with their life skills level.  Study Design:  Quantitative research design, particularly the descriptive-correlational approach. Place and Duration of Study: Catholic school in Central Philippines during 2023–2024.  Methodology: The respondents were 210 Grade 12 students. In assessing the study, the 100-item standardized life skills assessment questionnaire by Subasree et al. [1] was employed. It was validated and yielded 89% concurrence using face and content validity.  The fitness of the items to the Filipino context was checked by Pahilanga et al. [11], yielding a reliable Cronbach’s alpha score of 0.92. This was responded to using the scale from very high to very low. In data analysis, descriptive and correlational analyses were utilized.  The descriptive analysis was employed to determine the students' level of life skills using mean and standard deviation.  Meanwhile, the correlational analysis correlated the demographics and their life skills.  Results: Generally, their life skills level (M=3.29, SD=0.22) was rated average. Meanwhile, the areas that need improvement are coping with stress (M=2.44, SD=0.50) with a low-level rating and average levels for coping with emotions (M=2.88, SD=0.44), effective communication (M=3.21, SD=0.40), interpersonal relationships (M=3.11, SD=0.43), and decision making (M=3.38, SD=0.35).  In the demographics, their sex, strand, family structure, and family income were rated average. The Point biserial correlation shows no relationship between the students’ life skills and the following variables: biological sex [r(275)=-0.075, p=0.277], family structure [r(275)=0.041, p=0.550], and family income [r(275)=0.093, p=0.178]. Hence, the null hypotheses are accepted.  Meanwhile, the eta correlation showed no relationship between their life skills and their strands [η=0.080, p=0.723].  Hence, the null hypothesis is accepted. Conclusion: Given the findings of the study, continuous improvement of the student's life skills acquisition is necessary. Deepening life skills development in the Catholic school's curriculum and instruction is recommended. Incorporating it into curricular and non-curricular programs and activities may also help. Additionally, their exposure to various tasks and responsibilities that establish their sense of independence is also vital to help them develop these skills and apply what they have learned in real-life situations.