Dear School Community,

My name is Luciana Orellana and today I want to share with you an

important aspect in our learning journey, and this is Life
Competencies.

Probably many of you have not heard this before, or maybe you
have heard the term “Life skills” or “21 st century skills”? And this
is ok.

Most people think that we only come to school to learn different

subjects such as Mathematics, Languages, Art or Science, but in
fact, we come to school to learn much more than content or
knowledge. We also develop skills and we strive to achieve the
attributes of a global citizen, such as being caring, reflective, good
communicators, inquirers and many other more.

Life Competencies include the knowledge, skills and attitudes we

need to participate effectively in the world around us, and to fulfil
our potential – in our education, our careers and our lives in
general.

To explain it better, I will use an example.

When you learn about pollution or the 3Rs in a Science class, that
is knowledge. Then, when you go home and tell your family that
recycling plastic bottles will reduce waste and help our planet, you
are developing critical thinking and problem solving skills. Finally,
applying what you learned at school and sharing an important
message with your friends and family about taking action to reduce
plastic waste in your home, is having the right attitude by being
caring, reflective or thinker.
According to Mckinsey and Company, there are 4 categories of
skills that will help us in the future. These are: Cognitive skills,
that are the ones that exercise your brain, such as being creative,
thinkers, reflective or problem solvers. Then we have interpersonal
skills, that have to do with the way we relate to others, such as
collaboration, empathy or being open minded. Next, we have digital
skills, that helps us use a tablet or a cell phone with a good purpose
for example, and last but not least, we have self-leadership, which
is one of the most important.

Self-leadership is having self-awareness and self-management.

This is not easy to achieve, as sometimes it is difficult for us to
control our emotions and understand how we feel to do something
about it. Also, managing our time to finish an activity or doing our
homework before the due date is part of self-management.
Another example of this, is respecting and following essential
agreements in class.

Having said this, I invite you today to reflect on what attitudes or

skills you have developed and what you need to work on. Ask
yourself, what are you learning every day and what attributes have
achieved you? Are you caring? Are you a good communicator? Do
you eat a balanced diet? Do you respect other´s opinion and are
tolerant with them?

Learning is a journey, and life competencies is the learning that will

stay with you forever.

Thank you very much!