Training on skills like parenting, budgeting and mental and physical first aid should be built into legislation, peers in the House of Lords have said. 

At a debate on the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill in the House of Lords yesterday, Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle tabled an amendment that would put skills for life at the centre of the new bill. 

Other skills listed included financial management, practical skills in maintenance and gardening, community organising, and community participation.

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Speaking at the debate, the Baroness said: “It is a small gesture towards making the bill about something more comprehensive: skills for life. I hope that the government will reflect before we report on their approach to the bill and its very narrow, outdated view of the dividing line between life skills and employment skills, as though they are two separate categories.

“My list  - I agree that it is somewhat scattergun - includes parenting, which is a skill. One might perhaps include child and older care because those are roles that all of us may well have to fulfil at some stage. Budgeting reflects what we often hear in your Lordships’ House about the need for financial literacy in our increasingly complex world. Mental and physical first aid and practical skills in gardening and maintenance are things that people need in their lives. 

“The last two sections of this amendment - community organising and community participation - focus on the idea of people as part of a community, as all of us are. It is not my intention to press this amendment, but I look forward to the discussion and the minister’s response. I hope it will be fruitful.”

‘Valuable life skills’

Lord Aberdare backed the amendment and said it was “odd” that so many complete education with knowledge of maths, English language and the sciences but few of the skills listed by Baroness Bennett, “nor other rather fundamental skills such as cooking and household maintenance, generic skills such as communications, teamwork and self-presentation, or even typing and map reading…These are all valuable life skills that schools should be well placed to teach”.

Lord Watson of Invergowrie added: “Not to accept that these life skills are necessary in ensuring that there are as few local skills gaps as possible once the local skills improvement partnerships are developed would be, at best, to leave the ministers open to the charge that they do not attach sufficient importance to them. 

“In reply, the minister will no doubt say they are unnecessary, but I believe that what this government regards as necessary does not correspond with what most people have a right to expect in a civilised, advanced society.”

In her response, Baroness Penn said many of the life skills listed were associated with community learning and that the devolved adult education budget allowed mayoral combined authorities to develop adult skills in their communities. 

She said: “We are also supporting community participation elsewhere in the education system through the teaching of citizenship, which is in the secondary school national curriculum. The programmes of study are to direct teaching towards the core knowledge of citizenship to help prepare pupils to play a full and active part in our society. At key stage 4, pupils will be taught about the different electoral systems in and beyond the United Kingdom and how citizens influence decisions locally, nationally and beyond.”