Schools ‘need more life skills’

Kiwi parents want more life skills taught in school, a new survey shows.

From cyber safety to sex education and manners, two-thirds of parents believed it was the responsibility of teachers to impart lessons traditionally handled at home, according to a survey of 500 New Zealand families.

Ethnicity played a role in what parents regarded as important in a public education, with Asian parents more likely to want schools to handle the teaching of life skills.

Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) junior vice president Melanie Webber said that while teachers were role models, it would be difficult to fit more life skills into the curriculum.

The study by the Australian Scholarships Group (ASG) and Melbourne’s Monash University found a ‘‘social shift’’ away from valuing scholastic success towards a more holistic education, ASG chief executive John Velegrinis said.

Asian and Indian families overwhelmingly supported schools teaching more about social skills and public behaviour (91 and 88 per cent respectively).

About 42 per cent of Pa¯keha¯ parents agreed with that view.

Webber said teaching values and manners would be difficult.

‘‘What I might consider to be appropriate for my children to be taught is going to be quite different to what someone from a different culture thinks is appropriate,’’ she said.