Skills

Basic skills are the skills and competencies needed to function in contemporary society, e.g. listening, speaking, reading, writing and mathematics.

Vocational skills are practical, occupation-oriented skills that are needed in professional contexts, e.g. carpentry, artwork (clay and plaster), coloring, painting, gardening, wool knitting, bead-work, embroidery, etc.

Vocational skills development can make a decisive contribution to and have a widespread impact on poverty reduction and it enhances productivity and stimulate economic competitiveness.

Life skills are the skills that are necessary for a person to function independently. They include social skills, money management, employability, and health.

see also Non-Technical Skills (aka generic skills, key competencies, soft skills, employability skills, key skills, core skills, essential skills, etc.)

Note

There is a difficulty of clearly defining concepts and distinguishing between terms such as ‘skills development’, ‘vocational skills development’, and ‘life skills’, or ‘formal’ and ‘informal’ sector and so on, and that should not be underestimated. Indeed, such issues continue to be vigorously debated amongst policymakers and researchers in the field.