What are Social Skills?
Social skills or Interpersonal skills, is the ability to interact with people through effective listening & communication. This is one of the most important skills that not only kids & children, but also adolescents need to develop. As students serve as predictors of future success, it also becomes necessary to develop social skills among students.
There are four types of social skills defined in a scholarly manner:
- Survival skills: Following directions, Listening carefully to others.
- Problem-solving skills: Asking for help, deciding what is appropriate to do or what is good for us or not, apologizing in front of others
- Interpersonal skills: Joining a conversation or debate, sharing your views.
Conflict resolution skills: Dealing with bullying & teasing, handling peer pressure.
From a simple hello to forgoing long-term relationships, social skills affect our everyday actions. These are necessary for the development of children as they affect an individual’s life.
Importance of Social Skills for Students
It is generally considered that students who have better social skills have a successful career as well as personal life. Here in this article, we’ll discuss what is the importance of social skills for students & how it benefits them.
Good social skills ensures better peer relationships when children grow older. As students develop social skills in school, hence it become a part of their behavior, which helps them in interaction with people with different sectors.
Developing social skills in students prepare them for future life as it makes them prepare for a lifetime for healthier interactions in every aspect of life.
Important Social skills for students
- Listening to others
- Making an eye-contact while talking to someone
- Using good manners
- Sharing things
- Managing Time
- Follow others’ directions
- Co-operating & helping others
- Respect to other’s personal space
These are some of the important social skills for students that need to be develop in them at an early age. Good social skills play an important role in becoming a part of most of the social groups.
Some distinct advantages of having good social skills are:
Greater efficiency
Recent studies have shown that there is a great importance of social skills in school. Effective social skills learning in schools improves students significantly.
A good set of social skills allow children to convey their message politely. This will also decrease the effect of stress that students might take due to the pressure of their weekly tests & quarterly examinations.
Better Communication
Relating to different people working & studying in a group leads to more & more friendships & with time it leads to a relationship. Having good social skills help us to face the audience when it comes to communicating with a no. of people. This also helps students at the time of participating in school debates or inter-house competitions.
Good Relationships
Good & healthy relationships among classmates can also help in minimizing the negative effects of stress while boosting your self-esteem. By focusing on relationships can increase your happiness & satisfaction while providing a better outlook on life.
These skills can take your relationship with other people to the first level of becoming friends as these help us in building good relationships with peer groups, society, family members, & teachers.
Advanced career prospects
It is very rare that a student can remain isolated in school or classroom & still excel in studies. Most schools look for social skills that are goal-oriented.
Happiness
Getting along & understanding others help to open many personal & career-related doors. With these skills, social & emotional skills of students and at the same time, it reduces the levels of emotional distress. With better social skills, an individual is considered more ethical & gets respect in society.
So, in these ways, social skills are important to us in many definitions. These can be taught, practiced & learned.
Also read, Importance of Skill Development in Education