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Health & Life Skills K - Grade 9 (2002)

© Alberta Education, Canada 
 Table of Contents   Program of Studies

This program of studies may contain references to the previous Kindergarten to Grade 6 curriculum. For the new Kindergarten to Grade 6 curriculum, please visit new.LearnAlberta.ca.

Program Rationale & Philosophy

Health and life skills involves learning about the habits, behaviours, interactions and decisions related to healthy daily living and planning for the future. It is personal in nature and involves abilities based on a body of knowledge and practice that builds on personal values and beliefs within the context of family, school and community. Some examples of these learnings include the ability of students to:

  • make effective personal decisions for current and future issues and challenges
  • plan and set goals
  • employ critical reflection
  • cope with change and transition
  • manage stress
  • analyze and manage career and health-related information
  • recognize and expand personal skills
  • recognize, explore and expand career opportunities and options
  • explore service learning/volunteerism
  • commit to lifelong learning.

The home, school and community play important roles in contributing to the healthy personal development of students, by providing an opportunity for them to consider information and acquire, practise and demonstrate strategies for dealing with the challenges of life and living.

The aim of the Health and Life Skills Kindergarten to Grade 9 Program of Studies is to enable students to make well-informed, healthy choices and to develop behaviours that contribute to the well-being of self and others. To achieve this aim, students require an understanding of self as the basis for healthy interactions with others and for career development and lifelong learning. Students also require a safe and caring school and community environment in which to explore ideas and issues surrounding personal choice, to seek accurate information, and to practise healthy behaviours.

Comprehensive School Health

This health and life skills program of studies provides a basis for instruction in schools. To achieve overall health goals for students, curriculum connections between services and resources within the school and wider community are needed. A comprehensive school health approach is desirable.

A comprehensive school health model incorporates:

  • health and physical education instruction that promotes improved commitment to healthy choices and behaviours
  • health and community services that focus on health promotion and provision of appropriate services to students who need assistance and intervention
  • environments that promote and support behaviours that enhance the health of students, families and school staff.

The health of students is viewed as an integral component of a larger system of health within the home, school and community environment. It involves the establishment of collaborative partnerships among students, parents, educators, health care professionals and other community supports to address social and environmental factors that influence and determine optimal health.

Responsible, Healthy Choices

To make responsible and healthy choices, students need to know how to seek out relevant and accurate information. They learn health-related information from many sources, including home, school, peers, the community and the media. The health and life skills program assists students in identifying reliable sources of information and in becoming discerning consumers of health-related information. Students research, evaluate and synthesize information in an effort to understand health issues and to apply the learning to current and future personal situations.

Choices, as evidenced by related behaviour, are based on attitudes, beliefs and values. The family is the primary educator in the development of student attitudes and values. The school and community play a supportive and crucial role in building on these attitudes and values.

In the health and life skills program, students develop decision-making skills that build resiliency and self-efficacy, help expand strategies for coping, and support informed personal health practices. Students develop personal responsibility for health, learn to prevent or reduce risk, and have opportunities to demonstrate caring for self and others.

Students focus on personal and collective safety, as well as injury prevention. Outcomes related to safety and injury prevention promote strategies to assess risk, to reduce potential harm, and to identify support systems for self and others. Students learn about products, substances and behaviours that may be injurious to their health. They also learn strategies to use in unsafe situations.

Students are encouraged to promote and maintain health as a valued and valuable resource, and to examine health issues and factors that promote or limit good health. They gain an understanding that, in addition to the effect of their individual behaviours on their health status, there are social and environmental factors that are beyond their immediate control, which also have a significant impact on their health.

In an environment of acceptance, understanding, respect and caring, students in the health and life skills program can learn to acknowledge and express personal feelings and emotions, as well as to appreciate the strengths and talents of self and others. There are opportunities for students to accept and appreciate diversity and the uniqueness of self and others in our global society. This program emphasizes healthy interactions and values, such as integrity, honesty and trust that underlie safe and caring relationships. Friendship skills are developed and then extended to incorporate skills for working in groups. Such skills include conflict management, consensus building, negotiation and mediation.

Students examine the various sources of stress in relationships, which include behaviour-related factors and those due to natural life cycle changes and transitions. They learn strategies to deal with unhealthy relationships, as well as traumatic events. Throughout the program, students build and expand upon safe and supportive networks for self and others that link the home, school and community.

Students also develop the skills of goal setting, prioritizing and balancing various roles and life/work priorities. As students develop decision-making skills, they begin to realize that the locus of control, or their ability to influence or control many outcomes and results, is within their own power.

Through the health and life skills program, students acquire a strong foundation of knowledge, skills and attitudes basic to employability. Successful careers are founded on a basis of self-knowledge, self-esteem, healthy interactions, lifelong learning and skill development. A fundamental aspect of career education is to move students from being dependent learners to being independent and interdependent, contributing citizens. Students gain confidence and a sense of commitment to family, school and community through opportunities for participation in cross-age interactions, volunteerism and meaningful involvement in a variety of activities.

Beginning in the early school years, students develop personal and group skills. These are reinforced as the program expands to include practical skills directly related to further education, job seeking and career path exploration. Skills related to the management of personal resources, such as time, energy, creativity, money and personal property, are essential elements that build personal capacity and lead toward future career productivity.

Students build upon the knowledge, skills and attitudes required to recognize opportunities, critically evaluate options and expand career strategies to meet current and future challenges.

Human Sexuality Education

Human sexuality education is offered in Grade 4 to Grade 9 as a mandatory component of the program of studies. All human sexuality outcomes have been boldfaced and italicized to assist in identification of these outcomes.

Parents will retain the right to exempt their child from school instruction in human sexuality education.

Schools will provide alternative learning experiences for those students who have been exempted from human sexuality instruction by their parents.

General Outcomes

Three general outcomes serve as the foundation for the Health and Life Skills Kindergarten to Grade 9 Program of Studies.

Wellness Choices
  • Students will make responsible and informed choices to maintain health and to promote safety for self and others.
Relationship Choices
  • Students will develop effective interpersonal skills that demonstrate responsibility, respect and caring in order to establish and maintain healthy interactions.
Life Learning Choices
  • Students will use resources effectively to manage and explore life roles and career opportunities and challenges.

The general outcomes are interrelated and interdependent. Each is to be achieved through a variety of experiences. The emphasis is on overall well-being. Students learn to enhance attitudes and behaviours that reflect healthy choices and reduce the potential for harm. They develop personal responsibility for health, and they demonstrate caring for others.

Specific Outcomes

Each general outcome includes specific outcomes that students will achieve by the end of each grade. Specific outcomes within each grade are developmentally appropriate, building upon and making connections to prior learning.

Thus, the specific outcomes are progressive and lead to more developmentally complex thinking skills that address the interrelated dimensions of health: physical, emotional/social, mental/cognitive, spiritual. The specific outcomes incorporate the potential for students to extend and refine learning in real-life situations.

Depending on the learning context and developmental needs of students, outcomes can be integrated or reclustered within the grade, as appropriate.

Life skills are not learned in isolation. Students learn the importance of developing and maintaining support networks among family, peers and the community, and seeking reliable sources of information to assist self and others in making decisions, practising skills and managing challenges and opportunities.

Students experience and develop an internal locus of control through activities that empower them to make decisions. Through decision-making processes they choose their responses, anticipate consequences and learn to accept responsibility for the results, which establishes the basis for proactive choices and behaviours.

Examples

Many of the specific outcomes are supported by examples. The examples do not form part of the required program but are provided as context for teaching.

Wellness Choices

Students will make responsible and informed choices to maintain health and to promote safety for self and others.

Throughout the grades, students study active living, positive health habits, growth and change, body image, nutrition, substance awareness, and abuse awareness, as developmentally appropriate. Each grade level focuses on different aspects of these significant health issues.

Consideration about safety for self and others begins in the early grades and continues throughout the program, with a strong emphasis on the practice of behaviours leading to safety in the home, school and community.

Students address the physical, emotional and mental dimensions of safety as the program expands to include such negative behaviours as bullying and harassment. They identify appropriate safety behaviours to respond to potential risks. Specific practices for injury prevention are included throughout. Safety is enhanced through the development of skills, qualities and attitudes leading to assertiveness and respect for self and others.

In middle and later years, emphasis shifts to an application of knowledge and the development of proactive strategies for personal health choices, resiliency, illness prevention and promoting health throughout the life cycle.

Students consider positive characteristics of healthy lifestyles, and give attention to the values that underlie individual choice and personal responsibility for the consequences of behaviours in the decision-making process. This process provides a basis for personal decision making regarding smoking, substance abuse, impairment, injury and abuse prevention, and other personal choice issues, such as sexual involvement. Sources of support to help students make healthy choices are identified throughout.

Human sexuality specific outcomes begin in Grade 4 and are boldfaced and italicized for easy identification.

Relationship Choices

Students will develop effective interpersonal skills that demonstrate responsibility, respect and caring in order to establish and maintain healthy interactions.

Awareness of personal feelings, appropriate expression of feelings and the learning of a vocabulary to express feelings begins in Kindergarten. In later grades, students learn coping behaviours to deal with worries and fears. They learn about handling mood swings, persistent negative feelings and the symptoms of suicide, with emphasis on the value of seeking help and talking to others.

Students learn the characteristics of healthy relationships. They learn that the development and maintenance of effective relationships requires the communication skills of listening, expressing needs and emotions, and providing feedback. Interwoven throughout is the awareness that students are not alone. They learn about support networks, mentors, and developing healthy relationships and positive interdependence.

Students learn how to maintain relationships and how to deal with change and transitions in a variety of life roles. They build a capacity to adapt and respond to the many aspects of change; e.g., family life cycle, school transitions, growth and development. As well, students develop and expand personal and community support networks for assistance in meeting the challenges of life.

Students learn to value the strengths and gifts of self and others. This knowledge is essential in order to build on team strengths and diversity to create opportunity for all members to make a valued contribution. Mutual support is reinforced as essential group skills are learned, such as conflict management, cooperation and effective decision-making skills. This leads to an understanding of group dynamics and skills for effective team membership.

Awareness of the uniqueness of self and others is fundamental. Concern for the welfare of others, not only for self, is an important aspect of healthy relationships. These strategies for managing relationships successfully are important life skills that are transferable to a variety of family, social and school/work settings.

Life Learning Choices

Students will use resources effectively to manage and explore life roles and career opportunities and challenges.

Students begin to develop practices, knowledge and skills related to career development in Kindergarten. They learn to respect the property of others and to understand the concepts of consequences and accountability. They grow to assume responsibility for choices related to their learning environment.

Learning strategies involve self-management. Self-direction and personal responsibility are developed as students learn to organize and manage their own resources of time, energy, money and personal property. Managing resources requires goal-setting skills.

Students in the upper grades learn about leadership and learning styles. They begin to appreciate that self-knowledge is basic to decisions made in leadership roles.

Specific, learning-related outcomes start by recognizing the strengths, interests, attributes and skills of self and others as a basis for understanding that opportunities and possibilities for learning are ever present and lifelong. Discovering a variety of ways to learn and contribute to the family, school, community and environment is an essential transferable skill to the world of work. This significant aspect of career development sets the stage for exploring career interests and choices.

As students progress through the grades they note changes in, and an expanding of, their interests and talents. They relate their strengths, skills and talents to potential career roles. An awareness of career possibilities increases as they use a variety of sources to explore career clusters and paths. Students consider factors that influence career selection, such as family, society and stereotyping. By Grade 9, students begin to develop résumé writing and job search skills.

Service learning is explored and experienced at each grade level. These experiences provide students with opportunities to learn, practise and refine skills while making meaningful contributions to their families, schools and communities.

Grade 7 
Wellness Choices

Students will make responsible and informed choices to maintain health and to promote safety for self and others.  

Personal Health

Students will:

W-7.1 compare personal health choices to standards for health; e.g., physical activity, nutrition, relaxation, sleep, reflection

W-7.2 examine personal grooming/cleanliness, and evaluate the impact of grooming/cosmetic advertisements on personal grooming habits/choices

W-7.3 examine the human reproductive process, and recognize misunderstandings associated with sexual development

W-7.4 analyze the messages and approaches used by the media to promote certain body images and lifestyle choices

W-7.5 relate the factors that influence individual food choices to nutritional needs of adolescents; e.g., finances, media, peer pressure, hunger, body image, activity

W-7.6 analyze social factors that may influence avoidance and/or use of particular substances

Safety and Responsibility

Students will:

W-7.7 analyze the definition, effects and possible consequences of various forms of harassment

W-7.8 analyze and appreciate differing personal perspectives on safety; e.g., physical, emotional, social safety

W-7.9 identify basic workplace safety procedures

W-7.10 identify and examine potential sources of physical/emotional/social support

W-7.11 identify characteristics of resiliency; e.g., problem-solving skills, positive self-esteem, social bonding

W-7.12 identify the effects of social influences on sexuality and gender roles and equity; e.g., media, culture

W-7.13 examine the influences on personal decision making for responsible sexual behaviour

W-7.14 examine abstinence and decisions to postpone sexual activity as healthy choices

Please note that boldfaced and italicized outcomes contain topics related to human sexuality and that parents reserve the right to exempt their children from this instruction.

Relationship Choices

Students will develop effective interpersonal skills that demonstrate responsibility, respect and caring in order to establish and maintain healthy interactions.

Understanding and Expressing Feelings

Students will:

R-7.1 analyze how thinking patterns influence feelings; e.g., positive thinking, all or nothing thinking, overgeneralization, perfectionism

R-7.2 analyze the need for short-term and long-term support for emotional concerns; e.g., family, friends, schools, professionals

R-7.3 identify sources of stress in relationships, and describe positive methods of dealing with such stressors; e.g., change, loss, discrimination, rejection

R-7.4 analyze and practise constructive feedback; e.g., giving and receiving

Interactions

Students will:

R-7.5 examine the characteristics of healthy relationships, and develop strategies to build and enhance them; e.g., peer, opposite sex

R-7.6 explore and evaluate the impact of media violence on relationships

R-7.7 evaluate and personalize the effectiveness of various styles of conflict resolution; e.g., win/win, win/lose, lose/lose

Group Roles and Processes

Students will:

R-7.8 analyze the potential effects of belonging to a group, team, gang

R-7.9 develop group goal-setting skills; e.g., collaboration

Life Learning Choices

Students will use resources effectively to manage and explore life roles and career opportunities and challenges.

Learning Strategies

Students will:

L-7.1 develop improved organizational and study strategies/skills by analyzing the different ways individuals learn; e.g., determine learning styles, personal learning style

L-7.2 practise ways to extend personal capacity for learning; e.g., positive self-talk, affirmations

L-7.3 differentiate between choice and coercion in decision making for self and others; e.g., demonstrate a willingness to accept “no” from others

L-7.4 revise short-term and long-term goals and priorities based on knowledge of interests, aptitudes and skills; e.g., personal, social, leisure, family, community

Life Roles and Career Development

Students will:

L-7.5 create a personal portfolio showing evidence of interests, assets and skills; e.g., certificates of participation

L-7.6 examine factors that may influence future life role/education/career plans; e.g., technology, role models

Volunteerism

Students will:

L-7.7 determine and use knowledge and skills of the class to promote school and community health

L-7.8 apply effective group skills to design and implement a school–community health enhancement plan; e.g., plant trees in playgrounds to provide future shade

Grade 8 
Wellness Choices

Students will make responsible and informed choices to maintain health and to promote safety for self and others.  

Personal Health

Students will:

W-8.1 examine the relationship between choices and resulting consequences; e.g., how choosing to smoke affects how one looks, feels and performs

W-8.2 analyze the impact of positive and changing choices on health throughout the life span; e.g., need for varying amounts of sleep, calcium

W-8.3 recognize and accept that individuals experience different rates of physical, emotional, sexual and social development

W-8.4 develop personal strategies to deal with pressures to have a certain look/lifestyle; e.g., accept individual look

W-8.5 evaluate personal food choices, and identify strategies to maintain optimal nutrition when eating away from home; e.g., eating healthy fast foods

W-8.6 analyze possible negative consequences of substance use and abuse; e.g., fetal alcohol syndrome, drinking and driving

Safety and Responsibility

Students will:

W-8.7 determine the signs, methods and consequences of various types of abuse; e.g., neglect, physical, emotional, sexual abuse

W-8.8 identify potentially unsafe situations in the community, and begin to develop strategies to reduce risk; e.g., dark parking lots, lack of railway crossing lights

W-8.9 describe rights and responsibilities of employers and employees in relation to workplace safety

W-8.10 develop strategies to effectively access health information and health services in the community; e.g., health hot line, family doctor, public health unit

W-8.11 identify and develop personal resiliency skills; e.g., planning skills, social competence

W-8.12 identify and describe the responsibilities and consequences associated with involvement in a sexual relationship

W-8.13 describe symptoms, effects, treatments and prevention for common sexually transmitted diseases; i.e., chlamydia, HPV, herpes, gonorrhea, hepatitis B/C, HIV

W-8.14 identify and describe basic types of contraceptives; i.e., abstinence, condom, foam, birth control pills

Please note that boldfaced and italicized outcomes contain topics related to human sexuality and that parents reserve the right to exempt their children from this instruction.

Relationship Choices

Students will develop effective interpersonal skills that demonstrate responsibility, respect and caring in order to establish and maintain healthy interactions.

Understanding and Expressing Feelings

Students will:

R-8.1 describe characteristics of persistent negative feeling states; e.g., depression, mood disorders

R-8.2 describe signs associated with suicidal behaviour, and identify interventional strategies

R-8.3 evaluate the relationship between risk management and stress management; e.g., managing risks effectively reduces stress, managing stress can reduce impulsive behaviours

R-8.4 analyze the effects of self-concept on personal communication

Interactions

Students will:

R-8.5 develop strategies for maintaining healthy relationships

R-8.6 describe and provide examples of ethical behaviour in relationships; e.g., integrity

R-8.7 develop and demonstrate strategies for promoting peaceful relationships; e.g., find common ground in conflicts

Group Roles and Processes

Students will:

R-8.8 describe and explain the positive and negative aspects of conformity and dissent as they relate to individuals in a group or on a team

R-8.9 describe the characteristics of, and demonstrate skills of, an effective leader and group member

Life Learning Choices

Students will use resources effectively to manage and explore life roles and career opportunities and challenges.

Learning Strategies

Students will:

L-8.1 determine and develop time management strategies/skills to establish personal balance; e.g., the use of time and energy in family, school, leisure and volunteer activities, rest

L-8.2 examine learning priorities, and implement a learning plan

L-8.3 identify components of ethical decision making, and apply these concepts to personal decision making

L-8.4 begin to develop goals and priorities related to learning and future career paths, based on personal interests, aptitudes and skills  

Life Roles and Career Development

Students will:

L-8.5 update a personal portfolio to show evidence of a range of interests, assets and skills; and relate evidence to knowledge and skills required by various career paths

L-8.6 investigate, interpret and evaluate career information and opportunities, using a variety of sources; e.g., Internet, informational interviews, mentors, media

Volunteerism

Students will:

L-8.7 relate personal knowledge and skills to potential opportunities for volunteering and providing service to others in the community

L-8.8 investigate the characteristics of a mentor, and practise mentorship in a group setting

Grade 9 
Wellness Choices

Students will make responsible and informed choices to maintain health and to promote safety for self and others.  

Personal Health

Students will:

W-9.1 use knowledge of a healthy, active lifestyle to promote and encourage family/peer/community involvement

W-9.2 analyze how positive health habits can be supported by a variety of approaches to health practices and treatments; e.g., acupuncture

W-9.3 apply coping strategies when experiencing different rates of physical, emotional, sexual and social development; e.g., positive self-talk

W-9.4 analyze and develop strategies to reduce the effects of stereotyping on body image; e.g., health risks of altering natural body size/shape to meet media ideal

W-9.5 develop strategies that promote healthy nutritional choices for self and others; e.g., adopt goals that reflect healthy eating, encourage the placement of nutritious food in vending machines

W-9.6 analyze addictions; e.g., stages, kinds, and resources available to treat addictions

Safety and Responsibility

Students will:

W-9.7 evaluate implications and consequences of sexual assault on a victim and those associated with that victim

W-9.8 develop strategies to promote harm reduction/risk management; e.g., differentiate between choosing personal challenges or acting impulsively, encourage others to evaluate risks

W-9.9 analyze and evaluate laws and policies that promote personal, community and workplace safety; e.g., driving, boating, employment standards

W-9.10 assess the quality and reliability of health information provided by different sources; e.g., on the Internet

W-9.11 use personal resiliency skills; e.g., seek out appropriate mentors, have a sense of purpose, have clear standards for personal behaviour

W-9.12 determine “safer” sex practices; e.g., communicate with partner, maintain abstinence, limit partners, access/use condoms/contraceptives properly

W-9.13 identify and describe the responsibilities and resources associated with pregnancy and parenting

W-9.14 develop strategies that address factors to prevent or reduce sexual risk; e.g., abstain from drugs and alcohol, date in groups, use assertive behaviour

Please note that boldfaced and italicized outcomes contain topics related to human sexuality and that parents reserve the right to exempt their children from this instruction.

Relationship Choices

Students will develop effective interpersonal skills that demonstrate responsibility, respect and caring in order to establish and maintain healthy interactions.

Understanding and Expressing Feelings

Students will:

R-9.1 identify appropriate strategies to foster positive feelings/attitudes

R-9.2 analyze why individuals choose not to express or manage feelings in situations; e.g., using anger to manipulate others, avoid others, feel powerful

R-9.3 analyze, evaluate and refine personal strategies for managing stress/crises

R-9.4 analyze, evaluate and refine personal communication patterns

Interactions

Students will:

R-9.5 describe and analyze factors that contribute to the development of unhealthy relationships, and develop strategies to deal with unhealthy relationships

R-9.6 model integrity and honesty in accordance with ethical principles; e.g., develop strategies to behave in an ethical manner

R-9.7 refine personal conflict management skills; e.g., negotiation, mediation strategies

Group Roles and Processes

Students will:

R-9.8 analyze skills required to maintain individuality within a group; e.g., self-respect, assertiveness, refusal skills

R-9.9 evaluate group effectiveness, and generate strategies to improve group effectiveness; e.g., develop skills in facilitating discussions or meetings

Life Learning Choices

Students will use resources effectively to manage and explore life roles and career opportunities and challenges.

Learning Strategies

Students will:

L-9.1 apply personal time management skills to a variety of learning opportunities; e.g., develop strategies to overcome procrastination

L-9.2 relate the value of lifelong learning to personal success and satisfaction

L-9.3 use decision-making skills to select appropriate risk-taking activities for personal growth and empowerment; e.g., increasing freedom means increased responsibility for consequences of choices

L-9.4 refine personal goals and priorities relevant to learning and career paths; e.g., investigate education programs including senior high school programs and those related to potential careers  

Life Roles and Career Development

Students will:

L-9.5 extend and improve a personal portfolio; e.g., include sample application form, personal résumé, answers to typical interview questions

L-9.6 develop strategies to deal with transitional experiences; e.g., create a learning plan for transition to senior high school, keeping future career plans in mind

Volunteerism

Students will:

L-9.7 analyze the potential impact of volunteerism on career opportunities

L-9.8 investigate personal safety procedures for working as a volunteer; e.g., work in pairs






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