Role of School Management for Improving Life Skills of Secondary Students of Different Subject Streams

Abstract

The present study was conducted to investigate into the role of school management, that is government and private schools in promoting life skills of secondary school students from various subject streams. A sample of 150 students of XI grades was drawn from the representative secondary schools of Chandigarh. Four life skills were selected to be studied, namely decisionmaking, problem solving, critical thinking and communication skills. A 2×2 ANOVA test was applied on scores of each skill separately. The major findings of the study were  Secondary students of arts, commerce and science stream were equal in their skill of decisionmaking, skill of problem solving and skill of critical thinking.  Science students and commerce students were equal in skill of critical thinking and possessed higher order critical thinking than those in arts streams.  Science and commerce students of government schools were higher on skill of decisionmaking as compared with their counterparts of private schools.  Students of private schools were higher in skill of problem solving as compared with those of government schools.  Secondary students studying in government and private schools were equal in skill of communication and skill of critical thinking.  There is no significant difference in the skill of decision-making, skill of problem solving and skill of critical thinking of secondary students due to the interaction between school management and subject streams.  There is significant difference in communication skill of secondary students due to the interaction between school management and subject streams. Students of only commerce stream studying in private schools had higher communication skills as compared with students of all other combination groups.