The Framework
Pre-Primary
Primary
Secondary
Higher Education
At Work
Further Information
The importance of learning life skills
Our world is changing fast and we need to prepare our students with the skills and experiences that go beyond simply learning an additional language. We see the increasing need to work together with people from around the world, to think creatively and solve problems, to analyse sources more critically, to communicate our views effectively, and to maintain a positive mindset in an increasingly complex world. We have set out to support teachers in this challenging area and we understand that the engaging and collaborative nature of the language classroom is the perfect place to develop and embed these key qualities.
Competencies are more than just skills. The competencies in this framework are complex and require development in three areas:
What is a competency?
Knowledge is what you need to know to do something well.
Skill is the degree of mastery or fluency in using the competency; skill is what you get from practice.
Attitude refers to the disposition and mindset you need to develop knowledge and skill in this area.
The Cambridge life Competencies Framework has been created in response to educators who have asked for a way to understand how different approaches to life competencies relate to English language programmes. It describes how these integral life skills develop and vary across different stages of education, as learners grow and change. From here, each broad competency is broken down into Can Do Statements that describe the observable behaviours that learners are likely to be able to demonstrate by the end of each stage of learning. This means we can support learners throughout their learning journey and beyond into the careers of the future. By clearly defining these core areas of development, we can ensure that our teaching and learning materials take a comprehensive approach to delivering and developing these skills in our learners, as they progress. This means that teachers can be assured that our resources bring out the best in their students, without creating extra work.
What is the Cambridge Life Competencies Framework?
The Cambridge Life Competencies Framework has been created in response to educators who have asked for a way to understand how life competencies relate to English language programmes. It has three dimensions: a complete view of transferable skills within one system, how these skills develop across the stages of the learning journey and enough detail to guide teaching and assessment in a practical way.
A framework to develop skills for life
Emotional Development enables learners to understand and express a wide range of their own and others’ emotions and manage them through a range of strategies. It’s an important foundation for success at all ages, as it affects our learning and our ability to carry out tasks effectively.
We’ve deliberately singled out Emotional Development from the six key life competencies. It’s distinct from the other competencies in that the approach to supporting and evaluating emotional development is in most cases less explicit or teacher-directed.
Emotional Development
Read more about Emotional Development
Life competencies at pre-primary level
Life competencies can be integrated into teaching right from pre-primary level. Learners at this stage can develop basic knowledge, skills and attitudes related to each life competency and use these to create a solid foundation upon which they can build.
Click on a competency to find out more:
Collaboration
Communication
Critical Thinking
Creative Thinking
Learning to Learn
Social Responsibilities
Collaboration at the pre-primary level enables learners to work and play well together in groups through actively taking part in group activities, listening to others, sharing tasks and finding solutions to problems.
Takes turns in conversations.
Example Can Do Statements
Listens carefully, attends to and takes account of what others say.
Delegates to other children politely and respectfully.
Keeps the group moving towards the goal of the activity or the solution to the task.
How you can make this work in your classroom
Example strategy: Games
Games require turn taking, paying attention to classmates and responding with appropriate responses like ‘well done’ or ’never mind’, which are all important aspects of collaboration.
Learners at the pre-primary level can use Communication skills to choose the most appropriate language to use in different situations, manage conversations effectively and express themselves clearly and confidently.
Uses simple, polite forms of greetings, introductions and farewells (i.e. saying hello, please, thank you and sorry).
Asks and answers simple questions.
Example strategy: Ground rules
Raising learners’ awareness of effective communication strategies is key to supporting young learners in this area. An example of how to incorporate this into the classroom is to set some ‘ground rules’ for classroom communication amongst peers or between learners and teachers, such as 'speak clearly', 'ask questions', 'show interest', etc.
Learners at the pre-primary level can use Critical Thinking skills to identify similarities and differences between different objects, choose the best from a range of options and bring together information.
Sorts, arranges and describes objects by shape, size, colour, weight, texture and position.
Recognises a problem (e.g. something doesn’t work) and tells the teacher about it.
Makes simple links and predictions in stories.
Example strategy: Storybooks
Storybooks can be a useful resource when developing critical thinking skills with young learners. When teaching reading with a storybook, more predicting could be encouraged – for example, guessing what the story is going to be about from its title, or from the pictures in the story. This can continue throughout the story through dialogic reading practices, i.e. continually asking learners questions at certain points in the story.
Creative Thinking at the pre-primary level enables learners to actively participate in creative activities, generate new ideas and use them to solve simple problems.
Participates in activities that involve taking the role of familiar people (e.g. being a teacher, parent, doctor or police officer).
Generates detailed ideas around a topic.
Uses own ideas for doing creative activities like colouring, drawing and building to represent vocabulary and familiar concepts.
Example strategy: Creating poems and stories
Working with a variety of texts, such as poems and stories, can be an effective way to get learners creating new content from their own ideas or other resources.
Learning to Learn at the pre-primary level involves developing practical skills to support learning, beginning to develop basic learner autonomy and starting to reflect on own learning.
Follows instructions and class routines.
Asks the teacher for help.
Acts on language feedback from teachers or parents.
Example strategy: Reflecting on learning
As part of the beginning of their journey to becoming more autonomous, young learners need to develop the reflective and evaluative skills required to monitor their progress in learning. Teachers can scaffold this development by providing simple tools such as a post-task self-feedback form in which learners evaluate their performance in a given task.
Social Responsibilities at the pre-primary level involves learners being able to recognise different roles and responsibilities in a variety of groups, playing an active role in group activities, understanding basic similarities and differences between cultures and being able to engage in simple discussions on global issues. Integrating Social Responsibilities in pre-primary lessons ensures learners are better informed and equipped with new skills for managing themselves and interacting with the world around them.
Helps others in a group to solve simple problems.
Compares food, festivals and music from different parts of the world.
Describes ways to help the environment (e.g. save water, recycle etc).
Example strategy: Comparing cultures
Children could be encouraged to compare cultures through activities such as writing a diary entry from the point of view of a child in a different country which might include his/her thoughts, feelings and hopes for the future. Learners could also work in groups to look at pictures which show different problems that the child faces in their everyday lives. Each group could discuss the problem (in their mother tongue if necessary) and prepare a short presentation for the rest of the class on how they would resolve it.
Describes in basic terms the roles and responsibilities they have at pre-school (e.g. tidying up toys, following directions and following playground rules).
Speaks with clarity when participating in group activities.
Life competencies at primary level
Learners at this stage can develop basic knowledge skills and attitudes related to each life competency and use these to create a solid foundation upon which they can build.
Collaboration at the primary level enables learners to work well together in groups through actively taking part in group activities, listening to others, sharing tasks and finding solutions to problems.
Introduces new ideas and gives suggestions at the start, during, and at the end of tasks.
Responds positively to what others say about the topic and the group task they are doing.
Shows leadership skills by giving roles and responsibilities to group members.
Focuses on the task when the group is discussing what to do.
Learners at the primary level can use Communication skills to choose the most appropriate language to use in different situations, manage conversations effectively and express themselves clearly and confidently.
Takes turns appropriately in a conversation.
Can tell a story or describe something in a simple way.
Raising learners’ awareness of effective communication strategies is key to supporting young learners in this area. An example of how to incorporate this into the classroom is to set some ‘ground rules’ for classroom communication amongst peers or between learners and teachers, such as 'speak clearly', 'ask questions', 'show interest' etc.
Learners at the primary level can use Critical Thinking skills to identify similarities and differences between different objects and ideas, evaluate ideas and identify cause and effect relationships.
Compares different types of information (e.g. looking for similarities and differences).
Judges whether something is true or not, and gives a reason.
Suggests possible reasons for problems described in a text.
Creative Thinking at the primary level enables learners to actively participate in creative activities, generate new ideas and use them to solve simple problems.
Actively participates in investigative, exploratory and open-ended tasks.
Uses different media to make and describe his/her own designs.
Uses own ideas for doing creative activities like retelling stories.
Learning to Learn at the primary level involves developing practical skills to support learning, beginning to develop basic learner autonomy and starting to reflect on own progress in learning.
Summarises information on a selected topic when doing a project.
Asks other children for help.
Learns from mistakes and feedback.
Social Responsibilities at the primary level involves learners being able to recognise and describe different roles and responsibilities in a variety of groups, playing an active role in group activities, understanding basic similarities and differences between cultures and being able to engage in simple discussions on global issues.
Volunteers for roles of responsibility.
Identifies similarities and differences between own and other countries (e.g. names, geographical location, languages etc).
Understands basic human rights (e.g. healthcare, education etc).
Follows school rules and makes positive choices about behaviours.
Appropriately asks for permission, apologises, makes requests and agrees or disagrees.
Life competencies at secondary level
Learners at this stage can build on the basic competencies that they have developed at the primary level as they work on more complex tasks.
Collaboration at the secondary level enables learners to work well together in groups through actively taking part in group activities, listening to others, sharing tasks and finding solutions to problems. As learners move into secondary education, they will generally encounter more opportunities for collaboration, especially with increased project work.
Makes contributions that are on task and explains them fully.
Listens attentively while other students are contributing.
Contributes to a fair allocation of tasks, taking into account the skills of the group members.
Brings the negotiation closer to resolution by asking relevant questions and/or suggesting ideas.
Example strategy: Project work
Project work can be an excellent vehicle for developing collaborative skills as the aims are often very clear and outlined at the very beginning. It is also important when doing projects to establish clear norms and roles.
Learners at the secondary level can use Communication skills to choose the most appropriate language to use in different situations, manage conversations effectively and express themselves clearly and confidently.
Uses appropriate forms of address, greetings, and farewells.
Can use simple techniques to start, maintain and close conversations of various lengths.
Uses a number of cohesive devices to link sentences into clear, coherent discourse.
Example strategy: Recognising and praising good learner-generated models
Teachers should monitor carefully during communicative tasks in order to pick up on good learner-generated models which can be acknowledged and shared to the benefit of the broader class. In addition, teachers can highlight examples of unprompted effective communication strategy use in the classroom – these are often both meaningful and memorable for learners.
Learners at the secondary level can use Critical Thinking skills to identify similarities and differences between different arguments, evaluate options and summarise ideas.
Compares points and arguments from different sources.
Distinguishes between fact and opinion.
Selects key points from diverse sources to create a new account and/or argument.
Example strategy: Flipping the learning
Learners may benefit from flipping the learning. Learners (especially higher-level learners) can be given more responsibility and opportunity to develop the core ‘knowledge’ outside of classroom time (e.g. for homework). This will help them to synthesise ideas and information. It will also mean that time in the classroom can be maximised for aspects of language acquisition which learners are less able to do by themselves, for example arguing, discussing, comparing, challenging and debating.
Creative Thinking at the secondary level enables learners to actively participate in creative activities, generate original ideas and use them to solve problems.
Actively participates in activities that require creative thinking with others.
Responds imaginatively (e.g. in the form of a story, poem, drawing) to contemporary or historical events and ideas.
Employs new ideas and content in solving a task or activity.
Example strategy: Using images to develop creativity through imagination
One way to foster an imaginative response at secondary level is through the use of images as a launch pad for creative story-telling. Traditionally, when confronted by an image, learners are asked to merely describe what they can see. However, there are other options which allow for more creativity on the part of the learner. For example, in an activity called “Who am I?”, learners create a role for a person in an image, describing their character’s feelings, and then guess the role created by others.
Learning to Learn at the secondary level involves developing practical skills to support learning, developing learner autonomy and starting to reflect on own progress in learning.
Uses metacognitive strategies (e.g. time management, affective control) to maximise learning and exam success.
Reviews vocabulary regularly and systematically.
Recognises areas of strength or weakness in learning the subject (e.g. for different skills in English).
Example strategy: Organisational tools
As part of reflecting on and evaluating their own learning, secondary learners should organise their thoughts and ideas through the use of mind maps and other organisational tools. In order to reach this point, the teacher needs to introduce and provide opportunities for the learners to practise using these tools, for example when brainstorming, taking notes or discussing ideas in a group.
At the secondary level, Social Responsibilities involves understanding different roles and responsibilities in society, playing an active role in group activities, understanding similarities and differences between cultures and being able to engage in discussions on global issues. Through their increased awareness of the world around them and their exposure to other subjects on the curriculum, learners at secondary-school level are now in a position to dig more deeply into issues related to themselves as people, their immediate community and their place in a global society.
Shows confidence in speaking in public (e.g. to present a project).
Makes informed comparisons between their own society and other societies.
Is aware of different global issues (e.g. poverty, migration, global warming, human rights violations, pandemic diseases etc).
Example strategy: Encouraging practical action outside of the classroom
Social responsibilities topics can be explored through a wide variety of activities centred on reading texts, quizzes, discussions or competitions. However, in order to further involve learners and develop their competencies, a clear call for action should be added to the activities listed above. In other words, any activities that are carried out in the classroom should be clearly linked to practical action outside it.
Understands the rights and responsibilities of individuals in society at local and national levels.
Life competencies in higher education
Learners at this stage are likely to already have a solid foundation in basic life competencies. Through a range of more complex tasks, they will be able to improve and refine these.
Collaboration at higher education level enables learners to work well together in groups through actively taking part in group activities, listening to others, sharing tasks and finding solutions to problems.
Is able to contribute relevant points on both familiar and new topics.
Responds in an open-minded way to different ideas, including those which represent an opposing point of view.
Helps to share roles and tasks fairly and appropriately between the members of the group.
Recognises the right point at which to agree a solution and move on, by encouraging others to agree or narrowing down the options.
Example strategy: Jigsaw activities
In these types of activity, each member of a group researches one aspect of the topic they are working on and they have to listen to each other to complete a task. The task could be structured with a fill-in template designed by the teacher.
Learners at higher education level can use Communication skills to choose the most appropriate language to use in different situations, manage conversations effectively and express themselves, their ideas and arguments clearly and confidently.
Expresses themselves clearly and politely in a formal or informal register appropriate to the situation and the person concerned.
Can engage in a discussion on different topics using appropriate language.
Organises spoken and written text logically and thematically, paying attention to coherence and cohesion as well as styles and registers.
Example strategy: Providing useful phrases and language structures
Teachers should provide any phrases or language structures needed to help learners manage conversations. This language can be identified when first modelled, practised and then displayed so it can be referred to, if necessary, during an activity. As learners will naturally stop referring to it when they no longer need to, this is a simple way of ensuring individual learners receive the levels of support and challenge they need.
Learners at higher education level can use Critical Thinking skills to compare and contrast different points of view, make nuanced evaluations of ideas and build on others’ ideas to create new arguments.
Contrasts different points of view on a specific topic.
Recognises basic weaknesses in argumentation.
Constructs a new argument or theoretical position from a synthesis of different sources.
Example strategy: Class debates
Debates are an authentic way of getting learners to listen actively to their peers and consider arguments from different viewpoints in order to make informed decisions. Learners are divided into different roles, e.g. speaker, timekeeper, those debating ‘for’, those debating ‘against’, and the audience (who will ultimately vote on a result). Learners then debate a given topic.
Creative Thinking at higher education level enables learners to actively participate in complex creative activities, generate original ideas and use them to solve problems or create new content.
Engages in complex creative activities, such as putting on an event, a show, or a play.
Questions and creates original alternatives to widely-accepted ideas and theories.
Uses new ideas to persuade others, to solve problems, to complete a task or make a point.
Example strategy: Creating safe speaking environments
Development of creative thinking can be undertaken in group speaking tasks in which learners collaborate. These work best in safe speaking environments in which classmates respect and value each other’s contribution, and do not fear being judged.
Learning to Learn at higher education level involves employing practical skills to support learning, being able to learn autonomously and reflecting on learning progress in order to improve learning.
Makes good use of available resources (e.g. the teacher, the library, self-study centre, etc).
Works on language learning tasks independently when necessary or appropriate.
Keeps a record of learning progress in order to evaluate their progress and set new goals.
Example strategy: Planning research
For learners in higher education, research often forms part of coursework assessment requirements, with learners writing an essay or giving a presentation based on their findings. The teacher can break the task down into its component parts to help learners develop the required skills, providing scaffolding for the completion of each part. This could be done in the form of a handout which helps learners to keep track of all the sub-tasks they need to do in order to complete their assignment as well as reminding them of the marking criteria relevant to each part.
Social Responsibilities at higher education level involves understanding different roles and responsibilities in society, playing an active role in group activities, analysing similarities and differences between cultures and being able to engage in complex discussions on global issues.
Takes responsibility for creating and managing groups for shared activities.
Makes an analytical comparison between different cultures or societies.
Discusses the causes, effects and potential solutions to global issues.
Example strategy: Engaging with complex issues
At this stage of learning, learners are able to handle more complex issues (which may, nevertheless, have to be presented in linguistically appropriate terms depending on the language level of the class) through different activities such as case studies, film and video clips, drama/role play, and primary research tasks. These could be used to explore causes, effects and potential solutions to global issues.
Critically analyses the roles and responsibilities of citizens in their society.
Life competencies in the workplace
Collaboration at work enables learners to work well together in groups through actively taking part in group activities, listening to others, sharing tasks and finding solutions to problems.
Actively encourages all team members to participate in teamwork.
Builds on what others have said in a way that works towards achieving a consensus or positive outcome.
Recognises the strengths and weaknesses of the team as a whole, and suggests effective ways to overcome any gaps or issues.
Is able to evaluate how different ideas and suggestions can contribute to achieving an overall objective.
In these types of activity, each member of a group researches one aspect of the topic they are working on and they have to listen to each other to complete a task.
Learners at work can use Communication skills to choose the most appropriate language to use in different situations, manage conversations effectively and express themselves, their ideas and arguments clearly and confidently.
Adapts register to different types of conversation partner (e.g. colleagues, managers and customers).
Can initiate, maintain and end conversations effectively and appropriately.
Creates coherent and cohesive texts making appropriate use of a variety of organisational structures and a wide range of cohesive devices.
Learners at work can use Critical Thinking skills to summarise key points of business-related documents and presentations, evaluate the strength of an explanation or argument and use a range of sources to come up with the best solutions to problems and issues.
Identifies assumptions underlying a speaker’s or writer’s argument (e.g. in a business proposal).
Evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of a particular point of view or proposal.
Identifies and accesses appropriate sources of knowledge and expertise in pursuit of solutions to problems.
Creative Thinking at work enables learners to actively participate in complex creative activities, generate original ideas and use them to solve problems or create new content.
Participates in or leads efforts to generate many ideas for a new proposal or project.
Questions, tests and interrogates established workplace goals, priorities and practices when necessary.
Formulates and uses plausible hypotheses to explain current work situations and outcomes.
Learning to Learn at work involves employing practical skills to support learning, being able to learn autonomously and reflecting on learning progress in order to improve outcomes.
Identifies language learning needs and seeks out opportunities to develop in these areas (e.g. signing up for a language course).
Seeks feedback on performance from peers and mentors to guide future development.
Keeps a record of progress in learning in order to evaluate their progress and set new goals.
Example strategy: Creating a safe classroom environment
Part of Learning to Learn skills for learners at work is the ability to be prepared to make mistakes in front of classmates/colleagues and to learn from this. A teacher can help with this by fostering a supportive learning atmosphere in lessons, so that mistakes are not seen as something negative but rather as a learning opportunity.
Social Responsibilities at work involves understanding different roles and responsibilities in the workplace and society, playing an active role in group activities, using knowledge of different cultures in the workplace and being able to engage in complex discussions on global issues.
Allocates and delegates work according to the strengths and weaknesses of their team.
Understands how own culture affects business practice.
Understands personal responsibilities in the workplace (e.g. meeting job expectations, fulfilling daily work duties, etc).
Understands and discusses how global political, social and financial developments affect their own organisation’s activities.
You can also click here to download our suggested additional reading on life competencies, from the wider Cambridge resource list:
Additional Reading on life competencies
For updates on Cambridge Life Competencies, please visit:
cambridge.org/clcf
If you're planning to integrate new activities into your classroom, to encourage the development of key life competencies for any age or ability, the Cambridge Life Competencies booklets are a good place to start. We have created booklets to cover the detail behind each competency, as well as each stage of learning.
Additional professional learning and development
Cambridge Life Competencies booklets
The booklets cover:
A full description of each competency and why it is important.
Example Can Do Statements for each core area, at each stage of learning.
Further example activities for your classroom, at each stage of learning.
Examples of these life competencies in action, embedded in our Cambridge course content.
Example language to help you identify these competencies in action.
Further suggested activities to try in your lessons, at each stage of learning.
