University of Guyana 2025/2026

This course is organized to involve practicing educators and administrators in an experiential 
study of management principles in education. The course design incorporated experiential 
learning, Socratic teaching, lectures, and seminars, and included the exploration of topics such as 
organisational contracts, the nature of the role and functions of leaders, the significance of 
communication in leadership, and the management of schools in Guyana. 

This course will prepare participants for teaching Health and Family Life Education (HFLE) at the secondary level. It will provide teachers with the basic knowledge and skills needed to implement the Health and Family Life Education curriculum using a life skills approach. This approach includes background information on HFLE, life skills education, methods used to teach life skills, and alternative assessment methods.

The Course Outline is below:

UNIVERSITY OF GUYANA

FACULTY OF EDUCATION & HUMANITIES

DEPARTMENT OF CURRICULUM & INSTRUCTION

COURSE OUTLINE

EDC2301: Life Skills Education

Semester 3

Number of Credits: 3

 Course Description

This course will prepare participants for teaching Health and Family Life Education (HFLE) at the secondary level. It will provide teachers with the basic knowledge and skills needed to implement the Health and Family Life Education curriculum using a life skills approach. This approach includes background information on HFLE, life skills education, methods used to teach life skills, and alternative assessment methods.

Exemptions: Nil

Pre Requisite: Nil

Follow-on-course: Nil

Student Learning Outcomes:

After participating in this course, students will be able to:-

1. justify the need for Health and Family Education in secondary schools in Guyana;
2. describe the characteristics of an ideal HFLE teacher;
3. explain theories supporting Life Skills Education;
4. make decisions about strategies to teach life skills;
5. demonstrate competency in using interactive teaching strategies; and
6. select and use appropriate forms of alternative assessment in the HFLE classroom.

COURSE CONTENT

WEEK 1           Overview of course

·      Define HFLE.

·      The rationale for HFLE in secondary education.

·      The HFLE teacher: The characteristics and functions of an HFLE teacher.

·      Approaches to teaching a life skills based HFLE programme:

i.               Discipline Based    ii. Integration

WEEK 2           Life Skills Education 

Theoretical Perspectives

·       Theories supporting life skills education.

-       Child and Adolescence Development

-       Constructivist Psychology

-       Social Learning Theory

-       Problem Behaviour Theory

-       Social Influence Theory

-       Multiple Intelligences

-       Resiliency Theory

WEEK 3           Life Skills Education

·            Define Life Skills Education.

§  Value and importance of Life Skills Education

·      Benefits of developing good life skills among children and adolescents.

·      Categories and types of life skills

-       The three categories of core skills: social skills, cognitive skills, emotional/coping skills.

-       Examples of life skills - decision making skills, problem solving skills, effective communication skills, empathy, coping with stress.

·      Using life skills to promote positive health behaviours.

·      Translating specific life skills into action.

WEEK 4           Teaching Methods

·      Define interactive teaching methods/participatory learning- traditional and nontraditional methods.

·      Reasons for using interactive teaching methods in HFLE.

·      The role of the teacher in interactive teaching.

·      Creating a classroom atmosphere that is conducive for learning in HFLE: How to create classroom rules and a respectful learning environment: Techniques for critiquing and giving feedback in the classroom: Strategies for dealing with special problems: Helping anxious and overzealous students

·      Small groups/buzz groups

·      Situation analysis and case study

·      Debates

·      Story telling

·      Role play

·      Brainstorming- How to conduct effective brainstorming sessions in the classroom.

·      Class discussion- Benefits and Limitations

·      Effective use of the strategies listed above in HFLE.

·      Benefits and limitations of games and simulations in HFLE.

·      Benefits and limitations of using the strategies listed above in HFLE.

WEEK 5           Group Assignment Presentation on Teaching Methods

WEEK   6          Performance Assessment

·      Define assessment, alternative assessment and performance tasks.

·      Purpose of assessment in education.

·      Characteristics of performance tasks.

·      Benefits and limitations of various forms of alternative assessment.

-       Portfolios, journals, oral presentation, power point presentation,

-       Puppet show, models, demonstration, research

Week 7            Alternative Assessment

·      Creating and using performance tasks and rubrics for assessing students’ work.

·      Portfolio assessment.

-       Rationale for portfolio assessment.

-       Essential elements of a portfolio.

-       Managing the portfolio.

-       Involving parents in portfolio assessment.

-       Evaluating the portfolio.

-       Creating a portfolio worksheet.

Submission of Individual Assignment

Week 8            Review of Work done/Assessment 3

Methodology

Teaching details

The course will be delivered online using a combination of teaching strategies, such as whole group lectures and seminars, small group discussions, demonstrations and critical analysis of readings.

Participants will also be encouraged to draw upon, share and reflect on their own professional expertise.

ELearning

ELearning approaches will be used to facilitate class support within the broad parameters of this course. These will include on-line discussion with individuals and groups forums, guidance and feedback.

ASSESSMENT

Course work:                                                              100%  

In-class Presentation (Group Work)                           30% Presentation on Life Skills Week 5

Objective Type Test                                                                   30%

Critical Analysis - Individual                                            40%

For the Research Paper, students will be asked to choose a topic from those presented, and using the conceptual resources presented in the course and those they have pursued, develop a critical analysis of that issue or topic area in the form of a 1,500 word report.

Required Reading

Kelly-Plate, E. (2007).  Applying Life Skills. New York: Mc. Graw-Hill.

King-Cameron, C. (n.d). The importance of life skills acquisition in relation to Global

            Citizenship: Empowering citizens with life skills for healthy living. Georgetown: School

              Health Nutrition HIV and AIDS UNIT.

Recommended Reading

Health and Family Life Education (2006). Resources Guide for Teachers. Kingston: Ministry of

            Education

Health and Family Life Education (2009). Resource Handbook. 2^nd (ed.).  Kingston: Ministry of

Education.

Nanaware, R.B., & Palanethra, L. (2017). Effectiveness of life skills education programme among

CBSE and State Board students: An Exploratory Study. International Journal of Research

in Social Sciences. 7(11), 121-135.

Pan American Health Organization (2001). Life Skills: Approaches to Child and Adolescent

            Healthy Human Development. New York: Education Development Center, Inc.

United Nations Children Fund (2002). Children in Focus. 15(2), 4-12.

United Nations Children Fund (2012). Global Evaluation of Life Skills Education Programmes.

            New York: UNICEF.

World Health Organization (1996).  Life Skills Education: Planning For Research. Geneva: WHO.

© 2025-2026

COURSE:  ENG 1105 – Introduction to the Use of English

CREDITS:  Four (4)

EXEMPTIONS:  NIL

CO-REQUISITE: NIL

PRE-REQUISITE: NIL

FOLLOW-ON COURSE: ENG 1205; ENG 1203

 COURSE DESCRIPTION

The Introduction to the Use of English is a foundation course required for students who enter the University of Guyana for the first time. The course introduces students to the linguistic diversity of Guyana and the wider Caribbean, and encourages serious reflection on the use of English in such a space. Students are then introduced to English language as it is used in academic settings. The course is also designed to develop students’ reading and writing skills in English language for specific tasks required at university, while raising their level of language awareness.

         DESCRIPTION OF COURSE
This course is designed to provide students with an opportunity to apply their knowledge gained in the Research Methods in Education course. It brings to students’ understanding the need and importance of conducting a proposal prior to conducting a research. The research proposal writing is designed to provide each student with a step-by-step guide, to writing a successful research proposal.  This course provides students with details and concepts to apply, as they conceptualize, design, and write their research proposal in consultation with their assigned supervisor. The proposal consists of the first three chapters: introduction, literature review, and the methodology chapters of the research.   
The participants will be engaged in discovering and exploring their research interests, reviewing research orientations, critiquing previously conducted research, and writing a proposal with the step-by-step guidance of their supervisor. 
COURSE RATIONALE
At the University of Guyana, and more specifically, the students of the Faculty of Education and Humanities, are required to complete a research as a final assessment before matriculation and subsequent graduation.  However, some students tend to opt out of this very important requirement in their academic journey.  This can also be the experience of the most supported and focused student.  However, it can be the most rewarding, yet challenging and sometimes frustrating experience of the academic process.  This course will help students to avoid pausing along their academic pathway. It is designed to provide academic, social, professional, and practical supervisory support for each student to complete their research at an exceptionally high standard.

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of this course, students will be able to: 
•    participate in whole class and small group collaboration on areas of their research proposal;
•    formulate a research topic for areas of investigation;
•    identify research problems and write problem statement of the proposed research;
•    articulate the purpose of the research as well as research questions/hypotheses;
•    discuss the variables of interest that are proposed to be captured in the research;
•    state the significance of the research;
•    write the definition of terms and possible limitations of the research;
•    conduct a review of literature that is aligned with the proposed research topic; and
•    write an overview of the proposed methodology of the research.

METHODS OF TEACHING
Whole class, small groups, and one-on-one discussions with the supervisor.
                            
METHODS OF ASSESSMENT
Components    Maximum score
Introduction    20
Review of Literature    25
Proposed Methodology    25
Proposed Data Analysis    20
Bibliography/References    5
Overall Presentation    5

REQUIRED READING
Ary, D., Jacobs, L. C., Razavieh, A., & Sorensen, C. (2006). Introduction to research in education. Belmont California: Wadsworth Publishing Co.
Bastick, T., & Matalon, B. (2007). Research: New & practical approaches 2nd edition. Kingston, Jamaica: Chalkboard Press, Materials Production Unit.
Best, J. W., & Kahn, J. V. (2003). Research in Education 9th ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2000). Research Methods in Education 5"' ed. London: Routledge/Falmer.
Fraenkel, J., & Wallen, N. (2003). How to design and evaluate research in education 5"' ed. Boston: M'Graw-Hill.
Gall, M., Gall, J., & Borg, W. (2007). Educational research: An introduction (8th Edition). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
.Scott, D., & Morrison, M. (2007). Key Ideas in Educational Research. Great Britain: Continuum International Publishing Group.

RECOMMENDED READING
 Black, T. (2005). Doing quantitative research in the social sciences: An integrated approach to research design, measurement ans statistics. California: SAGE Publications Inc.
Gay, L., Mills, G. E., & Airasian, P. (2009). Educational research competencies for analysis and applications ninth edition. New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.
Picciano, A. G. (2004). Educational Research Primer. London: Continuum
Robson, C. (2002). Real world research - A resource for social scientists and practitioner-researchers 2nd edition. United Kingdom: Blackwell Publishing. 
Wellington, J., & Szczerbinski, M. (2007). Research Methods for the Social Sciences. Great Britain: Continuum International Publishing Group. 
Wellington, J. (2000). Educational research: Contemporary issues and practical approaches. London: Continuum.