A Gender Based Analysis of Life Skills among Prospective Teachers in Universities of Pakistan

To strengthen teacher education in Pakistan, development of life skills among prospective teachers is vital irrespective of their gender. Therefore, this study envisioned a gender based analysis of life skills among prospective teachers in universities of Pakistan. Much literature exists on life skills development of teachers. However, there is little evidence regarding gender role in life skills development of prospective teachers. The present study bridges this gap in the current literature in teacher education. Using survey approach, data were collected from 1788 prospective teachers enrolled in teacher education departments in public sector universities of Pakistan. The researchers applied descriptive and inferential statistical data for analysis of the data. Life skills development scale having nine aspects were adopted and used as data collection tool along with demographic variable of gender. The study found a strong positive correlation between gender and life skills development of prospective teachers. The study further discovered a difference among respondents based on gender on three aspects of life skills such as communication skills, interpersonal relations and coping emotions. Whereas, no difference of opinion was found on decisions-making, problems-solving, empathy, self-awareness, creative thinking as well as critical thinking of the respondents. It is suggested that the results of this study may further be replicated or investigated in other contexts for further deeper understanding of the correlation between gender and life skills development.