Life Orientation

What is Life Orientation?

Life Orientation is central to our students’ holistic development. It looks at the knowledge, skills and values required for their personal, social, intellectual, emotional and physical growth and is integral to Dainfern College’s vision of ‘An Education for the World’. Life Orientation guides and prepares students for life, its challenges and possibilities, and equips them for meaningful and successful living in a rapidly transforming environment.

Life Orientation: Grades 8-9

The subject comprises the following five aspects in Grades 7 to 9:

• Development of the self in society
• Health, social and environmental responsibility
• Constitutional rights and responsibilities
• Physical education
• The world of work

Owing to the holistic nature of the subject, the five topics addressed in Life Orientation function interdependently and are considered equally valuable in facilitating the development of well-rounded individuals.

Life Orientation: Grades 10-12

Life Orientation aims to enable teens to be an empowered and effective contributor to their world. It is where students grapple with meaningful ‘life’ issues in a manner that is both academic and logical, whilst facilitating the development of emotional intelligence. Life Orientation is one of the core subjects for the FET phase (ie Grades 10-12). This means that it is compulsory.

At Dainfern College, we aim to make Life Orientation meaningful in the lives of our students. In Grades 10-12 Life Orientation focuses on the following topics:

• Development of the self in society: This includes the development of skills to enable students to make decisions for personal, social, intellectual, physical, emotional, and spiritual health.
• Social and environmental responsibility: Social and environmental rights and responsibilities that will enable students to respond effectively to the changing society and environment in which they live.
• Democracy and human rights: It is important that students develop knowledge and values of human rights and responsibilities so that they are equipped to respond to a diverse society.
• Careers and career choices: The world of work is diverse and dynamic. Students will live in a future that we cannot predict. For this reason, it is important for students to be equipped with essential knowledge and skills to help them make appropriate subject, further study and career choices.
• Study skills: It is increasingly apparent that the development of study skills is a vital aspect of Life Orientation. Increasingly students are asked to sift through and make meaning of vast quantities of information. Students need to be able to read critically, analyse, summarise and write optimally.
• Physical education: Developing the habit of regular physical activity is an investment in the future health of our children.