Published on 4 November 2026

Setting goals, organising tasks, managing time, taking responsibility, adapting to the unexpected… Everyday life is full of situations that require us to get organised. Yet these skills do not develop on their own: they need to be taught, practised and reflected on. It is no coincidence that, in the LIFE SKILLS needs analysis, planning emerged as one of students’ main difficulties in both Spain and Belgium.

That is why the project’s organisation and productivity unit does not explain what planning is: it gets students to plan something real.

A mission: organising a cooperative games day

The proposal, entitled “Making a cooperative games day happen”, sets a concrete challenge: to design, organise and run a cooperative games day for another group at the school, preferably a younger year group. Students themselves make most of the decisions and take responsibility for the project, while the teacher accompanies, asks questions and guides without solving the tasks for them.

The unit unfolds over five 55-minute sessions that follow the cycle of any project:

• We think: we understand the mission, form teams and identify everything we will need to consider.
• We plan: we design the day, set objectives and break the project down into small tasks, ordering them in an action plan.
• We prepare: we put the plan into action, create the materials and check whether we are on schedule.
• We make it happen: the big day arrives and each team runs its own games station.
• We evaluate and reflect: we analyse what worked, what did not and what we take away for future projects.

Making mistakes is part of the plan too

Missing materials, an idea that turns out not to be feasible, a task that takes longer than expected… In this unit, setbacks are not failures but an opportunity to practise flexibility and problem-solving. To support that process, the proposal includes team monitoring sheets, a teacher observation sheet, two exit tickets to compare the starting point with the finishing line, and a final worksheet, “My organisational toolbox”, in which each student records the strategies they want to keep using.

Methodologically, the unit combines Project-Based Learning, cooperative learning, experiential learning and Service-Learning, since the final product is an activity that contributes to the well-being and coexistence of the school community. And, following Universal Design for Learning, it offers concrete support for those who need it most: always-visible timelines, visual timers, planning models before asking for autonomy, and roles matched to each student’s strengths.

A structure that works for much more

Although the example is a games day, the structure can be applied to almost any activity: a science fair, an educational treasure hunt or escape room, an awareness campaign, Cultural Week, World Book Day or a project in any subject. What stays the same is what matters: setting goals, planning, prioritising, managing time and coordinating with others.

Moving forward

With this unit, we have now introduced three of the LIFE SKILLS blocks: personal growth, emotional intelligence and organisation. Next week we will complete the set with the unit devoted to social skills. All materials will be free and available under an open licence.

Would you like to bring this proposal to your classroom? Get in touch and we will tell you how.

Disclaimer

The project “LIFE SKILLS – Life Skills for teachers and students: Journey to Wellbeing, Personal Growth, Emotional Management and, Organisation and Productivity Skills” (2024-2-BE02-KA210-SCH-000292934) is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the Active Learning Association, RHIZO 05 and Liceo Classico Federico Frezzi – Beata Angela, and neither the European Commission nor EPOS, the Belgian (Flemish) Erasmus+ National Agency, can be held responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.