I've taught kids in multiple countries. I believe these 3 life skills are more important to teach students than anything academic.

• I'm a teacher who taught in Australia, England, and Switzerland.
• These educational systems were drastically different, but most of them prioritized academics.
• Instead, students need to learn these skills: critical thinking, creativity, and self-awareness.

When I left Australia to continue teaching overseas, I was told that my beliefs about education would be tested. Ten years later, after teaching in several countries, I couldn't agree more.

When I was in the Australian system, teachings about health and relationships were excellent, and science and literacy were brilliantly paired. However, the curriculum poorly represented Indigenous Australian peoples and their history.

I then found the British educational curriculum to be incredibly thorough. Grammar, maths, and history lessons are in-depth and, for the most part, pretty interesting. However, the curriculum is so packed that it places unrealistic expectations on both staff and students. I found it to be incredibly stressful.

In stark contrast, after moving to Switzerland, I taught at a Swedish international school. The Swedish system only focuses on "academic" skills like reading and writing after the age of 7. It took me time to adjust, but I quickly came to see that there is a very good reason for this approach: It frees up time for young children to really learn about themselves and the world they live in.

After all, it's not academic knowledge that is most beneficial to our children; this can be learned at any time in life. But it's crucial to learn soft skills at an early age.

From all my teaching experiences, I believe these three life skills are the most important.

Critical thinking

Our children live in a world of extremely influential social media, frantic news coverage, and AI-generated content. Children need to be taught how to navigate opinionated information, questioning who is creating the content and what purpose it serves.

Encouraging critical thinking also means giving our children the space and tools to listen, discuss, and respectfully defend their individual opinions — and, importantly, be open to changing their viewpoints based on new evidence.

I've had many philosophical discussions with people, only to get up from the carpet and be reminded that my conversation partners were 4 years old. Children are deep thinkers, and we can choose to squash their beliefs or encourage them to develop a stronger understanding of themselves and others.

Self-awareness

Comprehending what's going on in our bodies and brains has a huge impact on how we treat ourselves and the people around us.

Children need to be taught to listen to their own body signals (such as clenched muscles when feeling stressed) and emotional signals (such as feeling irritable when tired).

When they are able to identify what's happening, they can make informed choices about what they need — such as slow breathing, resting, or seeking support.

That said, not all stress is bad. We tell children that learning is fun, and often it is, but it's also challenging because our brains are forming new cognitive pathways. Helping children develop a growth mindset is vital. When people have a growth mindset, they understand that what they can't do yet, they will be able to do with time and persistence. They're also better equipped to solve problems that come their way.

Creativity

When we think of creativity, we often automatically think of the arts, but this skill includes any type of problem-solving — from choosing an appropriate mathematical equation to resolving a conflict with a friend.

Creativity is nurtured through space and time to think, test ideas, learn from the results, and then choose the next steps. It is open-ended and often self-led. It's not a coincidence that these are also the skills involved in entrepreneurial projects — from launching a successful business to solving problems in the community.

The soft skills, like creativity, we teach our children will continue to influence them throughout their lives.

After 10 years of teaching, I saw that I could impact children's learning differently, so I transitioned to children's illustration.

Now, I use my educator background to make accessible art with meaningful messages, helping kids to process their emotions, connect with others, and act with kindness. By immersing our children in important messages and targeted teaching, we can help them to internalize the skills and understandings that will enable them to thrive in any context.

Rita Jane taught in elementary schools for 10 years. She is now a children's illustrator based in Paphos, Cyprus. Connect on LinkedIn, and find her illustrations on Instagram.