Adaptability is defined as our ability to adjust to new or changed conditions quickly, without experiencing stress or negative emotions. The activities on this page show you how you can get your students developing their adaptability skills, and thinking about examples where they already use them. 

Teaching resources:

• Adaptability: Lesson plan and presentation slides – full lesson plan for use with a group of students in the classroom
• Adaptability and leadership: Facebook live film – short film which can be used to start the lesson to provide an overview of the topic

Lesson plan

(10 - 50 minutes)

This lesson helps students to understand the concept of adaptability, why how you respond to change is important and how to apply adaptive thinking.

By the end of the lesson students will be able to:

• Understand why adaptability is a core skill for the future world of work
• Identify the traits, skills and characteristics that make someone adaptable
• Understand that adaptability skills can be developed by anyone and be applied in many situations - not just at moments of major change

Facebook live overview

(5 minutes)

To give your students an overview of the skill of adaptability, we have created a short film in partnership with education charity The Talent Foundry, adapted from a Facebook live session. The first half of this film, which focuses on how being able to adapt is an essential skill, can be used as a starter activity for this lesson plan to get your class thinking about their own adaptability skills.

Help your students develop their adaptability skills further

Continue the development of your students adaptability and other transferable skills with more content from LifeSkills including Communication an digital skills at work or Building a positive online reputation. Why not build adaptability skills as a focus into your