Course guides › Grade 8 › Life Orientation
Grade 8 Life Orientation helps teenagers handle change: identity and relationships, healthy and safe choices, rights and responsibilities in a diverse society, early career planning and staying active.
This guide explains the CAPS topic areas.
Course status: coming soon. We are still building the Grade 8 Life Orientation (CAPS) course, so it can’t be bought yet. This guide explains what the CAPS curriculum covers this year, so you can use it now. The planned price is R300 per subject per year.
What’s covered: the CAPS topic areas
The DBE’s Annual Teaching Plan sets the detailed topics and their order term by term, and your child’s school follows it. This guide gives the broad picture of each part of the subject.
Development of the self in society
Who you are, your relationships, and coping with change.
Health, social and environmental responsibility
Healthy and safe choices, and caring for your community and the environment.
Constitutional rights and responsibilities
Human rights, responsibilities and respect for diversity in South Africa.
World of work
Interests, abilities, careers and study skills.
Physical Education
Fitness, games and sport.
Key ideas, with worked examples
Assertive communication
Being assertive means stating your view clearly and respectfully, without being passive or aggressive.
Worked example. “I feel uncomfortable when you share my photos. Please ask me first.”
Planning ahead for subject choices
Grade 9 learners choose their Grade 10 subjects, so Grade 8 is a good time to explore career interests.
Worked example. A learner interested in engineering should plan for Mathematics (not Mathematical Literacy) and Physical Sciences.
Common mistakes (and how to fix them)
- One-line answers to discussion questions.
- Not linking rights to responsibilities.
Tips for parents
- Agree a routine, then step back. Senior Phase learners like to work on their own; check in on the week’s work rather than every page.
- Talk about online safety and privacy settings together.
- Start the careers conversation early, before Grade 9 subject choices.
Frequently asked questions
How much will the Grade 8 Life Orientation course cost?
R300 per subject per year once it opens. Like our live courses, it will be one course for the whole year with Terms 1 to 4 inside it, so there’s nothing extra to pay per term.
When will the course be ready?
We’re building it now. The Grade 8 Life Orientation card on our home page shows “Coming soon” until the course is ready, and then it changes to “Open course”.
Will it work on a phone, and will it use a lot of data?
Yes, it will work on a phone. Like our live Maths courses, it will open in a phone’s web browser or in the free Coursebox app for Android and iPhone. Lessons are pictures and short text with quizzes and no videos, so it uses little data.
Is the course in English or Afrikaans?
The Grade 8 course will be in English.
Get ready for Grade 8 Life Orientation
The Grade 8 Life Orientation (CAPS) course is coming soon at R300 per subject per year. Bookmark this guide and use the overview above to follow what your child is doing at school. See which Grade 8 subjects are open on the course cards.
Back to the Grade 8 course cards · All Grade 8 guides
Sources and review
This guide follows the broad structure of the DBE’s CAPS Life Orientation curriculum for the Senior Phase (Grades 7–9). Detailed topics and their order are set by the DBE’s Annual Teaching Plan, which your child’s school follows. Last reviewed: 31 October 2026. AI Buddies is an independent project and is not endorsed by the Department of Basic Education.