Countries around the world build some sort of
competences into their National Curriculum. The
competencies vary in detail – but there is a
common element.
How good are you at recognising flags?
© Curriculum Foundation
Singapore
21st Century Competencies
• Decision making
• Critical and media skills
• Information and communication skills
© Curriculum Foundation
South Korea
Student Competencies
• Critical thinking and problem
solving
• Communication
• Innovation and creativity
• Investigation
• Co-operation
© Curriculum Foundation
New Zealand
Key Competencies
• Critical thinking and problem
solving
• Using languages, symbols and texts
• Managing self
• Relating to others
© Curriculum Foundation
Do you notice anything about this set of countries?
Yes – they all do well on international comparisons
such as PISA
© Curriculum Foundation
Who is this?
who is the head
of
SoThis
it isis Andreas
maybeSchleicher
not so surprising
that
the ‘PISA’ international educational
the three countries do so well.
comparisons.
points
out that:
TheHeodd
thing
is that the new English
national
curriculum
was
“PISA tests
students’ ability
to:developed
in response to our alleged poor
• apply their in
learning
performance
PISA tests – but does
• think critically
notproblems
seem to include the
• solve
competencies!
• make judgements”
These are what are called “competencies”
So what are the competencies?
You can find more from Andreas at:
http://www.ted.com/talks/andreas_schleicher_use_data_to_build_better_schools.html
6
UNESCO defines competencies as a combination of knowledge,
skills and attitudes. They are acquired through the application of
knowledge in meaningful situations. They help deepen learning
and turn knowledge into understanding. They require the
development of the right attitudes to apply the knowledge.
Knowledge
Skill
Attitude
Competence
The subjects provide the knowledge context. It is the application
of that knowledge that develops the skills. Attitudes are
developed though the teaching and learning approaches. Some
approaches will develop positive attitudes!
Knowledge
Subjects
Skill
Application
of subjects
Attitude
Competence
Teaching
and
learning
approach
Competence
Go back to Unit 2 of the first programme for more on this.
The new National Curriculum does not
specify any competencies – but what
about the old one?
Which do you think?
YES?
NO?
© Curriculum Foundation
YES
✔
In the former Primary National Curriculum, there were six “Key
Skills” and five “Thinking Skills” that were intended to be
developed through all of the subjects. They included:
Problem-solving, Communication, Co-operation, Creative
thinking and Reasoning.
They were very similar to the Korean competencies
In the former Secondary National Curriculum, there were the
six “Personal, Learning and Thinking Skills” (PLTS). These were
also intended to be developed through all of the subjects.
Like the primary “Key Skills”, they were very similar to the
Korean competencies
© Curriculum Foundation
In the first programme, it was suggested that because the
competencies are so important, yet are no longer part of
the National Curriculum, schools might like to ensure that
they are part of the school curriculum.
This does not mean additional subjects or lessons, but
approaching the existing subjects in different ways.
This is where the tree
comes in!
© Curriculum Foundation
If you think of the curriculum as a tree, above the
ground you have the ‘branches of learning’:
Science, Humanities, the Arts, etc.
If you follow one of these branches, it will divide
into smaller ones, or twigs. These are the subjects.
So Science divides in Physics, Chemistry and
Biology; the Humanities into History, Geography
and Citizenship. Do you get the idea?
At the end of these smaller branches are the
leaves. These are the individual bits of learning
that we find in Programmes of Study or in
syllabuses.
Forces
Rivers
The Romans
Properties of materials
Electricity
Parts of a plant
Picasso
Magnetism
The branches of learning
reflecting major areas of human endeavour
and ways of thinking
So this is a model, a way of thinking
about how the various subjects fit
together and how learning is arranged
around them.
But what is missing from the model?
Yes, of course. A tree has roots.
And you can guess what the
roots are!
Yes, the roots are the competencies.
There is not just one “right” set of competencies.
Different countries and different schools compile
lists that suit their needs and circumstances.
We have seen the lists from some other countries,
and the former English National Curriculum.
UNESCO has a list of 21st Century Competencies:
•
•
•
•
Critical thinking and problem solving
Communication
Co-operation
Creativity
Whatever list you choose, the competencies form
the roots of the curriculum
The Romans
Electricity
Picasso
Critical thinking
and problemsolving
Communication
Properties of materials
Parts of a plant
Magnetism
Co-operation
Creativity
Of course, within this botanical model, a tree can’t grow
roots unless it has some leaves to carry out photosynthesis.
And it can’t grow leaves without roots taking in moisture and
nutrients. It is not an “either- or” situation. It needs both.
And our argument within Curriculum Design is that skills
need the knowledge contexts of subjects in order to be
developed. This was the argument put forward by ED Hirsch
that we explored in Unit 2 of Programme 1.
We also quoted Brian Male in that Unit:
“You can’t learn to solve a problem unless you have a
problem to solve. You can’t learn to think critically unless
you have something to think about. You can’t learn to work
in a team unless the team has some activity to engage in.
The curriculum subjects provide a rich source of problems,
things to think about and activities.”
.
So skills need the knowledge contexts that are provided by
subjects. Of course, subjects are important in their own
right, and not just as providers of contexts for skills. They
are the distillations of human thought and understanding.
And as skills need subjects, so the learning of subjects is
enhanced when they are approached through the
development of competencies.
When learners start to think critically about a subject,
investigate it, communicate about it, solve problems within
it, they start to build deeper understanding of the subject.
This was pointed out some time ago by the next writer
about education.
Do you recognise him?
Do you remember Blooms’ Taxonomy from your
training? We all learned about it at some stage.
He wrote it a long time ago!
It is always represented as a triangle, with the
lowest (or shallowest) level of learning being
‘memorisation’ or “knowing”, and moving up
through comprehension, application, analysis
and synthesis to creativity.
It’s Benjamin Bloom,
the man whose
analysis of the
increasing depths of
learning gave us
“Bloom’s Taxonomy”.
If you are familiar with Bloom’s Taxonomy, you
might be objecting that his highest level was
“evaluation”, and you would be right. However,
his pupil, Lorin Anderson, amended the
taxonomy later with Bloom’s approval – and
this is the amended version
Bloom’s Taxonomy
Creating
Synthesising
Analysing
When we look at Bloom’s
levels, we can see how they
fit with the ‘tree’ model.
Memorising and
comprehending are the
leaves.
Applying
Comprehending
Memorising
You can check this out in:
Bloom B (1956) “A Taxonomy of Educational Objectives”
Or at:
http://www.ibe.unesco.org/publications/ThinkersPdf/bloome.pd
f
Analysing, applying,
synthesising and creating are
all aspects of the
competencies and form the
roots.
By applying the
competencies, we push
learning to the higher levels
Remembering
Comprehending
Applying
Analysing
Synthesising
Creating