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Opportunities to learn
An important theme of the The nature of the key competencies: A background paper (PDF, 652.65 kB) (Hipkins, 2006) is that students must be given opportunities to actively practise and strengthen their learning. For example, when learning about thinking (metacognition), they will need opportunities to practise this type of thinking, to talk about it using appropriate language, and to evaluate their learning. This suggests that a different type of assessment focus might be on auditing the learning opportunities provided to students – that is, the spotlight might initially focus on teacher decisions and actions rather than student achievement.
The following example selected one feature (teachers and students use and share a vocabulary of thinking words) from a longer list of features of effective learning for developing higher order thinking skills. It shows how this feature might be expanded into a set of auditing questions that could be addressed in the school. The key competency “thinking” had been selected as a specific focus for development.
Example – Using and sharing a vocabulary of thinking words
Feature of programme |
Teachers and students use and share a vocabulary of thinking words |
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Evidence of |
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Comment |
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A description such as this could be collated as part of a professional discussion of the intended learning focus and could be seen as a "work in progress". Given the multifaceted nature of each key competency, it would doubtless have more features than this brief example. If data was collected systematically and across time, a list such as this could be used for planning and reporting processes. |
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- What are our existing assessment priorities and why?
- Do we need to change or add to these in the light of twenty-first-century learning needs?
- Should we audit the opportunities we provide students to develop the aspects of key competencies that we identify as priorities?
- Do we already use formative assessment methods that could be adapted to include key competency dimensions? What would need to change, and what could stay the same?
- What newer strategies would work best for us? How might we develop these?
Next – Making connections
