Key Competences and New Literacies: From Slogans to School Reality

Group Submission Type: Book Launch

Description of Session

The international report "Key Competences and New Literacies: From Slogans to School Reality" offers an overarching framework to guide the transformation of school curricula and practices towards developing 21st century skills. It aims to bring conceptual clarity and a comprehensive, sustainable model to the heated global debate on new learning objectives and outcomes for the 21st century in the face of rapid technological and social changes.
The report categorizes key competences into three broad domains, representing the holistic ability to take certain actions drawing on underlying skills, knowledge and attitudes. These are thinking competence, interpersonal competence and intrapersonal competence. The report also differentiates two types of literacy – domain-general, tool-based literacy like information literacy, and domain-specific, content-bound literacy like environmental literacy. The report resists common pitfalls like decontextualized comparisons of competence frameworks or uncritical use of employer perspectives on skills.
Through case studies, the report analyzes the diverse experiences of eight countries in integrating competences and literacies into education systems – Canada (Ontario), China, England, Finland, Poland, South Korea, USA (North Carolina), and Russia. The case studies provide outlines of the conceptual frameworks, practical implementation strategies, assessment techniques, teacher training approaches and communication methods surrounding reforms in each country.
Despite unique circumstances, common success factors emerge across the countries' experiences. These include presenting competences via clear, coherent frameworks; seamlessly integrating competences into disciplinary learning; focusing regulations on demonstrated learning outcomes; and incorporating competences into summative assessments. The report advocates competences should enrich, not replace, core disciplinary knowledge in a reformed curriculum.
The report offers principles and examples for blending theoretical knowledge, practical competences and different types of literacy in a transformed curriculum. It explores how two literacies – computational literacy (coding) and environmental literacy – can be nurtured as examples of tool-based and content-bound literacy respectively, providing details on pedagogical strategies like inquiry-based learning.
Beyond these literacies, the report highlights innovative pedagogies showing promise for 21st century skills acquisition, including reciprocal teaching and collaborative learning. Scaffolding student learning and providing actionable feedback are emphasized throughout. The principles and examples aim to provide stakeholders with practical guidelines for weaving together knowledge, competences and literacies.
A major contribution of the report is providing practical guidelines for diverse stakeholders to transform education systems holistically. The guidelines draw on both cutting-edge research and real-world experiences in competence-based reforms.
Overall, the report represents an effort by researchers who analyzed over 180 competence frameworks and studied national strategies. It provides a synthesis of global trends, theoretical approaches, practical strategies and assessment techniques for competence-based education reforms. The report offers a roadmap for stakeholders seeking to equip students with the integrated knowledge, skills and attitudes to thrive in a fast-changing world.

Sub Unit

• Pre-Conference Workshops, Book launches, and Visual Art Exhibits / Book Launch

Chair

• Isak Frumin, Constructor University Bremen

Book Launch Presenter

• Isak Frumin, Constructor University Bremen