Competencies and Dispositions

We have moved beyond the point where content is the important thing to learn, and now…its about what you can do with what you know. 

There is a growing mis-match between what the education sector is doing, and what the world is requiring. The “talent being developed, and the the talent that is needed”.

The challenge for us as educators comes back to some fundamental questions:

1. what skills should we be focussing on developing in our learners?

2. what are the implications for what we teach?

3. what are the implications for how we teach?

I agreed with what he is saying, but to agree means accepting the challenge of figuring out an alternative, which isn’t easy. I think that within schools a discussion of what we really would like children to learn, what we actually believe is essential for them…would be a great step. Not what is mandated (not just National Standards), but answering the question of what is important and therefore worth spending time on. In our context these skills and competencies could have come through our Inquiry…but that isn’t functioning as it should anymore. 

So what skills are important?

We were given a few sites to go check out, and several competencies kept coming through:

- Critical thinking

- Collaboration

- Creativity/Curiosity

- Communication

Others that resonated were:

- Grit (I like this…life can be tough, learning can be hard…gotta have Grit!)

- Adaptability

- Self regulation

The whole area of Digital Citizenship/Digital literacy, and the embedded skills within, are also important. While not competencies, the skills are needed, and need to be taught. 

Core Ed has then left us with the challenge of considering each competency, and asking 3 questions.

1. Why is this skill important?

2. How might it be developed?

3. What does success look like?