Key competencies are the capabilities people have, and need to develop, to live and learn today and in the future.
The New Zealand Curriculum identifies five key competencies:
Key competencies encompass knowledge, skills, attitudes and values.
Key competencies work together and influence each other.
Key competencies require teachers to notice not just what students are learning, but how they are learning and their capacity to continue learning.
Key competencies are demonstrated in performance – they require action.
Key competencies are complex and changing – they will look different in different contexts, and will be developed through opportunities to use them in increasingly wide-ranging and complex contexts.
Key competencies require teachers and learners to think about dispositions (tendencies or inclinations) to consider if students are ready and willing, as well as able, to learn.
Key competencies strengthen students’ capacity to participate in the world right now, rather than just prepare them to participate in the world at some time in the future.
Key competencies are not just a new name for the essential skills – they include skills, but also emphasise how skills relate to knowledge, attitudes and values and how skills can be used in interactions with others in various contexts.
Key competencies are not just for young people – students, teachers, leaders, parents, community members are all both teachers and learners.
The New Zealand Curriculum principles relate to how curriculum is formalised in a school; they are particularly relevant to the processes of planning, prioritising, and review. (NZC, p. 9)
This self audit could be used as part of a whole school, department, or syndicate activity to facilitate discussion on current and desired practice in each of the areas, and the degree of coherence between each of the elements of the curriculum.
Jim Walker
01/07/2009 3:09 pm