Embedded Files
The Meta -skills
The Meta -skills
“Building Skills for Learning, Life, and Work”
As learners move into Primary 6 & 7, they begin to explore Meta- skills, which build on and align with the 6 C’s. Both frameworks highlight the essential skills and qualities young people need for learning, life and work.
The three groups of MetaSkills are:
Self-management – skills like focusing, adapting, taking initiative, and showing integrity.
Social intelligence – skills like communicating, collaborating, showing empathy, and leading.
Innovation – skills like creativity, curiosity, critical thinking, and sense-making.
Connection to the 6 WDC’s
The 6 C’s (Creativity, Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Communication, Citizenship, and Character) provide a strong foundation for learners as they prepare for life and work. MetaSkills build on this framework by offering a more detailed lens for how these qualities can be practiced and strengthened in everyday learning.
Creativity → Innovation: creativity, curiosity, sense-making
Critical Thinking → Innovation: critical thinking, sense-making
Collaboration → Social Intelligence: collaborating, leading
Communication → Social Intelligence: communicating, empathy
Citizenship → Social Intelligence: empathy, integrity, responsibility
Character → Self-Management: resilience, focus, adapting, initiative, integrity
How the Frameworks Link Together
Together, the two frameworks reinforce one another:
Think → Critical Thinking and Innovation encourages learners to question, analyse and make sense of complex problems.
Create → Creativity and Innovation inspire learners to generate ideas, experiment and find new solutions.
Connect → Collaboration, Communication, and Social Intelligence enable learners to work effectively with others, share ideas and build empathy.
Adapt → Character, Citizenship, and Self-Management support resilience, initiative, integrity and the ability to thrive in a changing world.
These skills grow stronger the more they are used. By practicing both the 6 C’s and Meta-skills in the classroom and beyond, learners develop the confidence and capability they need to navigate challenges, embrace opportunities and contribute positively to their communities and future workplaces.
The Know–Do–Understand (KDU) Model
The Know–Do–Understand (KDU) Model
The Know–Do–Understand (KDU) model, developed by Education Scotland and embedded in the West Dunbartonshire Curriculum Strategy, is the planning framework we use to design learning that is purposeful, progressive and connected.
It asks us to consider three dimensions: what learners should know (the key knowledge, facts and concepts), what they should be able to do (the skills, competencies, processes and strategies they apply), and what they should understand (the deeper ideas and connections that make learning transferable).
Using the Know–Do–Understand (KDU) model supports us to:
write clear learning intentions;
plan progression that builds knowledge into skills and competencies;
make meaningful links across curriculum areas and interdisciplinary learning;
and gather evidence that shows not only what pupils recall, but also what they can do and what they truly understand.
The KDU model aligns directly with Curriculum for Excellence.
“Know” links to Experiences and Outcomes, key concepts and subject knowledge.
“Do” connects to skills, competencies, benchmarks.
“Understand” underpins deep learning, critical thinking and the ability to transfer learning to new contexts.
For example, in a P4 sustainability project, learners might know the causes of plastic pollution, do the task of analysing local litter data and understand why reducing plastic use matters for communities and the planet.
In this way, the KDU model supports the development of the Four Capacities, the 6Cs of Deep Learning, and the Meta-skills for life, learning and work. It gives us a simple, nationally recognised language for curriculum design, ensuring every child has opportunities to build knowledge, practise skills and competencies and develop a deep understanding.
guide-to-meta-skills-across-the-curriculum.pdf
A collection of educator-focused resources to support embedding meta-skills across the curriculum.
Progression Framework Understand what meta-skills look like at each stage of learning.
Engaging activity sets, posters and character tools to bring meta-skills to life in your classroom.
A quick, fun personality activity that links to broader meta-skills awareness.
Practical, classroom-ready lesson packs for introducing, developing, and evaluating meta-skills, including PowerPoint presentations, pupil worksheets, and the self-evaluation wheel.
Modules and reflective tools for learners and practitioners to explore, assess, and document meta-skills in vocational or academic learning contexts.
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