preparing students

CAPABILITIES

Capabilities in education has come to the limelight in the last month in NSW due to a number of politicians voicing their opinions on transforming the education system.

Bowden discussed the difference between a capabilities underpinned curriculum in comparison to a content curriculum stating that a capabilities based curriculum allows students to apply knowledge from various areas to real life problems (Bowden, 2004). Students will work towards developing a particular capability such as communication or problem solving through such tasks (Bowden, 2004). There are seven capabilities that are in the current Australian Curriculum;

1. Literacy;

2. Numeracy

3. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Capability;

4. Critical and Creative Thinking;

5. Personal and Social Capability;

6. Ethical Understanding; and

7. Intercultural Understanding (Australian Curriculum [ACARA], 2014).

A Finnish study conducted by Lambert (2015), sought to show how capabilities could be linked to Geography education in Finnish schools. Lambert discussed the following questions citing Nussbaum’s capabilities (Lambert, Solem, & Tani, 2015; Nussbaum, 2000);

“1. Promote individual autonomy and freedom and the ability of children to use their Imagination and to be able to think and reason?

2. Help young people identify and exercise their choices in how to live, based on worthwhile distinctions with regard to their citizenship and to sustainability?

3. Contribute to understanding one’s potential as a creative and productive citizen in the context of the global economy and culture? (Lambert et al., 2015)”

Recently Greg Miller, a principal from St Luke's Catholic College, wrote a blog on how capabilities can transform the education system in a k - 12 learning context. The thought provoking piece of writing focused on how capabilities could be used as a data set to inform teaching and learning.

A discussion around capabilities and how they can be utilised within the classroom setting leads into a conversation about the interpersonal skills and personal attributes an individual possesses when they leave school.

Image retrieved from Pixabay under creative commons.

SOFT SKILLS

Marcel Robles describes soft skills as the interpersonal skills and personal attributes one possesses (Robles, 2012). In the research conducted by Robles 100% of the employers surveyed listed communication and integrity as very important or extremely important (Robles, 2012). Schulz defined soft skills as shaping ones personality (Schulz, 2008) and further clarified that in the past the mastering of ‘hard skills’ or content based knowledge was considered most important in comparison this ideology has been turned upside down and good communication is now seen as “far superior to those who lack those attributes (Schulz, 2008).” Harris & Rogers discussed developing these skills in students through a range of technology tasks by designing learning activities that are designed to stretch students out of their comfort zone and therefore “stretch soft skill development. (Harris & Rogers, 2008)”

Resources on soft skills for students:

CURRICULUM

In 2015, then Federal Education Minister, Christopher Pyne, announced that the curriculum needed to change to have a focus on basics of mathematics and literacy. In 2018, Malcolm Turnbull called for education reforms after the Gonski Report into education was released. The New South Wales curriculum consists of seven key learning areas for kindergarten to year six. With key New South Wales politicians calling for change within the curriculum to minimise clutter and concentrate on key capabilities the future of schooling could be changing. As Lambert discussed perhaps students will be given the opportunity to have individual autonomy for their learning and exercise choice (Lambert et al., 2015).