Skills & Competency Frameworks

"Across the world curricula are changing in recognition of the widespread view that, in addition to subject knowledge, young people need to develop certain key dispositions or capabilities in order to thrive today. 

Such dispositions broadly fall into two categories; those which might be described as concerned with the development of character (ethical understanding, for example) and those which focus on a wider set of skills (such as creativity, critical thinking or collaboration). 

Assessment, pedagogy and curriculum are integrally connected. What you teach depends on what is assessed. How you assess depends on what is being taught and how it is being taught. 

Across the world politicians, employers, researchers, parents and all those who work in schools are waking up to the fact that today’s assessment practices are no longer fit for purpose. Currently the knowledge that is typically assessed is from a narrow range of subjects, rarely explored in depth and almost never inter-disciplinary [...] Complex, higher order skills are rarely assessed in ways that recognise the subtleties involved. Many dispositions or capabilities known to be important in life are not assessed at all."

From Bill Lucas, A field guide to assessing creativity in schools.