Competency-based Education
Recently I had had the pleasure of hosting a delegation from Bulgaria who are about to introduce competency-based education into their education system. During their visit we met with multiple experts in the field of competency based education and discussed how the Irish school system has gone on this journey. The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment has led the way on competency-based education in Ireland over many years and this work has continued to evolve in recent years as part of the senior cycle reform programme. A recent report on this topic reviews international practice in relation to key competencies from around the globe, before advocating for the systematic integration and assessment of key competencies in Ireland. The report references the history of developing key competencies in Irish education, dating back to the publication of the Key Skills Framework for Senior Cycle in 2009. It is widely acknowledged that introduction of competency-based education is challenging for education systems, on multiple fronts, and particularly in relation to curriculum design, teaching approaches and assessment practices. However, there is a growing recognition that we need our education systems to continue evolving, so they continue to remain relevant to an increasing complex world.
Looking to the Past
Figure 1, Redesigning Education: Meeting the Challenges of the 21st Century
The visit provided an opportunity to revisit work we published over 10 years ago with Professor Deirdre Butler and Dr Kevin Marshall on how we might redesign our education system to prepare young people for this world. The booklet shares a vision for a smarter education system that better meets the needs of a 21st century society, where digital technologies are a central component and not an add-on of the system. Around this time the Minister of Education and Skills, Ms Jan O’Sullivan T.D., launched a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) entitled “21st Century Learning Design” in St. Patrick’s College, DCU (now the Institute of Education) which was developed by St. Patrick’s College, DCU and H2 Learning with the support of Microsoft for educators globally. While the content of the course and the booklet are dated the discussions of the past week reaffirmed that many of the ideas in this document and in the Microsoft 21st Century Learning Design course are still very relevant today.
Revisiting Microsoft’s 21CLD Resources
The 21CLD materials, a bit like competency based education approaches, have evolved over the years and the 8 module course is still available online. The 21CLD programme supports a competency based education approach and provides schools with a structure to design and implement such approaches. It provides an overview of 21st century learning design and the skills learners need to live and work in a complex 21st century world. The key skills are defined as:
- Knowledge construction
- Collaboration
- Real-world problem solving and innovation
- Skilled communication
- Self-regulation
- Information and communications technology (ICT) for learning
Teachers are supported to design learning tasks where learners have an opportunity to develop one or two of these key skills as part of a learning task. Digital technology is a part of the world we live and work in and it is increasingly reducing the need for manual and routine labour, and young people are expected to leave school with a range of skills that include:
- Critical thinking
- Skilled communication
- Creative problem solving
- Strong interpersonal skills
Digital technologies open up a world of opportunities for learners, of all ages, to develop these skills in real and meaningful ways. When technology is used in this way, it goes well beyond interacting with a digital textbook on a digital device or using GenAI technologies to create text or images for a school project. The resources help teachers to design purposeful learning activities where young people can develop key skills, such as critical thinking, skilled communication, creative problem solving and strong interpersonal skills. It does this by providing a framework for learning design in six dimensions that researchers have identified as being critical in today’s workforce:
- Knowledge construction which requires learners to go beyond memorizing information to analysing, interpreting, synthesizing, and evaluating information. They must then apply their new knowledge in new contexts to make connections across multiple disciplines.
- Collaboration involves learners working together, sharing responsibility, and making substantive decisions together. At the deepest level of collaboration, learners’ work is interdependent.
- Real-world problem solving and innovation involves a task with a defined challenge for learners. The problems must be authentic situations that exist outside of an academic context so that learners may implement their solutions in the real world.
- Skilled communication requires learners to produce extended or multi-modal communication using evidence to support their ideas. At its deepest level, learners craft their communication for a specific audience.
- Self-regulation requires learners to work on an activity for an extended period. It requires learners to plan their work by breaking up their responsibilities. They must also have opportunities to revise their work based upon their own reflection and feedback from others (peers, educators, or experts).
- ICT for learning examines learners’ use of technology to support knowledge construction and encourages learners to become designers of ICT products that others use.
It provides teachers with rubrics to design such learning activities and to use questions to review their practice as captured in Figure 2 below.
Figure 2, Key 21CLD Questions
Time to consider if they are useful in the context of AI in Schools
Our discussions with colleagues last week reaffirmed how relevant the 21CLD resources are still today. All contributors stressed the need to develop the key competencies of young people in school and to do this through engagement with the curriculum. They also stressed the need to ensure our young people are ready to live and work in an increasingly complex world, where digital technologies are all pervasive. There was widespread recognition of the challenges such an approach might present for education systems, and particularly for teachers, but there was also a belief we need to keep evolving our education systems so they are relevant to society.
Today there is a major focus on the role of AI, and increasingly GenAI, in our schools and the need to ensure that we develop student critical thinking, so that ‘effectively’ and ‘ethically’ use these technologies ‘appropriately’. But how might we do this and how might teachers design learning experiences where young people can do this in a safe and meaningful way. We know from recent research that many teachers want help in this area, as they realise that all too often their learners are using these tools inappropriately without any guidance or knowledge. They want more than just guidelines, they want practical approaches that they can use with their learners, so they can design and activate learning experiences where they develop these key skills or key competencies.
Therefore, we are proposing to revisit the original 21CLD framework over the coming months and see if we can tweak it further to reflect the challenges teachers and students are facing today in relation to the use of AI and other technologies in schools. We believe that the framework provides a structure for schools to design meaningful learning experiences for young people, where they embed digital technologies into these activities in meaningful ways, so that young people develop the key skills that are required to live and work in today’s global complex society.