Increasingly it is becoming more difficult to make sense of our world. I have often thought that making meaning of the world around us points to the true heart of learning. What we learn should deepen our knowledge and understanding of the wonders and workings of our universe. How we learn however, allows us to take our conceptual understanding, comprehend its nuances and intricacies, and apply it to our procedural (practical) knowledge.
Alberta Education (2016) posited eight streamlined competencies which support the provincial curriculum development that is currently underway. In seeking to better support learners with conceptual and procedural knowledge and deepen literacy and numeracy skills, the learner competencies support a constructivist schema for learning. This is to say that students actively build their knowledge base and seek to apply their learning to new challenges and different contexts. This means going beyond a surface level of knowledge to deeper levels of transferable learning.
The competencies seek to leverage students’ existing knowledge and skills, focus on how they think (metacognition), and what they can do with what they have learned. While reflecting 11 distinctive domains, the eight streamlined competencies are as follows: critical thinking, communication, information management, problem solving, collaboration, creativity and innovation, cultural and global citizenship, and personal growth and well-being. These competencies underpin the curriculum and are consistent with those utilized in other Canadian jurisdictions.
With more intentionality brought to co-constructing what successful engagement of living in these competencies looks like, our education system purposes to illuminate clearer learning targets, provide more authentic and meaningful assessment to learners, and better meet the needs of our learners with additional assessment measures beyond standardized testing.
Steeped in current research, the revised Alberta curriculum, especially with the recent release of the K-4 outcomes, encourages educators to contemplate such key guiding questions as: What must our students learn and why? How will we know if they have learned it? How can we challenge and deepen their understanding in new contexts? The move away from a knowledge, skills and attitudes-based model to one that is competencies-based, is integral to preparing students for their future; not our past.
There are many armchair pundits out there who would decry this notion. These “back in my day” types fail to recognize that Alberta Education, in association with its many educational stakeholders and partners, is fully cognizant of ongoing research, particularly in cognitive science. Through ongoing research in such areas as Indigenous ways of knowing, mental health, and understanding the impact of adverse childhood experiences, educators and parents come to better understand how to improve conditions, thus making learning more accessible and relevant for all students.
In this, the post-truth era, critical thinking and information management are essential to great communication and being a responsible and caring global citizen. These competencies and others will help our children and theirs meet the uncertain future with resiliency, confidence and hope!
I wish everyone an exciting and rewarding new year of lifelong learning!
Tim Cusack is an educator, writer and member of the naval reserve.
