10.1 – Lamb S, et al. (2017) Key Skills for the 21st Century: an evidence-based review

Read the Key Skills for the 21st Century: an evidence-based review report published by the NSW Department of Education

The authors, Professor Stephen Lamb, Esther Doecke and Dr Quentin Maire considered:

• What are the skills future generations will need?
• What are the teaching skills for the 21st century?
• What are the assessing and evaluating skills required?

The review:

• detailed nine skills now commonly regarded as key (critical thinking, creativity, metacognition, problem solving, collaboration and cooperation, motivation, self-efficacy and agency, conscientiousness, grit and perseverance)
• found that while most systems have been active in developing learning frameworks and looking at ways to incorporate key skills into their curricula, and some have invested in teacher training and professional development to promote these key skills, there is limited evidence to date of a widespread and successful transformation of classroom practice and assessment
• most systems recognise that the key skills need to be developed through teaching disciplines and subject content, as well as potentially across subject areas; yet no school system can yet demonstrate a generalised and consistent focus on key skills across schools, subjects and year levels
• found that a judicious combination of various assessment methods, based on scores as well as qualitative assessment and determined by the assessment purpose(s) and the skill(s) being assessed, appears likely to improve the assessment of key skills and their acquisition by students
• provides international and Australian case studies.

Go deeper

Read a 2019 summary Key skills for the 21st century: An evidence-based by two of the authors for an ACER research conference

“Many systems and schools have invested considerable effort in broadening their conceptualisation of the skills young people require for their future. At the same time, there is little evidence providing clear direction on the most effective approaches to the teaching and learning of the identified skills, as well as the best ways to assess them.” (Lamb, S. et al. 2017)

10.2 – Milligan S, et al. (2020) Recognition of learning success for all: Ensuring trust and utility in a new approach to recognition of learning in senior secondary education

Read the report: Recognition of learning success for all

Too many young Australians finish school ill-equipped with the knowledge, skills, attitudes and dispositions that they need to navigate the transition from school to further education, training or employment.

This paper provides the background to the problem and the opportunity. It examines the prevailing conceptions of success built into the recognition system in senior secondary schooling in Australia and explores how to build a more equitable system that celebrates and measures a broader and deeper conception of success.

The paper evidences that it is possible to build, test and prototype a new and broader conception of success within a common standards-based recognition system that has trust and utility for recruiters and selectors, employers and young people. In analysing the many innovative approaches developed by Australian organisations, schools and programs, this paper presents six key components for a new approach to recognition of learning including:

• New learning ambitions: Broader and deeper learning required by senior secondary students if they are to thrive as creative, confident individuals and active, informed, contributing members of society.
• New assessments: Methods for assessing the degree to which a learner has progressed in their learning in any domain, especially when depth and complexity in learning is required.
• New standards: Expressions of the increasing levels of sophistication learners are expected to attain as they progress in learning from novice to expert, or beginner to master in any learning domain.
• New credentials: Documentation that is trusted, and comparable, representing the breadth and depth of learning a person has attained, with utility for learners, teachers, recruiters and selectors.
• New pacts: Public agreements amongst stakeholders that settle how the new credentials, standards and benchmarks will be used to guide objective, fair, equitable and efficient recruitment and selection into post school options.
• New metrics: A set of measures that enable teachers, schools, and the community to monitor and evaluate the success of schooling in supporting learners to thrive, at school and beyond.

The core premise of this new approach to recognition is that, simultaneously, standards will rise across the board, the deep inequities evident in schooling will be reduced and a system embracing agency in young people can create more effective and equitable pathways for them.

Go deeper

Watch the video: What does the ATAR have to do with equity?

Read the news article: A dozen principals wrote a letter about the ATAR. Here's what they want to change.

“Success in learning, young people suggested, should require the development of such core values as kindness, resilience and persistence, alongside subject knowledge.” (Milligan, S. et al. 2020)

10.3 – Milligan S, et al. (2021) Generating trust and utility in senior secondary certification: Case studies of first movers in their warranting networks

Read the report Generating trust and utility in senior secondary certification Case studies of first movers in their warranting networks

The report draws upon six case studies of Australian and international organisations that have re-positioned general capabilities at the heart of learning, to complement and deepen the domain-specific learning of more traditional disciplines and subjects. The case studies described in this report are:

• Philippines Alternative Learning System (ALS)
• Big Picture Learning
• High Tech High (HTH)
• International Baccalaureate Career-related Programme Certificate (IB Career Programme)
• Mastery Transcript Consortium (MTC)
• Action Learning Institute

A premise of this report is that the changes illustrated in the case studies, which seek to better align assessment and credentialing with new learning ambitions and emergent learning designs, should be brought to scale. Every young person

should have access to the advantages that accrue to the young people whose learning is supported in these case studies.

The following three conclusions are drawn from the case studies:

• Any improvement in productivity of senior secondary schooling for all students requires the re-alignment of learning design, assessment and credential design, and warranting approaches with these new ambitions. This is not a trivial undertaking.
• Attention is needed to a change process to ensure success of all students. Features of the change process are discussed. Change requires consistency of leadership and effort over time so that schools’ practices are aligned to the needs of a community of learners, and the broader community in which they live. The touchstone for change is that education is productive for all students, in every community.
• The current regulatory system for warranting trust and utility of senior secondary certification in Australia is not matched to the needs of providers progressing this aspiration. This report explores features of a suitable framework for senior secondary qualifications in Australia that would better support the emergent learning ambitions and their associated learning designs of the kind represented in these cases.

“At the heart of this work is the commitment to equity – at the individual, community and broader society levels – that recognises the talents and aspirations of all young people to share in a meaningful and prosperous future.” (Milligan, S. et al. 2021)

10.4 – Milligan S, Mackay T and Noonan P (2022) Framing Success for all: A Proposal about Regulatory Arrangements for Certification in Australian Senior Secondary Schooling

Read the report: Framing Success for all: A Proposal about Regulatory Arrangements for Certification in Australian Senior Secondary Schooling

The report presents seven new directions for discussion and/or revision to the regulatory system that could be made if Australia expects its senior secondary certificates to support the new definitions of success that learners, teachers and employers want and need.

The new directions, synthesised from current innovative practice, recommendations of authoritative reviews, or advocacy by key stakeholders, include a focus on:

• valuing not just what you know, but how you know it, to what depth, and what you do with it
• standards that establish the level of progress attained to date, not pass or fail
• credentials that showcase not only ‘how good is this student’ but also ‘how this student is good’
• selection of candidates based on matching, not ranking.

The new directions are:

1. Provide a formal, national statement of purpose, and the learning goals for senior secondary education.
2. Ensure any senior secondary certificate meets the requirements of a clearly defined, unique qualification type in a Revised AQF.
3. Ensure that the design of any senior secondary certificate is based on robust common standards for reporting attainments, in any domain, expressed as progressions of learning related to Revised AQF bands in domain knowledge, domain skills and general competencies.
4. Establish learner profiles as the approach to representing attainment in senior secondary certificates.
5. Extend the repertoire of assessment and warranting methods used to include judgement based, standards-referenced, developmental and performance-based assessments rather than just standardised approaches
6. Support development of an authorising environment enabling issuance and warranting of a wider range of senior certificates operating within a universal framework.
7. Design senior secondary certificates as the necessary and sufficient guides for post-school selectors and recruiters.

The question guiding the work… is this: how might we in Australia develop better and trusted ways to recognise learning that enables every young person to thrive in learning, work and the community? (Milligan, S. Mackay, T. and Noonan, P. 2022)

10.5 – Google for Education (2022) Future of Education: Reimagining learning ecosystems

Read the report, including the ‘Ideas in action’: Future of Education: Reimagining learning ecosystems

The final, of a three-part report on the future of education focuses on reimagining the education ecosystem around the learner, using data to help inform decisions around teaching, learning, and measuring student progress. The report highlights three key trends:

• Upgrading learning environments - Investments in digital infrastructures are helping to create new visions of learning environments that blend technology, pedagogy, and physical space.
• Empowering educators with data - Greater access to data and insights helps educators determine which tools and practices are likely to have the greatest impact.
• Re-evaluating student progress - Rising demand for more meaningful ways to track and drive student progress triggers a shift towards faster, fairer, and more effective modes of assessment.

“Key to the success of any future learning environment is how technology is applied, and the conditions required to use it meaningfully.” (Google for Education, 2022)