Education

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Browsing Education by Subject "Competencies"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Assessment Practices to Support the Development of Learner Competencies for a Changing World
    (National Education Collaboration Trust, South Africa, 2021) Eadie, Shirley; Webb, Karen; Opelo, Matome; Troy, Conor
    This policy brief recognizes the challenge faced by the Department of Basic Education (DBE) in preparing South African learners with the 21st century skills and competencies required for the future of work, and the consequent need for adjustments to the delivery of education to develop such skills. The document focuses on the need for updated assessment practices to support the General Education Certificate (GEC) being piloted in 2021. Five key recommendations are proposed to the DBE regarding the assessment of 21st century competencies ...
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    Competency-based Learning Programme
    (National Education Collaboration Trust, South Africa, 2023)
    To assist the basic education sector in preparing young people to thrive in a fast-changing world, the NECT Edhub began a multi-year researchproject in 2018 to explore how “21st century education” could be realised in South African public schools. The research project, referred to as the Sandbox Schools project, had a planned duration of 3 years. The Sandbox Schools Project included designing and researching a number of interventions intended to deliberately develop social, emotional, and cognitive “competencies for a changing world” alongside content knowledge in specific grades and subjects. The Competency-based Learning Programme (CLP) is one such intervention in the Sandbox Schools Project. The CLP, as well as other interventions in the Sandbox Project, was designed using an Educational Design-based Research (EDBR) approach. The EDBR approach involves designing an intervention, informed by theoretical insights and contextual knowledge, and iteratively implementing, researching, and adapting it in a learning environment, with the dual aim of strengthening the intervention itself and garnering further theoretical insights. The design of the research for the CLP was conducted in collaboration with the University of Johannesburg (UJ) Faculty of Education. The intervention design process was conducted in collaboration with Class Act Education Services and UJ, building on an existing structured pedagogy programme being implemented by the National Education Collaboration Trust (NECT). The overarching approach to intervention design was to acknowledge the intertwined relationship between content knowledge and skills, by developing competencies with and through the teaching of existing CAPS-aligned content, through relevant pedagogies and content choices. The CLP takes this approach to the Grade 1 Home Language curriculum, building on the existing literacy development routines and methodologies in the structured pedagogy programme. The CLP was implemented in 11 ‘Sandbox Schools’ from 2020 to 2022. An iterative mixed methods approach was used to explore teachers’ experiences and perspectives regarding the CLP intervention. Through analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data, the following insights emerged, each of which is discussed further in the research findings section of this report.
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    Infusing Competencies into Foundation Phase Literacy : the Competency-based Learning Programme
    (National Education Collaboration Trust, South Africa., 2021)
    In our complex and fast-changing world, there is increasing acknowledgement that formal education systems globally are not adequately preparing young people for life after school (Fadel et al., 2015), and that schools need to foster a breadth of competencies that will enable young people to better navigate an uncertain future (Winthrop, 2018). While the Brookings Institution found that the current South African curriculum contains many of these social, emotional, and cognitive competencies, it highlighted a number of challenges regarding the deliberate and systematic implementation of the competencies in practice (Care et al., 2017). In this context, the NECT EdHub seeks to explore how we can better equip learners and teachers in South African public schools with the knowledge, skills, values, and mindsets needed for success in the 21st century and beyond. The EdHub exists to promote, inform, and facilitate education programme innovation by increasing the speed and agility of learning about policies and practices relevant to education for a changing world. This work primarily involves iterative Research & Development with a small sample of public schools, and Advocacy within the broader education sector around the future of education. The Sandbox Schools Project is the EdHub’s flagship research project, that trials approaches to competency-embedded education in South African public schools. The aim of the Sandbox is to test these teaching and learning practices within the context of a ‘typical’ public school in order to gather substantial evidence on which practices and models are best suited to the South African schooling system. There are 11 schools participating in the Sandbox Project (10 in Waterberg District, Limpopo and 1 in Soweto, affiliated to the University of Johannesburg). These are quintile 1-3 schools that have volunteered to be part of the project for its duration.
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    Robotics & Coding Research Compendium 2021
    (National Education Collaboration Trust, South Africa, 2021)
    In recent years, the Department of Basic Education has actively explored incorporating robotics and coding into the national curriculum. In parallel to this process, with the hope of enhancing our collective understanding of integrating robotics and coding into teaching and learning practices, the NECT Edhub has collaborated with the University of Johannesburg in conducting 4 robotics and coding pilots in public school classrooms and with the pre-service teachers. Through these studies, it was possible to explore how robotics and coding may help build competencies for a changing world in learners, such as critical thinking, collaboration, creativity and communication. The exploration extended into preparing pre-service teacher with skills to integrate robotics and coding, as a tool, into their practice. This compendium is a collection of short articles sharing the emerging learnings from these pilots. This summary offers ten key insights derived from the four case studies presented in this compendium focusing the on areas of teaching and learning robotics and coding in the classroom and the need for teacher development.
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    Sandbox Research Compendium 2020
    (National Education Collaboration Trust, South Africa, 2021)
    The world we live in is in constant flux and has often been described as “VUCA”: Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous. In light of this, there is growing recognition that education systems need to evolve to better equip young people with a range of social, emotional, and cognitive competencies to enable them to succeed in an uncertain future. With this imperative in mind, the NECT’s EdHub was formed to assist the basic education sector in responding to the demands of the fast-changing world through research and advocacy. This work happens primarily through the Sandbox Schools Project, a multi-year research project that prototypes, trials, researches, and iterates interventions in 11 quintile 1-3 schools to learn about their potential for developing a range of competencies in learners and teachers. The Sandbox Project seeks to explore how we can deliberately, systematically, and demonstrably embed these “competencies for a changing world” (also called “21st Century competencies”) into teaching and learning so that all South African learners are equipped for life in the 21st Century and beyond. As the Sandbox commenced its first year of research in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the volatility and unpredictability of the fast-changing world and foregrounded the urgent need for education systems to better prepare learners and teachers for this reality. The events of 2020 also highlighted the importance of all components of the education ecosystem – including curriculum, the broader learning environment, the home environment, initial teacher education, and in-service professional development – coming together in support of a shared vision. The Sandbox Schools Project was designed with these imperatives in mind and, despite disruptions experienced in 2020, the team implemented and conducted initial research on several interventions in the Sandbox Schools. Key insights from the research are presented below, with more detailed articles accompanying this summary.