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Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER)

Curriculum and Instruction

General capabilities

Articles 1 - 7 of 7

Full-Text Articles in Education

Assessment Of General Capabilities: Skills For The 21st-Century Learner. Final Report, Claire Scoular, Dara Ramalingam, Daniel Duckworth, Jonathan Heard Jul 2020

Assessment Of General Capabilities: Skills For The 21st-Century Learner. Final Report, Claire Scoular, Dara Ramalingam, Daniel Duckworth, Jonathan Heard

Assessment and Reporting

This report describes a project of the Centre for Assessment Reform and Innovation (CARI) at the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) to develop an approach for teaching and assessing general capabilities, also known as 21st century skills, in the classroom. The report is divided into two parts. Part one presents an overview of ACER’s approach to skills development. This approach is underpinned by the identification of three evident needs: to understand development, to monitor growth, and to ensure alignment across curriculum, assessment, and pedagogy. Part Two outlines how the approach is applied in the context of assessment. An assessment …


Creative Thinking: Skill Development Framework, Dara Ramalingam, Prue Anderson, Daniel Duckworth, Claire Scoular, Jonathan Heard Jun 2020

Creative Thinking: Skill Development Framework, Dara Ramalingam, Prue Anderson, Daniel Duckworth, Claire Scoular, Jonathan Heard

Assessment and Reporting

The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) has reviewed the extensive literature on creative thinking and developed both a definition and a framework that synthesise and harmonise existing theory and research on creative thinking. This framework has been developed to address the challenges associated with teaching and assessing creative thinking. It outlines creative thinking processes along prescribed strands and aspects informed by a sound evidentiary basis. The aspects contained within the framework are designed to provide foci for teaching and the basis of assessment. ACER’s creative thinking framework identifies key factors that underpin the development of creative thinking with a …


Collaboration: Definition And Structure, Claire Scoular, Daniel Duckworth, Jonathan Heard, Dara Ramalingam Feb 2020

Collaboration: Definition And Structure, Claire Scoular, Daniel Duckworth, Jonathan Heard, Dara Ramalingam

Assessment and Reporting

The definition of any skill or construct is essential prior to the assessment, teaching, or development of pedagogical resources in relation to the skill. The ACER collaboration framework is designed to support researchers and educators with a clear definitional model from which to base their understanding and development of the skill. This collaboration framework has been developed to address the challenges associated with teaching and assessing collaboration. While there are many definitions of the skill, which are outlined in the first part of this document, few provide a means to operationalise collaboration in the classroom. This framework is designed to …


Creative Thinking: Definition And Structure, Dara Ramalingam, Prue Anderson, Daniel Duckworth, Claire Scoular, Jonathan Heard Feb 2020

Creative Thinking: Definition And Structure, Dara Ramalingam, Prue Anderson, Daniel Duckworth, Claire Scoular, Jonathan Heard

Assessment and Reporting

In recent years there has been an increasing recognition that creativity and creative thinking should be fostered as valued outcomes of schooling, either in their own right, or as part of a set of so-called ‘21st-century skills’. While the importance of creative thinking is now widely accepted, it remains the case that there is a lack of agreement regarding a definition of creative thinking, nor is there a universally adopted framework to guide its teaching and assessment. It is in this context that the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) has reviewed the extensive literature on creative thinking and developed …


Changing Priorities? The Role Of General Capabilities In The Curriculum, Paul R. Weldon Feb 2019

Changing Priorities? The Role Of General Capabilities In The Curriculum, Paul R. Weldon

NSW Curriculum Review

This background paper takes a brief look at the history of the development of general capabilities in Australia, including in the vocational and higher education sectors, and the current state of play. It then considers some of the issues inherent in what has been called the skills movement, and the incorporation of skills into the curriculum internationally.


Assessing General Capabilities, Julian Fraillon, Juliette Mendelovits Aug 2015

Assessing General Capabilities, Julian Fraillon, Juliette Mendelovits

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

There is growing interest in general capabilities and cross-curricular learning outcomes such as literacy in information and communication technologies, creative thinking and collaborative and individual problem-solving. As the expectation for such competencies to be taught in schools has increased, so has the need for teachers and schools to validly and reliably assess student learning in those areas, and to report on them in ways that teaching and learning. In this presentation examine the challenges of assessing on student learning and learning growth capabilities and cross-curricular learning present approaches used in research some of these challenges and reflect can be applied …


Acer Research Conference Proceedings (2015), Acer Aug 2015

Acer Research Conference Proceedings (2015), Acer

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

It is indeed timely that Research Conference 2015 addresses the theme Learning Assessments: Designing the future. It is six years since our Research Conference considered issues in assessment, and the landscape is being significantly transformed. Not only is Australia’s school curriculum changing, but related issues of teaching quality and assessment practice are hot topics here and in many other countries. This transforming landscape includes changes in thinking about the fundamental purposes of assessment; growing demands for the assessment of a broader range of student skills and capabilities; and new technologies that allow us to gather and visualise information about student …