General Capabilities in the Australian Curriculum for Economics and Business

Bronwyn Hession and Lyn KirkbyEconomics and Business Educators NSW

From a curriculum design perspective, establish the global and national context and associated rationales for the integration of general capabilities into the school curriculum

Analyse, at the ‘local’ scale, a case study with specific examples of student activities as vehicles for targeting specific capabilities

Explore the notion of Economics and Business curriculum as the ‘natural home’ for specific capabilities

Respond to the implications for practitioner action including further research, evaluation and assessment design.

The General Capabilities in the Australian Curriculum: an overview

The Global context: practice elsewhere, including the ATC21S project

General capabilities in practice: a case study using the Board of Studies NSW and the IB Middle Years Programme perspectives

The ‘natural home’ proposition: which of the general capabilities are ‘at home’ in Economics and Business curriculum?

The ‘so what ?’question: implications for practitioners and potential benefits for students.

An overview

‘a key dimension of the Australian curriculum’

Melbourne Declaration as the origin, essential, twenty first century learning

build upon state and territory initiatives encompass knowledge, skills, behaviours

and dispositions operate across the whole curriculum developed to inform the writing of the

Australian curriculum – will be revisited

a bridge between the aspirational goals of the Melbourne Declaration and the ‘on the ground’ discipline content in each learning area

 an ‘investment’ in the curriculum – to ensure that the knowledge and skills that students learn and acquire have some currency and value in contexts

 enabling opportunities to generate greater equity and access , enhancing engagement by making learning more relevant to the lives of students.

 your view? 

‘An increase of 1% in a country’s literacy scores relative to the international average is associated with an eventual 2.5% rise in labour productivity and a 1.5% rise in GDP per head’. (Public Investment in Skills, CD Howe Institute, Coulombe & Tremblay, 2005)

‘Major changes in the world …are placing new demands on Australian education’. (Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians, MCEETYA December 2008)

  ‘Making Australia’s Education System its Next Competitive

Advantage’ (Business Council of Australia Report, 2007)

‘The new funding arrangements will…make real the shared aspirations for Australian schooling … for the cultural richness, competitiveness and prosperity of the nation’. (Review of Funding for Schooling Final Report, December 2011)

‘Madam Deputy Speaker, we know that the best way for Australians to make ends meet is to ensure they can seize opportunities to work.’ 

(human capital theory, economic rationalism, utility of education, education or training)

 

  Most education systems have their own ‘version’ of general capabilities – core skills, capacities, attributes

key competencies…. Iowa has ‘Universal constructs: Essential for 21st Century Success’ (productivity is one)

a confident person who has a strong sense of right and wrong, is adaptable and resilient, knows himself, is discerning in judgment, thinks independently and critically, and communicates effectively;

a self-directed learner who takes responsibility for his own learning, who questions, reflects and perseveres in the pursuit of learning;

an active contributor who is able to work effectively in teams, exercises initiative, takes calculated risks, is innovative and strives for excellence; and,

a concerned citizen who is rooted to Singapore, has a strong civic consciousness, is informed, and takes an active role in bettering the lives of others around him.

Capabilities for living and lifelong learning

The New Zealand Curriculum identifies five key competencies:

thinking using language, symbols, and texts managing self relating to others participating and contributing

Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills Project

http://atc21s.org/

‘ATC21S is an international research effort aimed at empowering students with the right skills to succeed in the 21st-century workplace’

Sponsored by Cisco, Intel and Microsoft Development of complex online tasks – ‘like social media

games’

ATC21S is developing methods to assess skills that will form the basis for 21st-century curricula, with an emphasis on communication and collaboration, problem-solving, citizenship, and digital fluency.

Ways of thinking. Creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving, decision-making and learning

Ways of working. Communication and collaboration Tools for working. Information and

communications technology (ICT) and information literacy

Skills for living in the world. Citizenship, life and career, and personal and social responsibility

‘But PISA is set to change. With new technological and other innovations changing the way we assess students, we can now look beyond students' ability to read, write or do math.

So called “soft skills” like collaboration and communication have been notoriously difficult to assess. But now the Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills (ATC21S) project, which is sponsored by Cisco, Microsoft and Intel is breaking new ground in assessing these vital skills’. (Source: Changing tests and the PM’s 2025 goal for schools The Conversation http://theconversation.edu.au/, 21 September 2012)

How is learning theory reflected in the General Capabilities?

Knowledge arises from actions and people actively acquire knowledge for themselves (Flavell, 163: 82, in Millar, 2007)

Succession of new structures in the brain result from active construction of knowledge and learning (Inhelder & Piaget, 1958: 338, in Millar, 2007)

Disequilibrium between mind and environment motivates cognitive development (Piaget, 1977: 13, in Millar, 2007)

Saw communication as important in learning (Inhelder & Piaget, 1958: 338, in Millar, 2007)

Importance of metacognition- process by which individuals move to a higher stage of cognition (Piaget, 1971: 320, Flavel, 1963: 263, In Millar, 2007)

Influence most significant since the 1960s (Millar, 2007)

Stressed role of language and social interaction in the construction of knowledge (Vygotsky, 2004: 437, in Millar, 2007)

Significant contribution to constructivist approaches to teaching and learning (Millar, 2007)

Learning and cognitive development linked to active participation of the learner- talking and writing facilitate learning (Kuhn & Hand, 1996: 123; Barnes & Todd, 1977: 15, in Millar, 2007)

Zone of Proximal Development: just beyond the individual’s intellectual comfort zone. Required for cognitive development (Vygotsky, 1978; 84, in Millar, 2007)

Interconnected Sequenced across continua

◦ Linked to changes in conceptual capacity of learners Recognition each student’s pace of

development, ‘prior experience, sense of self in the world and cognitive capacity’ (ACARA, 2012)

Operate across the whole curriculum◦ Need to be contextualised in subject areas

Constructivist frame◦ Connected to prior learning◦ Importance of context, e.g. culture

Making links in a case study context

Monte Sant’ Angelo Mercy College◦ Catholic Independent Girls School in North Sydney◦ Delivers NSW Board of Studies curriculum and

International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme curriculum in years 7-10

BOS and IB together already reflect significant aspects of the General Capabilities

We will look at◦ NSW BOS Commerce Syllabus◦ IB Middle Years Programme Learner Profile and

Areas of Interaction

General Capabilities IB Learner Profile

Literacy Numeracy ICT Critical and creative

thinking Personal and social

capability Ethical behaviour Intercultural

understanding

IB learners strive to be:◦ Inquirers◦ Knowledgeable ◦ Thinkers◦ Communicators◦ Principled◦ Open-minded◦ Caring◦ Risk-takers◦ Balanced◦ Reflective

The IB MYP Areas of Interaction can also be related to the General Capabilities

They are:◦ Approaches to Learning◦ Community and Service◦ Health and Social Education◦ Environments◦ Human Ingenuity

Organisation◦ Time management, self

management Collaboration

◦ Working in groups, accepting others, personal challenges

Communication Literacy◦ Literacy, being informed,

informing others Information Literacy

◦ Accessing, selecting and organising information, referencing

Reflection◦ Self-awareness and self-

evaluation Thinking

◦ Generating ideas, planning & inquiring, applying knowledge & concepts, identifying problems & creating solutions

Transfer ◦ Making connections,

inquiring in different contexts

Community and service◦ How do we live in relation to others? How can I

contribute to the community? How can I help others?

Human ingenuity◦ Why and how do we create? What are the

consequences? Environments

◦ Where do we live? What resources do we have or need? What are my responsibilities?

Health and social education ◦ How do I think and act? How am I changing? How

can I look after myself and others?

The K-10 Curriculum Framework Rationale Objectives

◦ Knowledge, understanding and skills◦ Values and attitudes

Outcomes Cross-curriculum content- significant

overlap

ICT Work, Employment and Enterprise Aboriginal and Indigenous Civics and Citizenship Difference and Diversity Environment Gender Key Competencies (there are 7…) Literacy Multicultural Numeracy

Refer to the handout that summarises BOS and MYP against the General Capabilities◦ Consider your own context◦ What could you add if you are in NSW?◦ Other jurisdictions? How much cross over for you?

Add comments in the blank boxes …and the National Professional Standards

for Teachers◦ Of what significance the National Professional

Standards for Teachers?

Handout includes 4 tasks

Overview sheet links tasks to the general capabilities

Activity: How might you use these tasks in your context?

Which of the General Capabilities find their natural home in Economics and Business

Education?

The inclusion of Economics and Business curriculum in the Australian curriculum is evidence of national consensus about the entitlement of every student to quality learning in this curriculum area.

Economics and Business curriculum has a unique and powerful contribution to make to the realisation of the goals articulated in the Melbourne Declaration.

Economics and Business education is a natural home for these general capabilities :

Critical and creative thinking – e.g.enterprise and entrepreneurship

Personal and social capability – e.g.consumer and financial literacy

Ethical behaviour – e.g. business conduct and the operation of governments

1. Claiming the territory – different battles in different jurisdictions?

2. Assessment and reporting (driving the curriculum?)

3. Programming – to embed or extract?

4. Opportunity cost of primacy of the capabilities?

ACARA. (2012). Draft Shape of the Australian Curriculum: Economics and BusinessACARA. (2012). General Capabilities in the Australian CurriculumBoard of Studies NSW. (2003). Commerce Years 7-10 SyllabusBusiness Educators’ Australasia Inc (2008). Business Education in the Australian CurriculumMillar, S. (2007). How Role Play Addresses the Difficulties Students Perceive when Writing Reflectively about the Concepts They are Learning in Science. Unpublished M Ed (Hons) Thesis, University of Western Sydney

Websites:http://www.ibo.org/myp/curriculum/interaction/http://atc21s.org/http://theconversation.edu.au/http://www.mceecdya.edu.au/mceecdya/melbourne_declaration,25979.html

Thank you !