Changing Perceptions on Skills and Competencies in Asia-Pacific

With Asian students routinely outperforming European and American students in International assessments such as PISA, a common perception of Asian education systems is the over-reliance on testing and academic achievement. However, not all of their time is focused on academics. Many countries in the Asia-Pacific region are incorporating holistic learning and transversal skills and competencies into their classrooms. Transversal competencies, sometimes referred to as non-cognitive skills or 21st century skills, broadly refer to and encompass skills, competencies, values, and attitudes required for the holistic development of learners, such as: collaboration, creativity, resourcefulness and others listed above.

UNESCO Bangkok’s new publication, “School and Teaching Practices for Twenty-first Century Challenges: Lessons from the Asia-Pacific Region”, examines how different countries and economies in the Asia-Pacific region incorporate such transversal competencies into teaching practices at the school level. The regional research was conducted as part of the research activities of the Asia-Pacific Education Research Institutes Network (ERI-Net) in 2014-2015 with participation of ten countries and economies – Australia, Shanghai (China), India, the Republic of Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Mongolia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Viet Nam. Ten case studies were synthesized to prepare the report.

This was the second phase of ERI-Net’s examination into transversal competencies in education policy and practices. Contrary to commonly held views that Asian education systems focus mainly on academic achievement and success, Phase I of the research showed that Asia-Pacific nations embraced these transversal competencies in their national policies. This second phase of the study examined teachers and school leaders’ practices and perceptions of transversal competencies in the classroom.

Many of the schools and teachers that were surveyed from the various countries positively reflected that their schools and classrooms foster these skills. Key findings from the study indicate that schools incorporate these skills in their school mottos and that teaching and learning is becoming more holistic and student-centred.

For instance, Higashi Naruse primary school, in Akita prefecture, northern Japan, focuses its learning on “involvement”. The school leaders and teachers want students to open themselves up and learn through involving themselves in school work: with peers, teachers and the community. requires students to have not only interpersonal skills, such as communication skills, teamwork, initiative, and collegiality, but also many other transversal competencies, such as resourcefulness, reflective thinking, self-motivation, tolerance, and ability to resolve conflicts. Similar efforts were highlighted in the Republic of Korea, with one teacher remarking, “integrated classes and group activities have become the most commonly used teaching methods in Korea. These classes typically focus on developing holistic thinking skills incorporating music, arts, and Korean classes.”

One of the more important findings is the shifting role of the teacher. A teacher from the Republic of Korea explains it best: “In order for students to develop transversal competences, a teacher should play the role of the facilitator or helper who leads students with less advice and instruction to make student-oriented classes. In these kinds of classes, teachers’ questions and class management skills are very important to determine the classes’ success.”

Yet challenges still remain, among them effective implementation of these skills, training the teachers in how best to impart these skills in the classrooms, and balancing academic requirements against holistic development that is difficult to assess. As one teacher from Australia commented, it’s “too early to gauge change. Student change depends on teacher change, not just objectives written into curriculum documents.” A similar refrain was echoed by a teacher in Malaysia when asked about the presence of these skills within the curriculum: “actually, if you look carefully, everything about transversal competencies are already in the curriculum. The most important thing is how to translate the curriculum into action, how to implement it.” These examples highlight the importance of how teachers need to be prepared and supported to effectively impart these skills and competencies to their classes.

These findings allow for education practitioners and stakeholders in the region to better prepare for this important shift in education and learning, preparing students for the challenges of society and an ever-changing labour market. Overall, this report reinforces the trend within the region of incorporating wide-ranging skills and competencies in learning and it is illustrative of an important global movement that calls for the need for education to move beyond the acquisition of knowledge and basic literacy and numeracy skills.

This regional research was supported by the Government of Malaysia, the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (Japan), and the Korean Education Development Institute.

For more information on this publication, ERI-Net and its activities, please contact Satoko Yano [s.yano(at)unesco.org] at the Section for Inclusive Quality Education.

Written by: Mark Manns [m.manns(at)unesco.org]