1 A list of the characteristics of the lifelong learner as contained in QSA documents can be found in Table 1. Many of the participants were unclear about the value the QSA placed on the attributes.
Introduction
Approach
Terms
The idea of (general) attributes of the lifelong learner
The position taken in the broad literature on lifelong learning and employability skills is that it makes sense to identify a set of broadly applicable characteristics of the lifelong learner. This position is made clear by the continued use of the attributes in a number of documents in these areas and also in statements related to educational purposes and school curricula in Australian states.
Current Representations of the Attributes .1 The attributes and the purposes of education
Identification of the attributes in curriculum frameworks
QSA attributes of a lifelong learner and purposes of schooling
Moving beyond the lists of attributes
Essentially similar concerns have been expressed in the early documents related to lifelong learning (e.g. Faure30), in the Mayer Key Competencies Report4, in discussions on employability skills. The lack of such context for current lists of attributes may well have contributed to the view that while the general attributes are important, they may not need to be at the forefront of the daily attention of teachers or students in the class.
Situating Learning
- The learning environment and the attributes
- Recognising the situation-learner transaction
- Environments that support the development of learner attributes
Since learning is a situated activity, in any analysis of learning and its outcomes, it is inappropriate to present only the influence of the learner's characteristics and not to consider the characteristics of the situation. Addressing these issues should serve as a stimulus to question whether attribute representations give adequate credit to situational influence.
The View from Research on Learning and Development
- Learners are situated beings (but must be able to move beyond the situation. 41-43
Representation of the characteristics of the lifelong learner must recognize the importance of metacognitive knowledge and metacognitive monitoring and control in learning. Representation of the characteristics of the lifelong learner must recognize the early emergence of the characteristics and be sensitive to the developmental characteristics of learners.
Representing the learner as an integrated being
People who design environments for students of different ages must be sensitive to the ways in which features change over time.
Recognising the connectedness of learning
The case for identification of the attributes
But the lack of recognition of the situated nature of the learner, of certain characteristics of self-regulation of learning, such as the motivation to learn, of the metacognitive aspects of the learning process, and of the differential developmental functionalities of certain attributes, are significant limitations of the learning process. the representations of the QSA (and other) syllabus. While we are reluctant to add to an already extensive set of attributes, given the opportunity to do so, we suggest that future representation of the attributes should take into account the items in Table 4.
Teaching of the Attributes
- Teaching about the attributes
- Teaching for transfer
- Teaching of dispositions
- Explicitly teaching knowledge about learning and teaching
- Valuing what is taught through assessment
In this respect, knowledge about teaching and learning lifelong learner attributes will need to be made clear to teachers and students as part of the knowledge that is assessed in the curriculum. The review of the developmental perspective described above suggests that the assessment of attributes should begin in the early years of schooling.
Issues Associated with Current QSA Representations of the Attributes .1 Should the ‘lifelong’ and ‘employability’ qualifiers be used when
- Why is there continuing concern about classroom use of the attributes of lifelong learners?
To be useful and meaningful, assessment of the attributes need not be a central component of a high-stakes assessment such as a public examination in the senior years. Explicit concern about the assessment of the characteristics should generate more explicit attention to the characteristics by teachers, students and parents. The recent history of the attributes associated with lifelong learning is about four decades old.
These possibilities also raise questions about how the attributes should be represented for students and teachers in the immediate future. This possibility should be welcomed, especially as some of the attributes are labeled as employability skills. On the contrary, a developmental perspective suggests that the characteristics are developed and are significant over the lifespan.
Teachers may consider the 'really important' part of the syllabus to be that which follows the introductory section describing the characteristics.
The challenge of representation
In order for the attributes to be linked to the overall curriculum framework, they must be presented in an integrated way, both in each curriculum document and in the developmental progression of curriculum documents. Translating; use of language; explaining the point of view; interviewing; being relaxed in front of an audience; gesturing when speaking; presentation of a lucid argument; structuring/organizing extended spoken text; using a wide range of knowledge and language to persuade and evoke; use of citation, citation and referencing conventions; the adoption of certain loan words that are used universally; persuasion; responding; using another language interdependence Participant in interdependent. Teamwork Dealing with interdependence; connecting; negotiation roles and responsibilities; making confessions; thinking about the views and opinions of others.
Knowledge and use of business and employment language; understanding local and global forces in the labor market; resume writing.
The creation of a learning culture
Conclusion: Part 1
- The Research design
- Approval Processes and Ethics
The ways in which teachers view attributes is seen to be a critical area for future investigation. We suggest that involving teachers in developing exemplars that describe and illustrate the uses of attributes will help develop a richer context for attributes than is currently provided in QSA documents. In Part 2 of this report we present teachers' perspectives on teaching and learning the Attributes of a lifelong learner as currently outlined in the QSA curriculum documents.
Do teachers find the attributes of the lifelong learner framework useful for guiding teaching practice and facilitating lifelong learning habits? What are the main difficulties associated with incorporating attributes into teaching and assessment? Do teachers consider the teaching and learning of attributes to be successful in their classroom and school?
What further support, if any, do teachers need to facilitate implementation of the attributes.
Teacher workshops, interviews and questionnaires
- Workshop Design
- Limitations
- Format for presentation of results
The workshop descriptions illustrate that teachers were asked to translate the attributes into practical representations, review QSA documents and translate the attributes into outcomes. For homework, teachers were asked to complete a questionnaire related to teachers' effectiveness for teaching the attributes and administer to a colleague. Teachers were also asked to provide examples of artifacts from their schools that illustrate the implementation of the attributes.
The very small sample of teachers in this study, from an initial call for teachers who expressed an interest in the traits of the lifelong learner, was intended to gather information from teachers who were knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the traits. One purpose of the workshops was to illustrate what could be done with the attributes if they were given high priority in school curricula. A second objective was to seek responses from teachers who were interested in the attributes but less involved in their explicit use.
The composition of the sample of teachers who formed the workshops allowed us to achieve both objectives.
Teachers’ Knowledge and Understanding about the attributes
- Research Question 3: How well-developed is teachers’ knowledge about the attributes?
- Research question 4: Which of the attributes are well understood, or not well understood, by teachers?
We asked workshop participants to rate on a five-point scale their understanding of each of the characteristics of a lifelong learner. We also asked participants to work in groups to clarify their understanding of each of the characteristics of a lifelong learner. I can overcome negative peer group and community attitudes that can affect students' learning about the traits.
I can create a supportive learning environment for my class as they learn about traits. I can help students use their prior knowledge to facilitate their learning about properties. I can help students apply their knowledge of traits in everyday life.
I can help my students connect their learning about attributes to other areas of the curriculum.
Teachers’ perceptions of the nature of the attributes
- Research question 5: Do teachers consider that any essential attributes are not included in the QSA list of attributes?
- Research question 6: Do teachers’ view the attributes framework as useful for guiding teaching practice and facilitating habits of
- Diversity
- Research Question 11: Do teachers consider that teaching and learning of the attributes is successful in their classroom and
That some schools have made lifelong learning attributes (or qualities) the core of their curriculum and/or mission statement is a testament to the perceived value of the attributes in guiding those schools' practices. It appears that [from the syllabus documents] the attributes are separate for Maths and English. In fact, the attributes are the same for all of them, but that gets lost in the presentation of the syllabus.
The independence and diversity between the schools represented at our workshops in relation to the adoption of the attributes was striking. If the purpose of including the attributes in syllabus documents is ambiguous, this may be related to workshop participants' concerns that the attributes are included in syllabus documents but not supported by teaching and learning resources. The answer to this research question first requires a consideration of the extent to which the attributes are explicitly incorporated into school curriculum planning.
Where schools have adopted lifelong learning frameworks to support their curriculum, workshop participants indicated that the explicit teaching and learning of the characteristics of lifelong learning is very successful.
Implementing the attributes
- Research Question 7: What explicit and implicit teaching strategies do teachers employ to enhance the attributes?
- Explicit incorporation of the attributes
- Implicit incorporation of the attributes
- Research Question 8: What strategies do teachers use for
- Research Question 9: What are the major difficulties associated with incorporation of the attributes into teaching and assessment?
- Time
- Resources
- The Ambiguous Status of the attributes
- Research question 10: From the teachers’ perspectives which attributes are, and are not readily understood by students?
- Research Question 12: What further support, if any, do teachers need to facilitate the implementation of the attributes?
- Opportunities for professional development
- Opportunities for teachers from different sectors and sections to meet and develop ideas together
- Further development of the QSA web page
- Parent and community education
- Assessment and Reporting
Doing so alone misses the idea of the properties of the teaching/learning process by a country mile (!). The attributes are the starting point and the KLA is used to develop each attribute. My first idea about the need to report the attributes came from this workshop.”
It is important that the students are part of the process so that they can also develop understandings and a value for the characteristics. At primary school level, assessment and reporting of the characteristics was seen as less problematic. Assessing students' achievement of the characteristics thus requires defining criteria for the characteristics.
For example, one school's teachers developed posters (during dedicated staff meetings) highlighting each of the attributes.
Implications for policy
- Recognition of differences in the way that Attributes of a Lifelong Learner are positioned in the school curriculum
- Figure 1: Three different conceptualisations of the place of the attributes in school curricula
- The potential of collaborative teacher workshops for professional development
- The value placed on the attributes by QSA
- An educational task for QSA
- Collecting a broader range of teachers’ perspectives
- Adapting the attributes to different contexts
- Developing resources
- The perceived assessment and reporting burden
Evidence from teacher workshops is that assessment of attributes may not take place in any of these locations in other schools. One possible way forward would be for the QSA to call on schools interested in innovating in developing lifelong learning attributes. The place of lifelong learning attributes in pre-service teacher education should also be taken into account.
The evidence from the workshops suggests that teachers are not clear about the position of QSA in relation to the attributes. And if the attributes are going to be used by most teachers, QSA has a significant educational task regarding teachers' knowledge about the attributes. It became clear that there is a need to develop materials that support the teaching and learning of the attributes.
Together with two colleagues, I am examining the status of the lifelong learning attributes addressed in the QSA curriculum documents. The second part covers the examination of teachers' views on attributes and their use in teaching. Are certain traits more/less developmentally important for your class of children?
