Hard measures for soft skills – podcast

Dr Andreas Schleicher, the OECD’s Director for the Directorate of Education and Skills, outlines the ‘21st century skills’ or general capabilities, why they matter and whether they can be measured

Summary

  • Dr Andreas Schleicher describes the range of social and emotional skills known as the general capabilities (or competencies) and why they are becoming increasingly important in a digitised world. He also puts the case for teaching these skills alongside more traditional competencies.
  • Dr Schleicher says that measuring these skills has become possible as a result of technological advances.
  • He says that developing social and emotional skills are critical not only for the workforce of the future but to develop societies that are more tolerant, better skilled and more able to adapt to a changing world.

Matthew Deeble, SVA’s Education Practise Lead, talks with Dr. Schleicher who was in Australia as a special guest for SVA’s sixth education dialogue, an annual convening of thought leaders, policy makers, and practitioners, about improvements to Australia’s education system.

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