Shaping future-focused skills

St Margaret’s current Year 4 students will be the 2030 Year 12 graduates.

Research from the Foundation for Young Australians (2017) has found that by 2030 it is predicted that the workforce will, on average, ‘spend 30 per cent more time per week learning skills on the job; spend double the time at work solving problems; spend 41 per cent more time on critical thinking and judgment; 77 per cent more time using science and mathematics skills; utilise verbal communication and interpersonal skills for seven hours a week each (up 17 per cent); and develop an entrepreneurial mindset due to having less management (down 26 per cent), less organisational coordination (down 16 per cent) and less teaching (down 10 per cent)’. In a bid to prepare and equip students for this predicted future, a new approach to teaching and learning has been introduced in the primary school, focused on developing the skills and capabilities they will need to navigate their journey through the 21st century – a journey that will be delineated by change, problem solving, communication and collaboration.

According to Assistant Head of Primary – Curriculum (PP-6) Kate Frewin, a skillsbased curriculum is equally as important as knowledge retention. ‘It is no longer enough for students to be taught facts and knowledge alone. Students require a combination of dispositions, skills and values to be successful lifelong learners. ‘It is our responsibility as teachers to strategically shape learning environments to ensure students have opportunities to develop transferable skills, such as adaptability, communication and collaboration, that will support them to thrive in their futures. ‘M-Spired is an approach to teaching and learning that was developed to allow greater opportunity for our girls to develop as thinkers, to foster greater student agency, and for the girls to apply their learning beyond the context of the unit,’ Kate said. Students in Prep to Year 4 participate in five M-Spired lessons per week with the focus on four broad concepts: Community, Discovery, Change and Sustainability. Interdisciplinary in its approach, M-Spired combines science, humanities and design technology in a conceptual and inquirybased framework allowing students the chance to make authentic connections, construct their own meaning and transfer their learning to real-world applications. The integrated approach allows students to see how ideas are connected while the inquiry methodology provides opportunities for students to question, be curious and be self-directed. In turn, students are immersed in a learning environment that fosters opportunities to solve real-world problems, to question, to harness and develop their creativity, and to develop their abilities as clear and effective communicators and collaborators.

‘The development of these critical, futurefocused skills is fundamental to nurturing St Margaret’s students’ journeys as lifelong learners and their transition to future study and career pathways, transitions they may make multiple times throughout their career and across several industries,’ Kate said.

Reference:

Foundation for Young Australians 2017, The New Work Smarts, Thriving in the New Work Order, viewed 7 October 2021, https://www. fya.org.au/app/uploads/2021/09/FYA_ TheNewWorkSmarts_July2017.pdf