As the New Zealand Curriculum makes clear, the capacity to manage oneself confidently, relate to others, communicate articulately, participate and contribute and think critically have a direct impact on student’s wellbeing, learning and achievement.  

Today our students live in the ‘Knowledge Age’ that is rapidly changing where they still need to know things but also increasingly to make sense of the vast amounts of information available to them (on and offline). Each student needs to be able to locate, access and critique information, use it to make new knowledge and then communicate that to others.   

Below are the essential attributes/competencies as identified within education but more important by employers of the key skills they require from their employees.  

Relating to others: Ability to listen and share ideas while valuing other perspectives. 

(Listening, sharing ideas, valuing other perspectives, caring, show empathy, respects our differences, team/group work, inclusive, open to new ideas, considers feelings, works with others, is nice, accepts mistakes, honest) 

Using Language, symbols, and text: Ability to use a variety of mediums to communicate ideas. 

(Make meaning, communicate, writing, reading, symbols, text, verbal, digital, pictures, stories, images, numbers). 

Self-Management: Ability to follow instructions. Be on time and prepared. Has a can do attitude. Is reliable. 

(Following instructions, being on time, meets deadlines, prepared, on-task, motivated, setting goals, time management, resilient, perseverance, responsible for own actions, asking for help when needed) 

Participation and Contributing: Ability to join in and get involved. 

(Joining in, interact, makes choices, communicates and sharing ideas, discussions, accepting other opinions, includes others) 

Thinking: Ability to solve problems in order to; be innovative, show insight, create strategies, reflect on and make positive decisions about their learning.  

(Asking questions, solving problems, innovative, show insight, creative, reflection, making decisions, leadership, forming an opinion, fact v fiction, using evidence, apply prior learning, makes connections between subject areas) 

People use these attribute/competencies to live, learn, work, and contribute as active members of their communities. They are not separate or stand-alone. They are the key to learning in every learning area.

Along with a knowledge base, we endeavor to develop the whole learner to enable students to gain essential qualifications while also developing the attributes that will equip them to thrive in such a world.