Technology and Key Competencies
Written by Dr Vicki Compton under contract to the Ministry of Education to support Technology in The New Zealand Curriculum.
Initial discussion of the relationship
The key competencies are a clear focus of The New Zealand Curriculum (2007). They provide an overarching series of competencies for all schools to embed in their school curriculum. This paper presents the key competencies and discusses how they link with technology education in a mutually enhancing manner.
Key Competencies in New Zealand
The key competencies are described in The New Zealand Curriculum (2007) as 'the capabilities people need in order to live, learn, work and contribute as active members of their communities'.
The curriculum identifies five key competencies. These are:
- thinking
- using language, symbols, and texts
- managing self
- relating to others
- participating and contributing
The Relationship between Technology and the Key Competencies
Technology, as an essential learning area, has a responsibility to work with all other learning areas, to ensure the key competencies are mediated into the classroom curriculum. The capabilities captured in the identified five competencies are all essential underpinning capabilities for the development of a technological literacy that is broad, deep and critical, in nature, and one that will result in increasing student empowerment for future citizenship.
Key competencies cannot be developed or evidenced outside of a context. Technology provides a range of diverse contexts, where students can develop their capability with regards to these five foci as well as use these capabilities to support their learning in technology. In this way, technology-specific Learning Outcomes and the competencies become integrated within the learning environment.
All aspects of technology education would support and be supported by an increase in sophistication across the key competencies. Examples of how the key competencies are embedded within technology learning experiences are discussed below.
