People use these competencies to live, learn, work, and contribute as active members of their communities. More complex than skills, the competencies draw also on knowledge, attitudes, and values in ways that lead to action. They are not separate or stand-alone. They are the key to learning in every learning area.
The development of the competencies is both an end in itself (a goal) and the means by which other ends are achieved. Successful learners make use of the competencies in combination with all the other resources available to them. These include personal goals, other people, community knowledge and values, cultural tools (language, symbols, and texts), and the knowledge and skills found in different learning areas. As they develop the competencies, successful learners are also motivated to use them, recognising when and how to do so and why.
Opportunities to develop the competencies occur in social contexts. People adopt and adapt practices that they see used and valued by those closest to them, and they make these practices part of their own identity and expertise.
The competencies continue to develop over time, shaped by interactions with people, places, ideas, and things. Students need to be challenged and supported to develop them in contexts that are increasingly wide-ranging and complex.
Thinking is about using creative, critical, and metacognitive processes
to make sense of information, experiences, and ideas. These processes
can be applied to purposes such as developing understanding, making
decisions, shaping actions, or constructing knowledge. Intellectual
curiosity is at the heart of this competency.
Students who are competent thinkers and problem-solvers actively seek,
use, and create knowledge. They reflect on their own learning, draw on
personal knowledge and intuitions, ask questions, and challenge the
basis of assumptions and perceptions.
Using language, symbols, and texts is about working with and making
meaning of the codes in which knowledge is expressed. Languages and
symbols are systems for representing and communicating information,
experiences, and ideas. People use languages and symbols to produce
texts of all kinds: written, oral/aural, and visual; informative and
imaginative; informal and formal; mathematical, scientific, and
technological.
Students who are competent users of language, symbols, and texts can
interpret and use words, number, images, movement, metaphor, and
technologies in a range of contexts. They recognise how choices of
language, symbol, or text affect people’s understanding and the ways in
which they respond to communications. They confidently use ICT
(including, where appropriate, assistive technologies) to access and
provide information and to communicate with others.
This competency is associated with self-motivation, a “can-do” attitude,
and with students seeing themselves as capable learners. It is integral
to self-assessment.
Students who manage themselves are enterprising, resourceful, reliable,
and resilient. They establish personal goals, make plans, manage
projects, and set high standards. They have strategies for meeting
challenges. They know when to lead, when to follow, and when and how to
act independently.
Relating to others is about interacting effectively with a diverse range
of people in a variety of contexts. This competency includes the
ability to listen actively, recognise different points of view,
negotiate, and share ideas.
Students who relate well to others are open to new learning and able to
take different roles in different situations. They are aware of how
their words and actions affect others. They know when it is appropriate
to compete and when it is appropriate to co-operate. By working
effectively together, they can come up with new approaches, ideas, and
ways of thinking.
This competency is about being actively involved in communities.
Communities include family, whanau, and school and those based, for
example, on a common interest or culture. They may be drawn together for
purposes such as learning, work, celebration, or recreation. They may
be local, national, or global. This competency includes a capacity to
contribute appropriately as a group member, to make connections with
others, and to create opportunities for others in the group.
Students who participate and contribute in communities have a sense of
belonging and the confidence to participate within new contexts. They
understand the importance of balancing rights, roles, and
responsibilities and of contributing to the quality and sustainability
of social, cultural, physical, and economic environments.