21st Century Inequality? Transferable skills and who learns them

Padmini Iyer & Rhiannon MooreYoung Lives, University of Oxford

CIES ConferenceAtlanta, 6-9th March 2017

@yloxford@p_iyer15@rhi_moore

OUTLINE

Transferable skills: introduction

Assessing transferable skills

Preliminary findings: who learns transferable skills?

Discussion

Learning quality at upper primary / secondary level: going beyond curriculum knowledge and foundational skills

‘Critically needed skills to enable success in terms of employment, health and personal wellbeing’ (Rankin et al 2015)

‘Crucial ingredient for disadvantaged youth to get and keep jobs’ (Moore & Novy-Marx 2016)

TRANSFERABLE SKILLS

TRANSFERABLE SKILLS

Transferable Skills (World Bank 2014)

21st Century Skills (P21 2015)

Transversal competencies

(UNESCO 2016)

India and Vietnam• Focus at system level: education policy

frameworks (UNESCO 2016)• Problem solving & critical thinking test

at Wave 2

Ethiopia• Less emphasis at system level• Language skills = more relevant as

‘transferable’ at upper primary level• Functional Amharic test at Wave 2

Problem solving & critical thinking

TRANSFERABLE SKILLS IN OUR STUDY COUNTRIES

Functional English

TRANSFERABLE SKILLS IN OUR STUDY COUNTRIES

‘Application of [English language] skills in purposeful contexts and scenarios that reflect real-life situations’ (OFQUAL 2011)

Policy demand in for all three countries

Transferable skill for higher levels of education and the labour market

FUNCTIONAL ENGLISH IN OUR STUDY COUNTRIES

Ethiopia India Vietnam

English as a MOI in school

English as a subject in school

Private tuition in English

Exposure to English at home and in local community

e.g. talking to parents, siblings, friends, neighbours

Informal life experience e.g. English magazines, English TV, using English online

  = All / almost all children

  = Some children, particularly those in urban areas

  = A small number of children

Exposure to English in YL study countries (Moore 2016)

Assessing transferable skills

ASSESSING FUNCTIONAL ENGLISH

Items graded against CEFR common reference levels: A1 (Basic User) to C2 (Proficient User)

Balance of skills and levels to suit each country

Common items tests on a common scale

Ability to compare learning progress across countries

Test of reading skills English assessment common items, Wave 1

ASSESSING PROBLEM SOLVING & CRITICAL THINKING

One-off test (end of year)

Problem solving • ‘an individual’s capacity to use cognitive

processes to resolve real, cross-disciplinary situations where the solution path is not immediately obvious’ (OECD 2004)

• Adapted PISA 2003 items

Critical thinking • ‘Skills such as inference and evaluation

which are applied to ill-structured problems, for which there are no definitive solutions’ (Kuhn 1991; Thomas & Lok 2015)

• Adapted CWRA+ items

PROBLEM SOLVING: SAMPLE ITEM

India (n = 112): 64%Vietnam (n = 176): 91%

Comprehension question: How long does it take to travel between two adjacent bus stops?

Level 3 problem solving question:

How much will the fare cost for the best route between Point A and Point B?

What is the journey time for the best route between Point A and Point B?

Partial credit: India (n = 112): 41%

Vietnam (n = 176): 52%

Full credit:

India (n = 112): 10%

Vietnam (n = 176): 28%

Preliminary findings: Who learns transferable skills?

PRELIMINARY FINDINGS: WAVE 1 FUNCTIONAL ENGLISH0

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kdensity

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Ethiopia India Vietnam

PRELIMINARY FINDINGS: WAVE 1 FUNCTIONAL ENGLISH

CEFR Level: A1Skill: Sentence construction

Mean % correctEthiopia: 60%India: 82% Vietnam: 76%

PRELIMINARY FINDINGS: WAVE 1 FUNCTIONAL ENGLISH IN VIETNAM

PRELIMINARY FINDINGS: WAVE 1 FUNCTIONAL ENGLISH IN INDIA

DISCUSSION & IMPLICATIONS

Who learns transferable skills?Are there inequalities in learning progress in Functional English?

Which schools add more value in terms of Functional English skills?

Problem-solving and critical-thinking skills / Functional Amharic: which students, schools; associated with progress in curricular domains?

What role do teachers play – links between transferable skills and teacher attitudes, classroom practices?

Beyond school: access to private tuition and Functional English, transferable skills?

FROM ACCESS TO EQUITY?

Equitable access to schooling: Grade repetition is a key issue to addressChildren who are over-age are most at risk of not completing basic educationNeed to understand more about the factors contributing to grade repetition: student background; private schools; policy

Equitable access to learning quality: How do we assess this within and across diverse contexts?Conceptualising quality learning: acquiring and applying new knowledge and skillsIdentifying key domains within each context and common domains across contexts

School effectiveness design: What is the contribution made by schools and teachers to students’ learning outcomes?

Thank you!

Any questions or comments?

Email: padmini.iyer@qeh.ox.ac.ukrhiannon.moore@qeh.ox.ac.uk

Twitter:@p_iyer15

@rhi_moore

REFERENCES

Kuhn, D. (1999) 'A Developmental Model of Critical Thinking', Educational Researcher 28 (2): 16 – 25.

Moore, K. & Novy-Marx, M. (2016) ‘Building an evidence based for the soft skills movement’, The MasterCard Foundation Blog, www.mastercardfdn.org/building-an-evidence-base-for-the-soft-skills-movement/. Accessed 03.11.16.

OECD (2004) Problem Solving for Tomorrow’s World: First measures of cross-curricular competencies from PISA 2003. Paris: OECD Publications.

OFQUAL (2011) Functional Skills Criteria for English. Entry 1, Entry 2, Entry 3, Level 1 and Level 2. Coventry: OFQUAL.

Partnership for 21st Century Learning (P21) (2015) P21 framework definitions. Washington, D.C.: P21. Rankin, K. et al (2015) Youth and transferable skills: an evidence gap map. 3ie Evidence Gap Report 2. New Delhi: International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie).

Thomas, K. and Lok, B. (2015) ‘Teaching Critical Thinking: An Operational Framework’, in Davies, M. and Barnett, R. (eds.) The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Thinking in Higher Education, 99 – 106. New York, NY: Palgrave MacMillan.

UNESCO (2016) Assessment of transversal competencies: policy and practice in the Asia-Pacific region. Paris: UNESCO.

World Bank (2014) Skilling up Vietnam: Preparing the workforce for a modern market economy. Main report. Hanoi: Vietnam Development Information Centre.