'Adding value' is a new curriculum priority

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The concept of "creating new value" is a competency that will be included in school curriculums devised by the OECD, according to the former general manager of the Australian curriculum and now education consultant to the Paris-based organisation, Phil Lambert.

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Phil Lambert: "The world of work is changing. We want young people to be creative, we want them to add value to the economy."  

In this case, creating value could mean improving an artwork or piece of writing, or solving a problem or taking an entrepreneurial step that "leads to something valuable and leads to income".

In the face of falling literacy and numeracy in many developed countries over the past decade, the OECD has been developing model curriculums that can be used in many jurisdictions.

The organisation's Education 2030 Project started in 2015 by looking at a theoretical five-year-old and asking what the child will have needed to learn by the time he or she finished school in 15 years.

Dr Lambert, who is part of the working group, said the project had established five fundamentals: literacy, numeracy, digital literacy, health literacy and data literacy.

There is also a range of competencies that have grown and changed over the years.

One of the initial ones was "creative thinking" but in recent years that has been modified to "creating new value", which could be interpreted in many ways but reflects the idea that economic wellbeing is linked to social wellbeing.

"There are some key competencies we want kids to have: critical thinking, resilience and being engaged with lifelong learning," Dr Lambert said.

"These are the sort of things school systems want. But employers also want people who can be self-starters, use IT, and don't need to be guided.

"The world of work is changing. We want young people to be creative, we want them to add value to the economy."

He said the OECD recognised that a range of attributes was needed. This started with literacy and numeracy – "no one is talking about removing the core" – but in a complex world, extra skills were needed to survive and thrive.

"These are things like critical thinking, adding value, dealing with disappointments and setbacks and developing a sense of sustainability."

He expected these ideas to be incorporated in the latest round of state curriculum reviews – starting with NSW.