COMPETENCY BASED LEARNING AT WEST PARK SCHOOL
The key competencies are:
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Thinking -
Using language, symbols and texts
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Managing self
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Relating to others
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Participating and contributing
All people use these competencies to live, learn, work, participate and contribute as active members of society. They are competencies individuals will acquire throughout life NOT just in the classroom.
Key competencies draw on values, attitudes and indeed knowledge and encompass what we as members of society use to shape ourselves as the individuals we are. At West Park we acknowledge the competencies as the keys to learning in every curriculum area, consequently enmeshed in all learning contexts.
As valuing learning is defined as our guiding principle, over their time at West Park School, all students will be supported and explicitly taught to develop personal (and learning) skills/competencies to aid them in life, work and learning.
Competency based learning At West Park School will provide students with the intrinsic motivation to be lifelong learners and effective and valued members of the global community.
The competencies (life skills) take time to develop. The teacher’s role is to challenge and support students to develop competencies in varied contexts. They are developed in unison with the content areas of the curriculum, i.e. the teacher’s focus is on both teaching the substance of the curriculum, and helping children to develop the competencies.
Through the New Zealand Curriculum and key competencies, the goal for our students is to give them the skills required to live, work and contribute as active members of their communities. These competencies are critical to sustained learning and ready our students for their futures. While the school environment supports students to develop these skills, schools are only able to provide some contexts. It is up to the home to support the school by providing additional contexts for students to fully develop and have opportunities to apply these skills.