Assessment and Recognition of Complex Competencies

For over a decade, the Assessment Research Centre has been at the cutting edge of international research informing quality, state-of-the-art assessment and teaching of complex competencies, including the competencies known as 21st Century skills.

In the face of changing labour markets across the globe, the mastery of such skills as collaboration, creativity, critical thinking and communication is increasingly becoming the focus of education systems to ensure that learning is relevant and that students of all ages are well prepared for the future of work. To succeed in disruptive, rapidly changing, global and technology-rich information economies, proficiency in these and other complex competencies such as enterprise skills and intercultural understanding is required.

Complex competencies have not traditionally been assessed or tested in the classroom and are often deemed difficult for institutions to measure, assess and report on. While the need to move from content-based to competency-based education is widely accepted, the assessment and teaching of these competencies is sometimes the source of uncertainty, with many teachers feeling ill-equipped to tackle the challenge.