 |
|
|
 Introduction
Generic
Skills
Worksamples
References
The Generic Skills program at St Catherine's operates from Kindergarten
to Year 10. It was devised to assist students to transfer
skills between the key learning areas in the Primary School and
subject disciplines in the Secondary School, and, beyond school,
into life long learning.
We initially arrived at an extensive list of
skills which students require by analysing past examination papers
in the HSC and scrutinising the outcomes required by the K-6 syllabuses.
Staff then pruned this list and arrived at ten generic skills which
were considered either most important or lacking in our students
at the end of the millennium. If we are successful in making
these generic skills part of a shared learning program, the need
for some will disappear. The list may well be different in
the future.
Already we are discovering that the explicit
teaching of these generic skills is aiding the transfer of skills
from one subject to another. The use of a common language,
scaffolding and cueing strategies is of great benefit to the students.
In time, we hope that the processes learned in
the Generic Skills program will be internalised and become automatic.
The Generic Skills processes are stepping stones, not ends in themselves.
The following information, work samples and programs
outlines the Generic Skills program implemented in the Junior School.
Further information on the Years 7-10 work can be obtained by contacting
St Catherine's School, Waverley.
The generic skills
 |
1. Following Instructions
The skill of attending to verbal or written instructions,
of understanding them accurately and organising behaviour
effectively in response.
|
|
2. Discussing
The skill of contributing effectively to discussion, clarifying
one’s own ideas in the process and helping the group
to draw sound conclusions.
|
|
3. Analysis
The skill of breaking a whole into meaningful parts in order
to classify, categorise, compare, show relationships or patterns
or create a hierarchy or a narrative.
|
|
4. Decision Making
The skill of evaluating options against the needs of the situation,
selecting according to sound criteria and evidence and evaluating
the selection objectively after its implementation.
|
|
5. Creating Solutions (problem-solving)
The skill of representing a situation or a problem in a way
that facilitates its solution, selecting an effective approach
and applying it reflectively.
|
|
6. Applying
The skill of putting into practice whatever has been learned:
a theory, a strategy, a hypothesis or a skill. It requires judgement
about the context and the appropriate methods and resources.
|
|
7. Task Management
The process of understanding a task and achieving it on time
and to an appropriate standard, which requires a composite of
skills, habits and values to be applied by the student whether
working alone or as part of a group.
|
|
8. Case Development
The skill of developing a coherent, logical arguments, substantiating
it with evidence and communicating it persuasively.
|
|
9. Reasoning (formal reasoning)
(Not in Junior school)
The skill of forming a judgement based on logic (not in Junior
School)
|
|
10. Research
The skill of locating, evaluating, selecting, analysing and
organising information in order to answer a question, substantiate
an argument or produce a finished product.
|
|
11. Evaluating
The skill of making a judgement of the worth of something by
assessing it against criteria. |
Other cross-curriculum skills
1. Computer skills
|
|
