Key competences for education

Carmen Guillen

2 minutes

key competencies or also known as "basic skills" They are those that are necessary and beneficial for any individual and for society as a whole. There is no established concept but there is a certain common agreement in understanding them as "The set of knowledge, skills and attitudes essential for all individuals to have a full life as active members of society."

Knowing this, where better to apply these key competencies than in education? According to the report DeSeCO (Definition and Selection of Competencies)It must be valuable to the entire population, regardless of the person's sex, social and cultural condition and / or family environment. Add that he must turn three conditions to be considered "key competence":

  • Be developed throughout compulsory education or training,
  • be transferable, that is, applicable in many situations and contexts, and finally
  • be multifunctional, insofar as it can be used to achieve various objectives, to solve different types of problems and to carry out different types of tasks.

We must also take into account the following characteristics:

  1. They are not directly evaluable.
  2. It is not a substitute for any element of the school curriculum.
  3. They are not minimal learning.
  4. They are not independent of each other, but are closely linked to each other.

Today, we can find countless proposals on what should be the key competences for education, however, there are some established since 2006, since years before, the European Council held in Lisbon proposed the establishment of them. It was as follows:

  1. Communication in mother tongue.
  2. Communication in foreign languages.
  3. Mathematical competence and basic competences in science and technology.
  4. Digital competence.
  5. Social and civic competences.
  6. Cultural awareness and expression.
  7. Learn to learn.
  8. Sense of initiative and entrepreneurial spirit.

It must also be said that these are the general ones. Then it would be necessary to specify between the proposals for the primary and secondary stages and some differences depending on the autonomous community in which we find ourselves.