New education sector buzz words are flying around these days. Terms like flipped classroom, differentiated instruction, cooperative learning and transversal skills have settled nicely into the global language of education.

New wave education terms sound good, but they’re also necessary to put meaning to a kind of learning revolution that’s recently come about worldwide.

Currently, and inevitably into the future, student exposure to web 2.0 tools, devices, and environments, invite new challenges and demands in post-primary education. Traditional instruction-based education methods don’t support today’s technology-driven, fast-paced world.  

This is why a reformation of education systems must come about in order to accommodate for 21st century learning, teaching and assessment and to enable students to thrive in work and life.

But back to the buzz term, transversal skills. These skills, also known as 21^st century skills, refer to a set of key competencies that are linked to achieving success in school, further education and work. They include the ability to think critically, take initiative, use digital tools, solve problems and work collaboratively. Skills like these cover a lot of ground when it comes to arming learners with the aptitude to succeed in the future.

You might agree that this sounds great in theory but how are educators expected to implement transversal skills into classroom activities, without a model to follow or tools to implement? And how are students expected to learn to develop these skills without qualified guidance and instruction?

 

The EU-funded project, Assessment of Transversal Skills 2020 (ATS2020), aims to tackle this issue and develop and implement new, transversal skills-related education methods and tools.

Running for three years (March 2015 - February 2018), ATS2020 is a large-scale pan-European classroom policy experiment and is set to collect data from 11 piloting countries (Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Croatia, Estonia, Greece, Finland, Ireland, Lithuania, Slovenia and Spain), from 250 schools, 1,000 teachers and 10,000 students.

With an objective of developing, assessing and evaluating transversal skills, the ATS2020 project team (17 partners from 11 EU countries) have created a framework which promotes the development and assessment of student transversal skills within assorted curricula.

Taking the form of a large-scale classroom pilot, the project’s framework is set to be implemented in piloting schools and offers participating teachers training on the development of transversal skills through a continuous professional development programme.

At piloting schools, the teachers will redesign their existing teaching plans to include digital skills and shape them so that transversal skills are actively used for the students’ in class work and out-of-class assignments. From the students’ point of view, the piloting will be part of their regular work at school and not extra-curricular activities.

This learning model is currently being implemented and evaluated in European schools and will eventually lead to policy recommendations at both national and European levels. 

There are a series of steps to the ATS2020 project, which will run over the project’s lifetime of three years. These steps include designing the pilot’s learning model, developing teacher CPD in transversal skills and evaluating the project’s results. Please see a step-by-step rundown of the project’s phases here:

Step 1: Design and develop the ATS2020 Transversal Skills Framework (inclusive of the comprehensive learning model) with a focus on key transversal skills.

Step 2: Develop the ATS2020 platform and technology tools

Step 3: Design a continuous professional development programme in transversal skills development for teachers

Step 4: Train and support teachers in classroom pilot implementation of the learning model

Step 5: Develop a pre and post-pilot testing and evaluation methodology

Step 6: Create a repository of innovative learning scenarios

Step 7: Provide a comprehensive evaluation report and policy recommendations in the enhancement and assessment of transversal skills in the classroom

The ATS2020 pilot project is particularly focused on ongoing assessment of transversal skills in the classroom with a heavy focus on formative assessment, student self-assessment and effective feedback.

A pre and post-pilot testing and evaluation methodology had to be designed by the partners for ATS2020 (step 5 of the project).

Due to the complex and large-scale nature of the project, a mixed-methods design is used to gather and evaluate results.   The ATS2020 research model follows a quasi-experimental and qualitative research design involving 250 schools, 1000 teachers and 10 000 students (10 piloting countries x 25 schools in each country x 2 classes x 2 teachers x 20 students per class).  The qualitative element of the project includes a student and teacher questionnaire and transversal skills test that is administered to students.

As project partners engage in the testing and evaluation phase, the following two research questions are considered and addressed: 

1. To what extent did the ATS2020 learning model promote the development and the assessment of the transversal skills defined for the purposes of the project?

2. How has the ATS2020 model on the development and assessment of the targeted transversal skills been implemented?

Answers to the two research questions will find whether the classroom pilot intervention was a success and conclusions will be drawn, not only on the outcome as a whole, but on individual aspects such as the development and assessment of students’ skills, the development of students’ and teachers’ attitudes to and beliefs on transversal skills etc. Second, findings will show whether the pilot intervention resembles a model that could be transformed into a scalable implementable policy that will allow for transversal skills to grow in various contexts.

The table below lays out what is meant by transversal skills. ATS2020 Transval Skills Framework aims to provide teachers and students with an innovative learning model which supports the development and assessment of transversal skills, which are to be embedded in teaching and learning.

Transversal Skills	ATS2020 to Develop, Assess & Evaluate
Autonomous Learning	Goal-setting, active participation, self-assessment, formative assessment
Information Literacy	Critical thinking, problem-solving
Communication, Collaboration	Listening, expressing opinions/ideas, teamwork, social & cultural understanding
Creativity, Innovation	Implementing ideas & taking action, thinking creatively, creating digital text
Digital Literacy	Developing digital competencies, ethical, safe & responsible use of ICT.

 

The main ATS2020 project outcomes for students, teachers and policy makers will be the following:

Students

• Opportunity to develop and self-assess transversal skills

• Develop skills for self-directed learning

• Use ePortfolios to support lifelong learning

Teachers

• Access to professional development training and a repository of pedagogical resources

• Share best practice and ideas

• Use digital technologies to support innovative teaching and learning

• Training in effective use of formative assessment to support student learning

Policy Makers

• Validated comprehensive model for student learning and transversal skills assessment

• Development of competence oriented innovative learning environments

• Impact evaluation and subsequent policy recommendations at national and EU level