Project „COMPASS – In support of students‘ competence assessment“
Project No. 2023-1-LT01-KA220-SCH-000156521
Project duration: 4th September 2023–3rd November 2025
Project co-funder: EU program Erasmus+
Project coordinator: Šiuolaikinių didaktikų centras (Lithuania)
Project partners:
RELEVANCE OF THE PROJECT
Reinforcing the development of a range of key competences is in line with the EU Council Recommendation on Key Competences for Lifelong Learning, 2018:
“The development of key competences, their validation and the provision of competence-oriented education, training and learning should be supported by establishing good practices for better support of educational staff in their tasks and improving their education, for updating assessment and validation methods and tools, and for introducing new and innovative forms of teaching and learning”.
Therefore, basing itself on the experiences of the last decade, this Recommendation should address the challenges in implementing competence-oriented education, training and learning.
Research shows that student achievements in Lithuania and Romania are not good enough and lack systematic growth (PIRLS, OECD PISA). The OECD’s “Education 2030” project’s analyses (Education 2030. OECD, 2018) show that certain personal qualities, skills and values are insufficiently included in the Lithuanian and Romanian Framework Programs, or are included of only one subject, or are not included at all. Although competences are very often referred to in the general frameworks of different subjects the above-mentioned data on students’ achievements show insufficient effective development of these competences.
Lithuania developed new school curriculum aimed to promote inclusive, high-quality education for all students. New descriptions of general competences have been created, but there is no evaluation system presented. Teachers (at pre-service and in-service) lack knowledge and skills how to plan, deliver competence-based curriculum at school and at class level. New curricula and a description of general competences entering into force from new academic year in 2023. School communities face a huge challenge not only to develop competences, but also to assess them.
While the competence-based national curriculum has been introduced to the Romanian education system over a decade ago, teachers in secondary education still focus on knowledge and content mastery, and are disoriented when it comes to competence assessment. They complain of too much content `to be covered`, and therefore claim that they do not have time to develop competences, although, in recent years, the national evaluations also are starting to focus on assessing competences. However, the overall education system – including pre-service teacher education – is still not systematic and coherent in preparing and assisting teachers to assess competences and support the development of students’ competences.
Finland is a model for many countries on how to focus on overall development of student and his/her competences. In Finnish education, transversal skills (competencies) are integrated into the national core curricula along the subject objectives. The competencies are taught and assessed within the subject assessment, but assessment is still a challenge.
PROJECT AIM
The project aims to support teachers, school leaders and other pedagogical staff in development and assessment of students’ competences, for the progress and success of all and each single student, and promote an inclusive approach to education.
This is to be achieved by developing and testing a universal competency assessment model at classroom/subject and all school levels.
PROJECT OBJECTIVES
- Strengthening the knowledge of teachers and the pedagogical communities on competency development and assessment in the EU and other countries around the world, based on scientific knowledge and good practice, through the development of a Compendium of summarized and tailored scientific literature and Report on in-country documents and existing practices.
- Providing a universal tool for assessing competences by development of a methodological Model and Guidelines for its piloting in partner countries.
- Supporting and sustaining a culture of professional sharing, mutual learning among teachers and pedagogical communities by teaching and learning together (nationally and internationally) and by putting competency assessment practices in a Set of best Practices.
- Providing Recommendations for teachers, educators, schools and education policy makers on competence assessment.
PROJECT TARGET
Primary target audience: teachers, school leaders and other pedagogical staff.
Secondary target audience: educational policy makers.
Beneficiaries: students of all schooling levels.
PROJECT INTELLECTUAL OUTPUTS
Rūta Girdzijauskienė, Päivi Nilivaara, Daiva Penkauskienė. (2024). Compendium
of Scientific Literature on Competence Development and Assessment
This Compendium of scientific literature is prepared for general education teachers to help them better understand the importance of developing and assessing competences in daily school life. Since the term “competence” is itself a confusing one, with several similar meanings, we first attempt to give a clear answer to what is meant by “competence”, “competence development” and what are its components. We also provide evidence and arguments for the need for competence development. Finally, we discuss possible ways of assessing competences and the evidence of their effectiveness.
Download LT, EN, RO, FI
Eglė Pranckūnienė, Päivi Nilivaara, Ariana Vacaretu, Maria Kovacs. (2024). Brief Review of Competence Development and Assessment Policies and Practices in
General Education. Cases of Finland, Lithuania and Romania
Competence education is at the core of the general education content in Finland, Lithuania and Romania, but each country have taken different approaches to developing and implementing a competence-enriched curriculum. In this paper it is explore the origins and development of the competence-enriched curriculum in each country, as well as the representation of competences in their national curricula. There it is also examined the challenges associated with competence development and assessment, and identify successful practices that can be shared and learned from. This review will contribute to a better understanding of national policy orientations and experiences of their implementation in schools and classrooms.
Download LT, EN, RO, FI
PROJECT RESULTS
It is expected to strengthen the provision of inclusive and quality education; to support national education reforms in partner countries; to improve the professional competences of project staff and participants; and to increase the knowledge and skills of teachers in competency development and assessment.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.