Key Skills in HE Geoscience Education

In response to requests from colleagues who attended the ESSD Symposium on Assessment in Geosciences (Birmingham November 11-12th 1998), I have set up this page to outline the national framework for Key Skills. Many delegates identified KS as being an important Learning & Teaching issue for their departments as we move towards the new millennium.

NCVQ KEY SKILLS FRAMEWORK

The National Council for Vocational Qualifications (NCVQ) defines six Key Skills areas:

Communication
Application of Number
Information Technology
Working with others
Improving own learning and performance
Problem solving

Each Key Skills area has five levels of attainment, becoming progressively more demanding in breadth, depth and autonomy. Each KS area, at any particular level, is called a Unit. Each Unit is sub-divided into 2 or more elements and elements are further defined in terms of:

Performance criteria (description of exactly what the candidate has to do)
Range (the variety of circumstances in which criteria need to be met)
Evidence indicators (type of evidence required)
Amplification (clarification of meaning of phrases used in Performance Criteria and Range)
Guidance (illustrative examples of how assessment requirements can be met)

This framework is highly jargonised and not easily transferable to HE. However, the important parts of the framework are the six KS areas and their respective elements. I have summarised these elements below and suggest that this may be the most appropriate starting point for us to attempt embedding KS into our HE courses.

KS AREA 1 : COMMUNICATION
Element 1 : Taking part in discussions
Element 2 : Producing written materials
Element 3 : Using images
Element 4 : Reading & responding to written materials

KS AREA 2 : APPLICATION OF NUMBER
Element 1 : Collecting & recording data
Element 2 : Solving (Tackling) problems (See Note 1)
Element 3 : Interpreting & presenting data (See Note 2)

KS AREA 3 : INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Element 1 : Preparing information
Element 2 : Processing information
Element 3 : Presenting information
Element 4 : Evaluating the use of IT (See Note 3)

KS AREA 4 : WORKING WITH OTHERS (See Note 4)
Element 1 : Identify collective goals and responsibilities
Element 2 : Work towards collective goals

KS AREA 5 : IMPROVING OWN LEARNING & PERFORMANCE
Element 1 : Identifying targets (goal setting)
Element 2 : Planning action
Element 3 : Following schedule to meet targets

KS AREA 6 : PROBLEM SOLVING
Element 1 : Identifying the problem
Element 2 : Identify alternative solutions & select appropriate solution

The use of the word problem here applied to mathematical questions and is only one of a number of generic problems covered by KS Area 6;

There is obvious overlap here with KS Areas 1 and 6;

Achieved by outcome & quality of presentation;

The elements in this KS Area are poorly defined and, as they stand, do not adequately cover the vast spectrum of activities for effective group/team working.

In schools, this framework works as follows. Candidates produce evidence (from personal, academic or work situations) to demonstrate achievement in each area. The evidence is then assessed (by qualified assessors) and the student either achieves or does not achieve at a particular level.

Each level subsumes the previous one so those students who achieve at Level 3 have also satisfied the criteria at Levels 1 and 2. However, it is not acceptable merely to demonstrate additional performance to move from one level to another; all performance criteria should generally be assessed in combination. Furthermore the entire range for any level, as outlined in the performance indicators, should also be met in full. In progressing from one level to the next, students should fulfil all elements of the relevant unit, e.g. to be competent at Level 3 in Communication, a student must meet the requirements of the elements Take part in discussions, Produce written material, Use images and Read and respond to written materials.

The HE entry level for KS is expected to be Level 3, with subsequent progression through Levels 4 and 5 (and maybe beyond) by graduation. This is a sweeping generalisation since many of our mature student entrants will have KS developed to much higher levels, for example as a result of their previous employment. Therefore, the system becomes difficult to manage and maintain. So, it is possible that we may need to identify new attainment levels or, alternatively, scrap the idea of attainment levels completely and just grade the students throughout their courses on criteria identified by our own staff teams. This area of assessment is the most complex issue for HE, particularly if we adopt the NCVQ approach which would require staff to become accredited KS assessors. I don't think that the basic framework outlined above is unmanageable (in fact most of us are doing this, at least implicitly, already), indeed we should be able to integrate the idea into our courses without too much difficulty.

I intend to update this web page periodically as issues arise but, for now, I will let colleagues digest the framework and perhaps come back to me with any questions or issues that need clarification. You can contact me directly on:

n.thomas@kingston.ac.uk
Tel: 0208 547 7525
FAX : 0208 547 7497

Neil Thomas
Earth Science Discipline Network

Useful sources:
Thomas, N., 1998. The future of Key Skills in Geoscience degree courses: Opportunity and minefield. Teaching Earth Sciences, vol. 23 (3), 108-111.

Key Skills Making a difference. URL: http://www.keyskillnet.org.uk and URL: http://www.keyskills.open.ac.uk/keyskills

For further information on Key Skills (generic), contact:
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