The National Education Policy or NEP, approved by the Union Cabinet in 2020, led to a strong discussion around competency-based education. There is a realisation that students should learn how to apply their knowledge in real life. In a world constantly marked by transition — climate change, rapid innovations in technology and an ever-evolving culture of work — this warrants a rethink of how education can prepare children for the future.
Recognising this need, the NEP envisioned a school education ecosystem wherein children don’t just learn but learn how to learn. Thus the shift from content-focussed curriculum and assessments to competency-based curriculum. It mandates that skills and values be identified across all domains and stages of learning, and assessment tools aligned with learning outcomes, capabilities and dispositions.
The NCERT drafted national curricular frameworks for the foundational stage (NCF-FS) and school education (NCF-SE). At the core is this movement from knowledge to competency and skills. While there are ongoing efforts to implement this process through bodies such as the National Assessment Centre PARAKH at NCERT and by states, a critical piece in this shift is that of curriculum and how it is implemented in classrooms.
The idea that education should focus on competencies and prepare children for real-
life situations is not new. In 1899, in the book The School and Society, John Dewey argued that education served a purpose beyond individualistic development of a child; it was socially significant and included a process of learning how to live.
Over the next century, education reforms in various countries including India conceptualised learning within the wider local and global context. But what came to the fore was a disconnect between classroom and real life.
The effects of this disconnect have been stark — students getting through primary school without basic reading, writing, speaking, or arithmetic skills; lack of focus on the socio-emotional well-being of students leading to adverse impact on their mental health and early burnout; lack of interpersonal skills and so on.
Here is an attempt to unpack some crucial changes in curricula that can enable the shift to competency-focussed classrooms and, consequently, skills at the centre of student learning.
First, the leveraging of local and regional contexts as learning resources. With the NCF providing guidance on mapping competencies and skills as learning outcomes, there is a need to further contextualise these. For instance, Nagaland, which has an abundance of natural resources, cultural diversity and challenging terrain, would have a different lesson plan and classroom pedagogy compared to Haryana, a landlocked state with a strong agrarian economy and vibrant sporting culture.
Second, acknowledging the role of the teacher in translating curricular goals to learning outcomes. Knowledge-based, content-focussed training modules are not adequate to prepare teachers for multidisciplinary, skill-based, competency-focussed teaching. For instance, it will not be sufficient for maths teachers to know about the latest pedagogical innovation or teaching resource; they would need to convey the use of mathematical concepts to analyse survey data and manage finances.
Third, finding ways for curriculum and assessments to actively inform one another. Despite multiple efforts, the use of assessment data to inform classroom pedagogy and practices is limited. There is a tendency to represent assessment data in highly complex formats that often do not speak to teachers and other stakeholders. Going back to the purpose of assessments is critical. Teachers often gauge whether students are able to comprehend a lesson with simple, intuitive techniques — a quiz in the middle of a lesson, peer teaching or even the look on students’ faces. For competency-based education, re-linking assessments to continuous classroom processes is imperative.
Fourth, conceptualising monitoring as a part of the implementation process. We must balance administrative and academic monitoring without neglecting either one. A comprehensive strategy would include self-reflection along with peer and supervisory support.
Fifth, while designing curricula and planning for implementation, it may be helpful to reflect on whether it offers children a blend of what they know, see, experience and what they do not. Does it view parents and families as silent spectators or active contributors to learning? What kind of scope does it create for children to learn from the community and bring back those learnings into the classroom?
American theorist Russel Ackoff once said, “A system is never the sum of its parts, it is the product of their interaction”. How we design and manoeuvre the interaction between policy, processes, practice and people shall craft the story of how children experience the curriculum.
The writer has been a teacher and teacher educator. She is currently an advisor with a consulting firm
