Focus on Skills
The development of skills such as thinking skills and communication skills are frequently identified as crucial elements in preparing students effectively for life beyond school.
However, this is not enough to succeed in life. A 2007 survey of 400 U.S. corporate executives identified their top four requirements of new recruits as being oral and written communication skills, critical-thinking/problem-solving skills, professionalism/work ethic, and collaboration skills (Trilling and Fadel 2009).
Similar skills lists have been developed by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and are also the subject of numerous books such as The Global Achievement Gap (Wagner 2010). Even so, many of today’s students struggle with these basic skills of effective learning.
Approached to Learning
and Teaching (ATL)
This is why the IB emphasize not only traditional cognitive skills but also the development of approaches to learning and teaching (ATL), with special focus on communication-, thinking-, self-management-, research- and social skills.
Moreover, the IB also stresses the importance of affective and metacognitive skills, and about encouraging students to view learning as something that they “do for themselves in a proactive way, rather than as a covert event that happens to them in reaction to teaching” (Zimmerman 2000: 65).
All of the above make up the IB Learner Profile which are important attributes for candidates to become “self-regulated learners” (Kaplan 1998). Self-regulated learners can set achievable goals, pose relevant questions, reflect on their own learning, and make changes to their learning processes when and where necessary (Zimmerman and Schunk 1989, de Bruin et al. 2011, Wolters 2011).
Cognitive Skills
The term “skill” is therefore used in a broad sense in the DP to encompass cognitive, metacognitive and affective skills. Cognitive skills include all the information-processing and thinking skills, often called “study skills” in a school environment.
Affective skills are the skills of behavioral and emotional management underpinning factors such as resilience, perseverance and self-motivation, which often have a large role to play in educational achievement.
Metacognitive skills are the skills that students can use to monitor the effectiveness of their learning skills and processes, to better understand and evaluate their learning.
In the DP, as well as in the Primary Years Programme (PYP) and Middle Years Programme (MYP), these cognitive, metacognitive and affective skills are grouped into the same five ATL categories.
The IB Learner Profile and ATL
Although these skills areas are presented as distinct categories, there are obviously close links and areas of overlap between them, and it is intended that these categories should be seen as interrelated.
It is also the intention that these ATL skills should be seen as linking closely with the attitudes and dispositions identified in the IB learner profile.
The learner profile is the IB mission statement translated into a set of learning outcomes for the 21st century. It is an easily communicated set of ideals that can inspire, motivate and focus the work of schools and teachers, uniting them in a common purpose.
The IB's misson statement – a mission to create a better world through education.
