This presentation by Julian Fraillon and Juliette Mendelovits from Research Conference 2015 considers assessment of general capabilities and cross-curricular learning outcomes such as literacy in information and communication technologies, creative thinking and collaborative and individual problem-solving. As the expectation for such competencies to be taught in schools has increased, so has the need for teachers and schools to validly and reliably assess student learning in those areas, and to report on them in ways that inform future teaching and learning. This presentation will examine the challenges of assessing and reporting on student learning and learning growth in general capabilities and cross-curricular learning areas. The presentation will explore approaches used in research to address some of these challenges and reflect on how these can be applied in the classroom.

2. Assessing General Capabilities
ACER Research Conference
Learning assessments: Designing the future
16-18 August, Crown, Southbank, Melbourne
Julian Fraillon
Director, Assessment and Reporting Research
Program – Mathematics and Science

3. Contents
• What are general capabilities?
• Challenges in assessing general capabilities
• Examples of working with/assessing general
capabilities
– Visible thinking
– ICT literacy
• What do ICTL outcomes look like?
• Summary
• Questions/comments

4. Successful learners who are able to plan
activities independently, collaborate, work
in teams and communicate ideas,
Confident and creative individuals who have
a sense of optimism about their lives and
the future
Active and informed citizens who act with
moral and ethical integrity
Melbourne Declaration, 2008
What are general capabilities?
1. What are GCs 2.Challenges 3. Examples (making explicit) 4. Outcomes 5. Summary

5. What are general capabilities?
• They encompass knowledge, skills, behaviours
and dispositions that, together with curriculum
content in each learning area and the cross-
curriculum priorities, will assist students to live and
work successfully in the twenty-first century
(ACARA, 2015)
1. What are GCs 2.Challenges 3. Examples (making explicit) 4. Outcomes 5. Summary

6. What are general capabilities?
The Australian Curriculum includes seven general
capabilities. These are:
• Literacy
• Numeracy
• Information and communication technology
capability
• Critical and creative thinking
• Personal and social capability
• Ethical understanding
• Intercultural understanding.
1. What are GCs 2.Challenges 3. Examples (making explicit) 4. Outcomes 5. Summary

7. What are general capabilities?
The Australian Core Skills for Work framework
comprises 10 skills organised across three clusters:
CLUSTER 1 - NAVIGATE THE WORLD OF WORK
a. Manage career and work life
b. Work with roles, rights and protocols.
CLUSTER 2 - INTERACT WITH OTHERS
a. Communicate for work
b. Connect and work with others
c. Recognise and utilise diverse perspectives.
CLUSTER 3 - GET THE WORK DONE
a. Plan and organise
b. Make decisions
c. Identify and solve problems
d. Create and innovate
e. Work in a digital world.
1. What are GCs 2.Challenges 3. Examples (making explicit) 4. Outcomes 5. Summary

8. Challenges in assessing general
capabilities
1. Teacher lack of familiarity/confidence in dealing
with the area
2. Lack of available resources to support
assessment
3. Student familiarity with the discipline
4. Time/crowded curriculum
5. Influence of context on expressions of
performance
1. What are GCs 2.Challenges 3. Examples (making explicit) 4. Outcomes 5. Summary

9. Examples of working with some
general capabilities – visible
thinking
1. Working with staff on deciding what ‘thinking’
looks like across different disciplines
2. Staff observed ‘visible thinking’ across different
classes
Staff observed that the classes were not
set up in ways to allow students to
demonstrate ‘thinking’
Furthermore – there were important differences
between teachers’ and students’ impressions of
what was happening in classes.
1. What are GCs 2.Challenges 3. Examples (making explicit) 4. Outcomes 5. Summary

10. Examples of working with some
general capabilities – visible
thinking
What was missing?
Learnt
Curriculum
Intended curriculum
Assessed curriculumEnacted curriculum
1. What are GCs 2.Challenges 3. Examples (making explicit) 4. Outcomes 5. Summary

11. Making the discipline explicit – the
teachers’ perspective (planning)
1. Consider general capabilities in the context of
each subject
2. Plan to embed teaching and learning of general
capabilities in subject teaching
3. Make the connections explicit to students
1. What are GCs 2.Challenges 3. Examples (making explicit) 4. Outcomes 5. Summary

12. Making the discipline explicit – the
teachers’ perspective (planning)
An example from ICT Literacy
1. What are GCs 2.Challenges 3. Examples (making explicit) 4. Outcomes 5. Summary

13. Making the discipline explicit – the
teachers’ perspective (planning)
An example from ICT Literacy
Applying social and ethical protocols and
practices when using ICT
• recognise intellectual property
• apply digital information security practices
• apply personal security protocols
• identify the impacts of ICT in society.
1. What are GCs 2.Challenges 3. Examples (making explicit) 4. Outcomes 5. Summary

14. Making the discipline explicit – the
teachers’ perspective (planning)
An example from ICT Literacy
Investigating with ICT
• define and plan information searches
• locate, generate and access data and
information
• select and evaluate data and information.
1. What are GCs 2.Challenges 3. Examples (making explicit) 4. Outcomes 5. Summary

15. Making the discipline explicit – the
students’ perspective
(implementing)
An example from ICT Literacy
• Don’t assume that by having students complete
work on a digital device that it will improve their
ICT literacy.
• Sophia once showed me a spectacular
presentation she had spent two hours making
using the 20 French words she was required to
learn for homework.
What does this tell me about her ICT Literacy?
1. What are GCs 2.Challenges 3. Examples (making explicit) 4. Outcomes 5. Summary

16. Making the discipline explicit – the
students’ perspective
(implementing)
An example from ICT Literacy
When having students complete work on a digital device,
plan for and give them feedback on their use of ICT (as
relevant to the task) in ways that may include:
– How efficiently relevant digital information was sought
and located;
– How effectively students’ evaluated the relevance and
credibility of digital information;
– What students did to validate the accuracy of digital
information;
– How effectively students used software to construct
digital work products (e.g. presentations, documents,
images and diagrams); and
– How well students demonstrated consideration of
audience and purpose in constructing a digital work
product.
1. What are GCs 2.Challenges 3. Examples (making explicit) 4. Outcomes 5. Summary

17. Making the discipline explicit – the
students’ perspective
(implementing)
An example from ICILS – a task
1. What are GCs 2.Challenges 3. Examples (making explicit) 4. Outcomes 5. Summary

18. Making the discipline explicit – the
students’ perspective
(implementing)

19. Making the discipline explicit – the
students’ perspective
(implementing)

20. Making the discipline explicit – the
students’ perspective
(implementing)
An example from ICILS – scoring foci
Element Focus Characteristic
Title Role Position and formatting
Images Layout Alignment and size
Text Information design Formatting and layout to show role
Text Contrast Contrast between text and background
Colour Consistency Use of colour to show role
Images Selection Relevance of images to text
Text Adaptation Copy/paste versus rephrase
Text Purpose Selected information meets purpose
Poster Persuasiveness Attempt to persuade viewers to participate
Poster Use of page Full page used or not
1. What are GCs 2.Challenges 3. Examples (making explicit) 4. Outcomes 5. Summary

21. What do ICTL outcomes look like?
Fifty per cent of Australian Year 6 students (based on 2011
data) and 76 per cent of Australian Year 8 students (based on
2013 data) can at least:1
• complete basic and explicit information- gathering and
management tasks
• locate explicit information from within given electronic
sources
• make basic edits, and add content to existing information
products in response to specific instruction
• create simple information products that show consistency of
design and adherence to layout conventions
• demonstrate awareness of mechanisms for protecting
personal information and some consequences of public
access to personal information.
(ICILS Level 2)
1. What are GCs 2.Challenges 3. Examples (making explicit) 4. Outcomes 5. Summary
1 From Gebhardt, E & Fraillon, J Equating the national Australian and international computer and information literacy tests and
examining growth from Year 6 to Year 8 and Year 10. Presented to the IEA International Research Conference , Cape Town South
Africa, June, 2015.

22. What do ICTL outcomes look like?
Fifty-six percent of Australian Year 10 (based on 2011 data) students
can at least:
• demonstrate the capacity to work independently when using
computers as information-gathering and management tools
• select the most appropriate information source to meet a specified
purpose
• retrieve information from given electronic sources to answer
concrete questions
• follow instructions to use conventionally recognized software
commands to edit, add content to, and reformat information
products
• recognize that the credibility of web-based information can be
influenced by the identity, expertise, and motives of the creators of
the information.
(ICILS Level 3)
1. What are GCs 2.Challenges 3. Examples (making explicit) 4. Outcomes 5. Summary
1 From Gebhardt, E & Fraillon, J Equating the national Australian and international computer and information literacy tests and
examining growth from Year 6 to Year 8 and Year 10. Presented to the IEA International Research Conference , Cape Town South
Africa, June, 2015.

23. In summary
For each of the general capabilities (by any definition):
• Literacy
• Numeracy
• Information and communication technology capability
• Critical and creative thinking
• Personal and social capability
• Ethical understanding
• Intercultural understanding.
Make the discipline explicit
• Plan activities/tasks that allow for the expression of the capability
• Include references to it in teaching (don’t assume it will be imbued)
• Include relevant criteria in assessment
• Provide feedback to students
• Monitor progress and plan further activities/learning programs
accordingly
1. What are GCs 2.Challenges 3. Examples (making explicit) 4. Outcomes 5. Summary

24. Questions/comments