EDUCATION FOR ENTERPRISE AND EMPOWERMENT: THE IMPORTANCE OF COGNITIVE SKILLS FOR SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOODS AND BETTER FUTURESSTEPHEN BAYLEY16 SEPTEMBER 2015

UNDERSTANDING COGNITIVE SKILLS

Soft

Catalytic

21st Century

Core

Life

Affective Cognitive

Transferable

?

BLOOM’S TAXONOMY

Adapted from Overbaugh and Schultz, n.d.

Eval.

Synthesis

Analysis

Application

Comprehension

Knowledge

Original Version

Creating

Evaluating

Analysing

Applying

Understanding

Remembering

New Version

THE VALUE OF COGNITIVE SKILLS

Economic

Social

Innovation for sustainable enterprise and livelihoods

Flexible workforces able to adapt to evolving conditions

Identify commercial risks and understand client needs

Empowerment for proactive participation

Empathy for tolerance, inclusion and social cohesion

Plan lives and mitigate personal risks

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Perspectives among agencies and NGOs in Kigali, Rwanda in 2012

Nine semi-structured interviews

Mix of participants – gender, nationality

Focused on basic education

Human capital framework

FINDINGS – INTERPLAY WITH QUALITY

Learning Quality

Cognitive Skill Development

Curr

icul

um

Peda

gogy

Mat

eria

ls

Lear

ning

As

sess

men

t

FINDINGS – RWANDAN ENABLERSPolitical• Government dynamism, commitment and motivation to build human capital• Establishment of the Rwanda Education Board to unify quality initiatives• Rising profile of quality and creation of the Quality Implementation Working

Group

Cultural• Universal reach of Kinyarwanda as national language

Educational• Stated preference for learner-centred teaching• Increased availability of learning aids, including textbooks and ICT

FINDINGS – DISABLERS

Political• Ambiguous nature of skills and uncertainty around their development in children• Resource constraints:

• Human – technical capacity, turnover of staff, need for more diverse actors• Financial – stretched system, competing priorities – preference for tangible

investments, language of instruction change, twelve-year basic education

Cultural• Hierarchical society with a preference for conformity and uniformity • Little encouragement for creativity, proactive problem solving or dissent

Educational• Limited global understanding around cognitive development in children• Need for effective coordination – curriculum, teacher training, assessment• Teaching constraints – low capacity/questionable skills, poor conditions, few

incentives, over-reliance on teacher-centred methodologies, subject specialists• Assessment practices – teaching to the test

OPPORTUNITIES IN RWANDA TODAY

© UNICEF Rwanda/2013/Mugabe

SO WHAT?

Cognitive skills warrant greater prominence in education policies and competency-based curricula

Their development should be nurtured in early schooling and not limited to secondary, tertiary or technical education

The demand for such skills will only increase given the need for job creation and exponential growth in global knowledge

WHERE NEXT?

Research, understand and value cognitive skills

Promote their importance to planners, policymakers and parents

Review curricula, teacher training, assessment and early childhood education

THANK YOU

www.camb-ed.com

IMPROVINGEDUCATIO

NQUALITYWORLDWI

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