Secondary school students' understanding of the socio-emotional nature of the New Zealand Key Competencies

Abstract

In its 2007 curriculum, New Zealand introduced Key Competencies (KCs) that are intended to ensure students’ future participation in the economy, communities, and also to introduce metacognitive and socio-emotional dimensions to learning. The KCs also have important implications for contributing to students’ wellbeing and resilience. However, they are open to interpretation and have been conceptualised, implemented, and taught in different ways. This research explored students’ views of the KCs. Twelve students from five secondary schools were interviewed to explore their understanding and value of the KCs and their ideas for teaching them. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. Results show that participants value the KCs and interpreted them in a variety of ways, though they often failed to discuss the interconnection between the KCs or identify socio-emotional aspects of the KCs. Implications for teaching the KCs in school are discussed.