Picture the ‘Scales of Justice’, and in either scale you place what you would like your student, child, grandchild to gain through accessing education. On one side you have the knowledge, skills, and understanding; and on the other the habits, behaviours and attitudes.
What do we want for our children when they leave school? To be educated – to know the basics of ‘most’, and the deeper components of ‘some’. To have the qualifications to help them prove their academic accomplishments. And, to have the Behaviours, Habits, and Attitudes which will enable them to progress in an ever competitive world.
Currently I can confidently say that our education system achieves highly in offering direction and illustration of the knowledge and certification element; however is yet to realise how to provide teachers and young people with the opportunity develop and showcase all that they are, what they have achieved, and the range of potential that they possess.
PerformEd provides that essential complementary function currently missing. It captures the behavioural development and emerging habits which form the other half of an individuals’ catalogue of ‘who they are’.
Responding to life through hindsight is something which we often wish we could do, yet isn’t possible. However, when planning the future of learning and assessment, working backwards from a desired result provides us with a unique opportunity to apply additional complementary tools to increase the chances of realising potential and increasing outcomes.
Awarding of certification and the acquisition of knowledge and skills are vital elements for the outcomes of any form of education; but they can not form the ‘whole’ of what a young person either receives or shows from a day, term, year or life time of education.
Humans are made up of 2 complimentary halves. On one side you have the human capital made up of the knowledge, skills and understanding; and on the other you find the community elements of habits, attitudes and behaviours.
Currently both sides of this ‘individual’ are accounted for within a school or wider education; however, it is the human capital element which appears to demand more focus, time and resource. As a result, this is then mirrored in the pedagogical approaches in the classroom, the valued attributes of teachers, and in the measured outcomes of the student.
Over previous generations, we have valued the acquisition of knowledge highly; however as society progresses and technological algorithms grow in application, we are beginning to see the void this approach has left in terms of pedagogy, professional development, desired outcomes, ability to demonstrate an individual’s full capacity, and an individual’s capabilities to meaningfully engage in society.
Historically, ‘industrialisation’ has played its part in this fracturing of the individual and their educational entitlement, yet as we move away from this and into the 4th industrial revolution and consequential learning society it becomes clearer that a major restraint in fusing the human and community elements is our ability to capture, measure and illustrate the development of behaviours, attitudes and habits.
‘What is measured is managed’, and by providing complimentary functionality to capture, measure and illustrate behavioural change, PerformEd becomes the fusing agent which allows schools and teachers to robustly grow their community elements in teachers and students, account for their current growth which previously has gone unrecorded, whilst also enabling them to maximise on the potential that formal and non-formal education has to offer.
Neither learning nor development are consigned to the school walls or by the ringing of a school bell. Learning does not recognise the formal environment which we have placed it within and does not reduce itself to the learning outcomes which have been pre-set. PerformEd effectively releases the true potential of the learning or development activity and the individuals ability to grow. It provides real time assessment no matter the environment, equips the individual with the personalised approach which reflects their journey, and provides a non-intrusive approach to complement existing provision for certification.
Through the integration of behavioural frameworks, PerformEd captures the development, turns qualitative into quantitative; unifies learning and assessment as one part of the same process; and through the development of a ‘live portfolio’ provides the individual with the opportunity to illustrate who they really are, what they have achieved, and the potential which they carry with them – effectively shining an equitable light on both the human capital and the community elements which make up the ‘whole’.
PerformEd has been applied in multiple settings and in a number of different countries. It formed the foundation of a World Bank funded national education transformation program, and is now in action capturing 21st Century skills as part of an ongoing global pilot. Whether it is supporting schools to direct professional development through data-led intervention, enabling students to capture all elements of their learning, or empowering teachers through a sense of ownership and affirmation to drive their professional development; PerformEd offers you the means for accurate intervention, and the complimentary vehicle to enable an equitable approach to both human capital and community elements.
To learn more about what PerformEd can offer you, please feel free to contact us.