21st Century Inequality? Transferable skills and who learns them by Padmini Iyer & Rhiannon Moore Young Lives, University of Oxford presented at CIES International Conference Atlanta, 6-9th March 2017

1. 21st
Century Inequality? Transferable skills and
who learns them
Padmini Iyer & Rhiannon Moore
Young Lives, University of Oxford
CIES Conference
Atlanta, 6-9th
March 2017
@yloxford
@p_iyer15
@rhi_moore

2. OUTLINE
 Transferable skills: introduction
 Assessing transferable skills
 Preliminary findings: who learns
transferable skills?
 Discussion

3.  Learning quality at upper primary /
secondary level: going beyond
curriculum knowledge and
foundational skills
 ‘Critically needed skills to enable
success in terms of employment,
health and personal wellbeing’
(Rankin et al 2015)
 ‘Crucial ingredient for disadvantaged
youth to get and keep jobs’ (Moore &
Novy-Marx 2016)
TRANSFERABLE SKILLS

4. TRANSFERABLE SKILLS
Transferable Skills
(World Bank 2014)
21st
Century
Skills (P21 2015)
Transversal
competencies
(UNESCO 2016)

5.  India and Vietnam
• Focus at system level: education policy
frameworks (UNESCO 2016)
• Problem solving & critical thinking test
at Wave 2
 Ethiopia
• Less emphasis at system level
• Language skills = more relevant as
‘transferable’ at upper primary level
• Functional Amharic test at Wave 2
Problem solving & critical thinking
TRANSFERABLE SKILLS IN OUR STUDY COUNTRIES

6. Functional English
TRANSFERABLE SKILLS IN OUR STUDY COUNTRIES
 ‘Application of [English language] skills
in purposeful contexts and scenarios that
reflect real-life situations’ (OFQUAL
2011)
 Policy demand in for all three countries
 Transferable skill for higher levels of
education and the labour market

7. FUNCTIONAL ENGLISH IN OUR STUDY COUNTRIES
Ethiopia India Vietnam
English as a MOI in school
English as a subject in school
Private tuition in English
Exposure to English at home and in local
community
e.g. talking to parents, siblings, friends, neighbours
Informal life experience
e.g. English magazines, English TV, using English online
= All / almost
all children
= Some children, particularly
those in urban areas
= A small number of
children
Exposure to English in YL study countries (Moore 2016)

8. Assessing transferable skills

9. ASSESSING FUNCTIONAL ENGLISH
 Items graded against CEFR
common reference levels:
A1 (Basic User) to C2
(Proficient User)
 Balance of skills and levels
to suit each country
 Common items  tests on
a common scale
 Ability to compare learning
progress across countries
 Test of reading skills English assessment common items, Wave 1

10. ASSESSING PROBLEM SOLVING & CRITICAL THINKING
 One-off test (end of year)
 Problem solving
• ‘an individual’s capacity to use cognitive
processes to resolve real, cross-disciplinary
situations where the solution path is not
immediately obvious’ (OECD 2004)
• Adapted PISA 2003 items
 Critical thinking
• ‘Skills such as inference and evaluation
which are applied to ill-structured
problems, for which there are no definitive
solutions’ (Kuhn 1991; Thomas & Lok 2015)
• Adapted CWRA+ items

11. PROBLEM SOLVING: SAMPLE ITEM
India (n = 112): 64%
Vietnam (n = 176): 91%
Comprehension question:
How long does it take to travel
between two adjacent bus stops?
Level 3 problem solving question:
How much will the fare cost for the
best route between Point A and
Point B?
What is the journey time for the
best route between Point A and
Point B?
Partial credit:
India (n = 112): 41%
Vietnam (n = 176): 52%
Full credit:
India (n = 112): 10%
Vietnam (n = 176): 28%

12. Preliminary findings:
Who learns transferable skills?

13. PRELIMINARY FINDINGS: WAVE 1 FUNCTIONAL ENGLISH
0.2.4.6.8
kdensity
-4 -2 0 2 4
Theta
Ethiopia India Vietnam

14. PRELIMINARY FINDINGS: WAVE 1 FUNCTIONAL ENGLISH
CEFR Level: A1
Skill: Sentence construction
Mean % correct
Ethiopia: 60%
India: 82%
Vietnam: 76%

15. PRELIMINARY FINDINGS:
WAVE 1 FUNCTIONAL ENGLISH IN VIETNAM

16. PRELIMINARY FINDINGS:
WAVE 1 FUNCTIONAL ENGLISH IN INDIA

17. DISCUSSION & IMPLICATIONS
Who learns transferable skills?
Are there inequalities in learning progress in
Functional English?
Which schools add more value in terms of
Functional English skills?
Problem-solving and critical-thinking skills /
Functional Amharic: which students, schools;
associated with progress in curricular
domains?
What role do teachers play – links between
transferable skills and teacher attitudes,
classroom practices?
Beyond school: access to private tuition and
Functional English, transferable skills?

18. FROM ACCESS TO EQUITY?
Equitable access to schooling:
Grade repetition is a key issue to address
Children who are over-age are most at risk of not completing basic education
Need to understand more about the factors contributing to grade repetition:
student background; private schools; policy
Equitable access to learning quality:
How do we assess this within and across diverse contexts?
Conceptualising quality learning: acquiring and applying new knowledge and
skills
Identifying key domains within each context and common domains across
contexts
School effectiveness design:
What is the contribution made by schools and teachers to students’ learning
outcomes?

19. Thank you!
Any questions or comments?
Email:
padmini.iyer@qeh.ox.ac.uk
rhiannon.moore@qeh.ox.ac.uk
Twitter:
@p_iyer15
@rhi_moore

20. REFERENCES
Kuhn, D. (1999) 'A Developmental Model of Critical Thinking', Educational Researcher 28 (2): 16 – 25.
Moore, K. & Novy-Marx, M. (2016) ‘Building an evidence based for the soft skills movement’, The
MasterCard Foundation Blog, www.mastercardfdn.org/building-an-evidence-base-for-the-soft-skills-
movement/. Accessed 03.11.16.
OECD (2004) Problem Solving for Tomorrow’s World: First measures of cross-curricular competencies
from PISA 2003. Paris: OECD Publications.
OFQUAL (2011) Functional Skills Criteria for English. Entry 1, Entry 2, Entry 3, Level 1 and Level 2.
Coventry: OFQUAL.
Partnership for 21st
Century Learning (P21) (2015) P21 framework definitions. Washington, D.C.: P21.
Rankin, K. et al (2015) Youth and transferable skills: an evidence gap map. 3ie Evidence Gap Report 2.
New Delhi: International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie).
Thomas, K. and Lok, B. (2015) ‘Teaching Critical Thinking: An Operational Framework’, in Davies, M.
and Barnett, R. (eds.) The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Thinking in Higher Education, 99 – 106. New
York, NY: Palgrave MacMillan.
UNESCO (2016) Assessment of transversal competencies: policy and practice in the Asia-Pacific region.
Paris: UNESCO.
World Bank (2014) Skilling up Vietnam: Preparing the workforce for a modern market economy. Main
report. Hanoi: Vietnam Development Information Centre.