Human Capital Multidisciplinary Research Center

3.1.2 Mechanisms and Factors of Key Skills and Competencies Development

Taras Pashchenko
Project Leader

Project period

2020-2025

Context of Research Project within a Subject of Human Capital

In modern education, there is an ongoing radical transformation of the content and intended learning outcomes. Knowledge and basic skills are fading into the background, key (universal) competencies such as critical thinking, creativity, teamwork, self-regulation, self-organization and other play an increasingly important role. The pedagogical community demonstrates growing demand for clear, evidence-based mechanisms and strategies aimed at the development and evaluation of key (universal) competencies – the most important components of human capital

The research project Mechanisms and Factors of Key Skills and Competencies Development focuses on the study of factors related to the successful development of key (universal) competencies.

Project Aim

To identify conditions and effective practices for the development of key (universal) competencies at different levels of education in the traditional and digital environment

Project Objectives:

  1. To study the factors contributing to the infusion of digital technologies in instruction within the context of general, additional and higher education and to identify barriers educators face in this process.
  2. To define promising practices for the formation of key (universal) competencies at different levels of education in the traditional and digital environment.
  3. To determine the most favorable conditions and mechanisms for the development of key (universal) competencies of students in various types of learning environments
  4. To study the effectiveness of pedagogical practices for the development of key (universal) competencies and to draw up a list of practices with the greatest potential in fostering these competencies along with the other components of human potential

Key Findings

The role of various factors in choosing digital solutions by educators in the teaching has been revealed

State-of-the-art international research on the development of universal competencies in different segments of the education system have been analyzed

2021

The most effective teaching practices contributing to the development of key (universal) competencies have been highlighted: problem solving, discussions, and educational projects. The most applicable and sustainable methods and technologies for the development of key (universal) competencies in international practice have been described, as well as the models of fostering these competencies at the school level: action research, lesson study and professional learning communities. A program of professional development and methodological support of teaching staff in promoting universal competencies has been developed

2022

Based on the analysis of 50 experimental studies aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of educational practices for developing universal competencies of students, 7 types of interventions have been identified according to the criteria of duration, conditions of implementation, basic material, complexity, as well as the presence or absence of a problem-solving process within the intervention. The selected types of interventions have been sorted according to the principle of increasing complexity and compliance with the educational context.

The results allow us to describe recommendations for researchers to conduct experimental studies aimed at studying universal competencies in education.

Analysis of interventions for the development of universal competencies

2023

Based on the analysis of secondary data obtained in 2018 during 15 focus groups with 144 teachers from 6 schools in the Moscow region, a number of factors have been identified that potentially cause (not) the use of project-based tasks in educational activities. The factors are built around M. Csikszentmihalyi's systemic model of creativity, which postulates that an original idea in a lesson is born in the context of the interaction of three actors: the teacher, the student and the educational content. The conducted research allows us to offer recommendations for improving the system of introducing innovative tasks into the educational process at the micro level of what is happening in the classroom. Among the most interesting factors for further consideration are the influence of the school subject (within each subject it is necessary to find potentially suitable topics, problems, etc. for the development of project-type tasks); the teacher's ability to act flexibly in providing students with a space of freedom; the preliminary level of students' basic skills (for example, the ability to work with information or the ability to interact in group work).

Factors potentially causing the use of project-type assignments in the lesson

Educational Programs

Master's Program Science of Learning and Assessment

Educational trajectory Designing Educational Products. Pedagogy Master’s Program

Researcher at EdTech Minor

HSE and RANEPA Joint Educational Workshops Social and Humanitarian Dimension of Human Potential

Study course Comparative Analysis of Education Systems

Online course Universal Competencies and New Literacy

Study course Socio-economic Development Based on Human Potential: Problems, Prospects and Best Practices in Education

Projects of Young Scientists within the Framework of the Competition of the Foundation for the Development of Applied Research

Employment, social activity and the formation of key skills and competencies, 2021

Publications

  1. Pashchenko T., Avdeenko N., Gasinets M. Can a School Teach Thinking? Practices of Development of Creative and Critical Thinking (RU), Scientific digest. Issue No. 3, 2021
  2. Report Assessment of Universal Competencies as Results of Higher Education (RU)  The team of authors: S. Avdeeva, P. Gas, E. Kardanova, Y. Koveshnikova, A. Kulikova, E. Orel, T. Pashchenko, P. Sorokin. National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow: HSE, 2021
  3. Gasinets M., Kapuza A., Dobryakova M. The Agency of Teachers in Shaping the Educational Success of Schoolchildren: Roles and Beliefs (RU) // Education issues. 2022. No. 1. pp. 75-97
  4. Semenova T. V. et al. Choosing the lecture format in higher pharmaceutical education //Education issues. - 2022. – No. 2. – pp. 216-233. doi

    5. Avdeenko N. A. Implementation of project-based learning at school: analysis of teachers' statements in the context of a systemic model of creativity //Monitoring public opinion: economic and social changes. – 2023. – №. 3 (175). – Pp. 239-258. doi

    6. Pashchenko T.V. (2024) Formation of critical thinking in adults using problem-oriented learning in an online environment. // Education Studies Moscow, No. 2, pp. 226-250. doi

Conferences

XXII April International Scientific Conference on Economic and Social Development (Moscow, Russia, April 4-22, 2021):
- Special Round Table Assessment of Universal Competencies as Results of Higher Education (RU) (19/04/2021)

International Scientific Seminar Opportunities and Problems of Assessing Students' Competencies in the Higher Education System: a Brief Overview of the Current State of Research (RU) from the series of events within the framework of the International Scientific Seminar Measurements and Data analysis in Psychology and Education (Moscow, Russia, September 23, 2021)

Symposium Formation and Evaluation of Universal Competencies of University Students (RU) within the framework of the XII International Russian Conference of Higher Education Researchers Universities in Search of Quality: External Assessments, Internal Goals and Scientific and Educational Results (Moscow, Russia, October 14-15, 2021)

XXIII Yasin (April) International Scientific Conference on Economic and Social Development (Moscow, Russia, April 5-22, 2022)
- Special Round Table Assessment of Universal Competencies as Results of Higher Education (RU) (08/04/2022)

A series of master classes "Human potential: approaches to study and measurement" by the HSE and RANEPA (online, October 28 – December 23, 2023). Pashchenko T.V. To be able or to be components of human potential as educational results (02/12/2023)