Information Literacy and  Transversal Competencies - what is the connection?

"Transversal Competencies" is the term now widely accepted to describe the broad-based skills, knowledge and understandings that aim to meet the many challenges facing countries around the world as they prepare their learners for current global realities. So what are these competencies and how do they relate to information literacy and  inquiry learning?

UNESCO has developed their "Transversal Competencies in Education Policy and Practice" in which they have compared and mapped the competencies from a range of countries to create what they deem the most important of these skills. According to UNESCO "Everyone requires Transversal Competencies to successfully adapt to change and to lead meaningful and productive lives. They are talents and abilities that can be transferred from one life situation to another and from one occupation to another. Transversal Competencies are not specific to one particular career path but are generic across all employment sectors. They also support independent functioning and coping with practical problems or choices as a worker or citizen, learning from personal experiences in diverse formal and informal settings.

UNESCO identifies 5 domains for Transversal Competencies:

• Critical and innovative thinking 
• Interpersonal skills
• Intra-personal skills
• Global citizenship
• Media and information literacy​

Table 6 below shows the various competencies included in each domain.

Transversal Competencies and the Australian Curriculum
So where do these competencies fit into the Australian Curriculum?  In the above-mentioned document the General Capabilities from the Australian Curriculum were used to help identify the various domains - in particular:
Critical and Creative Thinking (Critical and Innovative Thinking)
​Personal and Social Capability (Interpersonal & interpersonal skills)
Intercultural Understanding (Global Citizenship)
Ethical Understanding  (Global Citizenship)
ICT Capability (Media and Information Literacy)

While information literacy is not specifically identified within the General Capabilities there have been a number of documents that map various parts of the Australian Curriculum to the Information Process (including the Critical and Creatine thinking and ICT general Capabilities.  (See Curriculum Links page). What UNESCO has done is actually name one of their domains specifically for Information Literacy.

Transversal Competency Website

If you want to find out more about this topic and how we can use the UNESCO Transversal Competencies to support the value and importance of the information literacy programs in our schools then follow the link below.

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