What are Core Competencies?

Core Competencies are sets of intellectual, personal, social, and emotional proficiencies that are important for success in school and in life. Students from

kindergarten to grade 12 are expected to complete reflections and self-assessments to understand who they are as learners, communicators, and thinkers as well as how

caring, self-regulating, self-determined, resilient, and personally and socially responsible they are as people. Students are regularly invited to consider these

attributes and competencies for reflection about their personal strengths and areas for growth.

To learn more, please visit

https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/competencies

OR

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5e2Uoo338o

When and how do students at MacNeill High submit their Core Competency self-assessments? In 2024 – 2025 students in grades 8 to 12 will complete three reflections about Core Competencies. Core Competency templates are available on MS Teams. Students are invited to use the templates to write their reflections, or they can upload a format of their choice for their Core Competency self-assessment. Throughout the school year, there will be three Core Competency upload due dates for all students.

Please see the chart below for important dates:

Core Competency One Core 

Class Discussions dates Week of Nov 12 & 13

Student Submission Date Deadline Nov 18

Core Competency Two Core

Week of March 4 & 5

Student Submission Date Deadline March 10

Competency Competency Three

Week of June 3 & 4

Student Submission Date Deadline  June 9

Unpacking the three Core Competencies 

Communication -The Communication competency encompasses the knowledge, skills, processes and dispositions we associate with interactions with others. Through their communication, students acquire, develop and transform ideas and information, and make connections with others to share their ideas, express their individuality, further their learning, and get things done. The communication competency is fundamental to finding satisfaction, purpose and joy. 

Thinking - The Thinking competency encompasses the knowledge, skills and processes we associate with intellectual development. It is through their competency as thinkers that students take subject-specific concepts and content and transform them into a new understanding. Thinking competence includes specific thinking skills as well as habits of mind, and metacognitive awareness. These are used to process information from a variety of sources, including thoughts and feelings that arise from the subconscious and unconscious mind and from embodied cognition, to create new understandings. 

Personal and Social - The Personal and Social competency is the set of abilities that relate to students' identity in the world, both as individuals and as members of their community and society. Personal and social competency encompasses what students need to thrive as individuals, to understand and care about themselves and others, and to find and achieve their purposes in the world. 

Student 

• Discussing the Core Competencies with peers, teachers, and family can deepen students’ understanding of the Core Competencies and help them identify personal strengths and establish goals for further development as educated citizens 
• Examining the illustrations helps students develop an appreciation of the different ways, forms, and contexts in which the Core Competencies can be applied 
• The illustrations connect the Core Competencies with students’ own classroom experiences and bring the profiles to life for them 
• Students are responsible for assessing their own growth in the Core Competencies. The profiles linked with each sub-competency can serve as a helpful guide in this self-assessment 

Parent 

• Students develop Core Competencies at home as well as at school, making parent/guardian support for students’ growing awareness, understanding, and development of the Core Competencies crucial 
• Parents/guardians will likely already have some understanding of their students’ development in Communication, Thinking, and Personal and Social 

November 8, 2024 3 

• Formal school tasks and activities often look different from the more informal tasks students are involved in at home. While both contexts are valuable, parents/guardians can expect that a student’s use of the Core Competencies may look very different in these two contexts 
• The illustrations offer examples from a variety of contexts and can provide parents/guardians with a new lens through which to view their students’ development as educated citizens