The Curriculum Roadmap:

The Vision and the Challenges

A curriculum design gives instructors and others a picture of the curriculum to be implemented, much like an architect gives clients a drawing of the house to be built.  Just as the architectural design guides the development of a new house for the homeowner, this curriculum design guides the planning and development of Adult Basic Education courses.  This chapter presents the key elements that form the design that guides instructional planning and curriculum application.  The key elements of this curriculum include Generic Skills, a learning outcomes approach, contextually-based instruction for adults, and an authentic assessment rationale. 

The vision for this curriculum is one that:

• is sensitive to the realities of adult learners’ lives;

• is informed by current understandings of inclusive and anti-oppressive education;

• acknowledges the essential role that instructors and other staff have in creating a positive learning environment; and,

• engages others in the discourse of transformation.

The vision also greatly impacts participants in our programs for it strives to empower adult learners, prepare them for a changing and demanding future, and encourage them to realize they have much to contribute to our communities.

With these high expectations come realistic challenges.  Informed by critical and social theory, education has evolved a great deal in the last two decades.  In keeping up with this change, professional development is of the utmost importance.  As the Aboriginal numbers continue to grow in Adult Basic Education, current cross-cultural training becomes even more imperative.  With shrinking budgets and a call for authentic materials that reflect our community of learners, having adequate planning time is vital to maximize the success of the implementation of this curriculum.  These challenges only represent the obvious.

We know challenge and resistance are the natural partners that travel with change.  If we can acknowledge this, perhaps we can better accept and recognize them when they arrive.

The key elements of this curriculum’s design follow.

Generic Skills

Generic Skills are skills that:

1. can be developed and applied across a variety of subject areas and contexts; and,

2. take longer to acquire than subject-specific skills.

Generic Skills are best viewed as transferable general life skills or skills that contribute to independence.  They may be transferred into contexts different from the ones in which they were first learned.  The intent is that learners acquire the skill and then transfer and further develop it when attending further training and education, when in the workforce, or when participating in other life-long-learning activities.  Generic Skills are essential to personal, social, and employment success.

Three primary references¹⁶ for the development of the Generic Skills were as follows:

1. Common Essential Learnings (C.E.Ls) incorporated in Saskatchewan Learning’s K-12 curriculum guides.

2. The Employability Skills 2000+ developed by the Conference Board of Canada.

3. Equipped for the Future Content Standards for Adult Literacy and Lifelong Learning, an initiative of the National Institute for Literacy in partnership with the Division of Adult Education and Literacy, U.S. Department of Education.

The broad categories that make up the Generic Skills include:

• Lifelong Learning

• Communications

• Numeracy

• Technological Literacy¹⁷

• Creative and Critical Thinking

• Valuing Diversity

• Interpersonal Teamwork

Generic Skills are fundamental to each curriculum area in Adult Basic Education.  Interconnection between Generic Skills, learning outcomes and content skills will be further discussed in PART THREE.

Generic Skills Chart - Click Here