Transferable Skills

Students today enter a world that has never been more competitive, globally connected, or technologically engaged. These students need Transferable Skills to thrive in the modern world. As such, transferable skills are addressed implicitly and explicitly throughout each of the learning activities.

The Ontario Ministry of Education has defined these seven important categories of transferable skills. Below you will find a brief description for each of these skills as well as a few of the student descriptors. For a full description of the skills and a complete list of student descriptors, please consult the following resource from the Ministry’s Curriculum and Resources webpage: Transferable Skills(Opens in a new window).

Critical thinking and problem solving

Critical thinking and problem solving involve authentic, real world experiences where complex issues and problems are addressed by acquiring, processing, analyzing, and interpreting information to make informed judgements, decisions, and take actions. With critical thinking skills comes an awareness that solving problems can have a positive impact in the world and contributes to being a constructive and reflective citizen.

Student Descriptors:

• Students detect patterns, make connections, and transfer or apply what they have learned in a given situation to other situations, including real-world situations.
• Students analyze social, economic, and ecological systems to understand how they function and how they interrelate.

Innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship

Innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship involve the ability to turn ideas into action to meet the needs of a community. These skills include the capacity to develop concepts, ideas, or products for the purpose of contributing innovative solutions to economic, social, and environmental problems.

Student Descriptors:

• Students formulate and express insightful questions and opinions to generate novel ideas.
• Students demonstrate leadership, initiative, imagination, creativity, spontaneity, and ingenuity as they engage in a range of creative processes, motivating others with their ethical, entrepreneurial spirit.

Self-directed learning

Self-directed learning involves becoming aware of and managing one’s own process of learning. It includes developing dispositions that support motivation, self-regulation, perseverance, adaptability, and resilience. It also calls for a growth mindset – a belief in one’s ability to learn – combined with the use of strategies for planning, reflecting on, and monitoring progress towards one’s goals, and reviewing potential next steps, strategies, and results.

Student Descriptors:

• Students develop a sense of identity in the context of Canada’s various and diverse communities.
• Students develop personal, educational, and career goals and persevere to overcome challenges in order to reach those goals. They learn to adapt to change and become resilient in the face of adversity.

Collaboration

Collaboration involves the skills needed to participate effectively and ethically with others as part of a team. These skills deepen as they are applied, with increasing versatility, to co-construct knowledge, meaning, and content with others in diverse situations, both physical and virtual.

Student Descriptors:

• Students participate successfully in teams by building positive and respectful relationships, developing trust, and acting cooperatively and with integrity.
• Students assume various roles on the team, respect a diversity of perspectives, and recognize different sources of knowledge, including Indigenous ways of knowing.
• Students interact with a variety of communities and/or groups and use various technologies appropriately to facilitate working with others.

Communication

Communication involves receiving and expressing meaning. For example, reading and writing, viewing and creating, listening and speaking in different contexts, and with different audiences and purposes. Effective communication increasingly involves understanding local and global perspectives and societal and cultural contexts, and using a variety of media appropriately, responsibly, safely, and with a view to creating a positive digital footprint.

Student Descriptors:

• Students ask effective questions to acquire knowledge, listen to all points of view and ensure that those views are heard, voice their own opinions, and advocate for ideas.
• Students learn about a variety of languages, including Indigenous languages, and understand the cultural importance of language.

Global citizenship and sustainability

Global citizenship and sustainability involve understanding diverse world views and perspectives in order to effectively address the various political, environmental, social, and economic issues that are crucial to living in a globally connected world. It also involves acquiring the knowledge, motivation, dispositions, and skills required for engaged citizenship, along with an appreciation of the diversity of people and perspectives in the world.

Student Descriptors:

• Students recognize discrimination and promote principles of equity, human rights, and democratic participation.
• Students recognize the traditions, knowledge, and histories of Indigenous peoples, appreciate their historical and contemporary contributions to Canada, and recognize the legacy of residential schools.
• Students learn from and with people of diverse cultures and backgrounds and develop cross-cultural understanding.
• Students, as citizens, participate in various groups and online networks in a safe and socially responsible manner.

Digital literacy

Digital literacy is the ability to responsibly use and apply technology to collaborate, communicate, create, innovate, and solve problems. With the ever-expanding role of digitalization and big data in the modern world, digital literacy also means having strong data literacy skills and the ability to engage with emerging technologies. Digitally literate students recognize the rights and responsibilities, as well as the opportunities, that come with living, learning, and working in an interconnected digital world.

Student Descriptors:

• Students understand how to manage and regulate their use of technology to support their mental health and well-being.
• Students understand how different technologies are connected and recognize their benefits and limitations.

Teachers are encouraged to take some time to work with students so that they can better understand what to look for within each skill.

For information about the Transferable Skills, be sure to consult the following resource from the Ministry’s Curriculum and Resources webpage: Transferable Skills(Opens in a new window).