Expand Durable Skills Development Inside and Outside Classrooms

To prepare learners for a complex and evolving world, educators at all levels should incorporate into their curricula a range of skills, including core competencies, the ability to work in teams, and durable skills such as resilience, adaptability, and problem-solving. These skills can be fostered in the classroom and are also often learned through the liberal arts, creative pursuits and the arts, and extracurricular experiences such as community service, sports, and clubs. Classroom design, strong pedagogy, and role modeling by teachers and mentors also promote these vital skills and help learners to develop their sense of self, critical thinking, and collaboration skills.

Turnaround Arts is a national program of The Kennedy Center that provides arts education resources and a learning framework to Title I elementary and middle schools across seventeen states and Washington, D.C. In seven public schools in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, this programming provides learners with artistic and musical instruction and is also integrated into other classes in which learners develop critical thinking and presentation skills.1

Durable skills may seem intangible or difficult to describe if they remain unnamed or undefined. Educators cannot be expected to support learners’ development of durable skills if they are unable to measure learners’ proficiency and track their progress against clearly defined benchmarks. Educators and service-year programs must have valid and reliable measurement tools that can validate durable skills and competencies. Additionally, such tools must be developed in partnership with employers or industry associations to be trusted and valued in the workplace.2