Relationship to the curriculum
These materials are intended to help teachers to address knowledge about business through some basic skills of the exit profile in the Stages of Primary Education, and Compulsory Secondary Education, more specifically in the 3rd cycle of primary and 4th year of ESO. Therefore, the general purpose of these learnings is to provide students with a comprehensive educational experience that combines theory and practice, promoting both scientific knowledge, the development of practical and personal skills as well as the business perspective.
The current legislation regarding this aspect frames the exit profile of primary and secondary education as the element that should underpin curricular decisions, as well as strategies and methodological guidelines in teaching practice. In this sense, we can point out the following legal provisions:
Lomloe
Organic Law 3/2020, of December 29, which modifies Organic Law 2/2006, of May 3, on Education, introduces important changes, many of them derived, as indicated by the law itself in its explanatory statement, from the convenience of reviewing the measures provided for in the original text in order to adapt the educational system to the challenges of the 21st century, in accordance with the objectives set by the European Union and UNESCO for the decade 2020-2030.
In accordance with this approach, the preliminary title of the new text of Organic Law 2/2006, of May 3, on Education, incorporates among the principles and purposes of education the effective fulfillment of children’s rights as established in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, educational inclusion and the application of the principles of Universal Design for Learning.
At the same time, the law reformulates, first of all, the definition of curriculum, listing the elements that comprise it and then indicating that its configuration should be oriented to facilitate the educational development of students, guaranteeing their comprehensive training.
On the other hand, the link between key competences and challenges of the 21st century is what will give meaning to learning, by bringing the school closer to real situations, issues and problems of everyday life. The approach taken by the Learning Situations presented here can be related to some of the challenges for the 21st century:
• Develop the skills that allow them to continue learning throughout life, based on trust in knowledge as a driver of development and critical assessment of the risks and benefits of the latter.
• Accept uncertainty as an opportunity to articulate more creative responses, learning to manage the anxiety that can come with it.
The response to these and other challenges – among which there is an absolute interdependence – requires the knowledge, skills and attitudes that underlie key competencies and are addressed in the different areas, fields and subjects that make up the curriculum.
Navarra
In line with this vision and maintaining the competency-based approach that already appeared in the original text of the aforementioned standard, it states that this comprehensive training must necessarily focus on the development of competencies.
For this competency development, the regulations promulgated in Navarra (DF 67/2022 of June 22 and DF 71/2022 of June 29) in their Annex I establish and define the exit profile, which is listed as follows: “The Exit Profile is unique and the same for the entire national territory. It is the cornerstone of the entire curriculum, the matrix that unites and towards which the objectives of the different stages that make up basic education converge. It is therefore conceived as the element that must underpin curricular decisions, as well as strategies and methodological orientations in teaching practice. It must also be the foundation of lifelong learning and the reference for internal and external evaluation of student learning, particularly with regard to decision-making on promotion between different courses, as well as obtaining the title of Graduate in Compulsory Secondary Education.”
This exit profile in Primary Education and Compulsory Secondary Education allows for working on competencies in a transversal way and from different disciplines through the relationship established between the operational descriptors and the specific competencies of each subject.
Key competencies
The key competences included in the Output Profile are the adaptation to the Spanish educational system of the key competences established in the aforementioned Recommendation of the Council of the European Union. This adaptation responds to the need to link these competences with the challenges of the 21st century, with the principles and purposes of the educational system established in the LOE.
The key competences common to the entire stage are the following:
- Competence in linguistic communication.
- Multilingual competence.
- Mathematical competence and competence in science, technology and engineering.
- Digital competence.
- Personal, social and learning-to-learn competence.
- Citizen competence.
- Entrepreneurial competence.
- Competence in cultural awareness and expression.
As stated in FORAL DECREE 67/2022, of June 22, in its Article 10. “Exit profile, key competences and operational descriptors.”
Operational descriptors of key competences in basic education.
As regards the applied dimension of key competences, a set of operational descriptors has been defined for each of them, based on the different existing European reference frameworks.
The operational descriptors of key competences constitute, together with the objectives of the stage, the reference framework from which the specific competences of each area, field or subject are specified. This link between operational descriptors and specific competences means that the degree of acquisition of the key competences defined in the Output Profile can be deduced from the evaluation of the latter and, therefore, the achievement of the competences and objectives planned for the stage.
For the acquisition and development of both key competences and specific competences, the teaching team will plan learning situations. In order to facilitate the teaching staff’s own practice, guidelines for their design are set out in Annex III of this regional decree.
Specific competencies
Specific competencies: performances that students must be able to display in activities or situations that require basic knowledge of each area or field. Specific competencies constitute an element of connection between, on the one hand, the student’s Output Profile, and, on the other, the basic knowledge of the areas or fields and the assessment criteria.
