2。 What is Key Competences

 2。1 Key Competences Abroad

With the social development and progress of the times, to promote the quality of citizens has become a common theme of the world。 And this requirement is further transformed into a fundamental problem in the reform of basic education all over the world。 Then comes the concept of key competences。 Since entering the twenty-first Century, all countries in the world, including some important international organizations, have launched the research on the key competence of students。 

The United Nations Educational Scientific and Culture Organization (UNESCO) and European Union (EU) have an emphasis in educational theory。 Both of them take “Lifelong Learning” as the core value orientation。 From July 2012 to September 2013, the Center for Universal Education of the Brookings Institution together with the UNESCO Institute for Statistics convened a global consultation group to form the Learning Metrics Task Force (LMTF) with the aim of shifting the post-2015 global education focus from access to access plus learning。 In its final recommendation report, the Task Force proposed a global framework of seven key learning domains deemed important for the educational experience of children in all countries。 

These learning domains are: literacy and communication, numeracy and math, science and technology, social and emotional learning, culture and the arts, physical education, and learning approaches and cognition ( Xuejiao Cheng and Carina Omoeva, 2012)。 Similar to UNESCO, EU also issued a research report named Key Competences for Lifelong Learning: A European Reference Framework in 2005, which defined the eight domains。 These learning domains are communication in the mother tongue, communication in foreign languages, mathematical competence and basic competences in science and technology, digital competence, learning to learn, social and civic competence, sense of initiative and entrepreneurship, cultural awareness and expression (Jan Figel, 2006, 2)。

In Japan, the ultimate goal of education is to train students to lead a successful life in the future society, so the definition of key competences in Japanese education should be “the living ability in 21st century”。 In detail, it comprises three parts, basic ability, thinking ability and practical ability (qtd。 In 左衡, 2016)。 These three elements are connected with each other closely to train students to succeed in the future。

Japan's twenty-first Century model

No matter “Successful Living” or “Lifelong Learning”, both of them focus on the complete fulfillment of men。 However, in these systems, the educational requirements in social function are obviously beyond its requirements in other functions, while there are also some places which pay more attention to personal development, like Singapore (qtd。 in 左衡, 2016)。 Based on The Desired Outcomes of Education, Singapore put forward a new framework named New Framework for 21st Century Competences and Student Outcomes which aims to cultivate a confident person, a self-directed learner, a concerned citizen and an active contributor。 From the aspects of target, it pides key competences into four blocks。

Key Competence Model of Singapore in Twenty-first Century

In addition, American key competences system is described as a more complete blueprint of learning。 The educational system of the United States integrates key competences, what key competences depends on and what key competences supports together。 The comprehensiveness of the construction makes the implementation and promotion of key competences better, so American key competences system is also called文献综述

“Learning System for 21st Century” (qtd。 In 左衡, 2016)。

2007 partnership for 21st Century Learning(P21)