Introducing: Oxford International Programme Learner Attributes

As teachers – or even as parents – you may have been asked a particularly plaintive question: what is school for?

When I was young, I asked my mother the very same question. She gave me a very profound answer, which has stuck with me for all these years, and which I have since given to my own children when they asked, ‘what is school for?’ 

About the author

Jamie Kirkaldy, Head of Teaching and Learning Support, supports all schools delivering OxfordAQA qualifications. He was previously Head of English at an Oxford comprehensive school.

Her response was this. She didn’t say that it was so I could get good grades, go to university or get a good job, although I was able to achieve all of those things and am very grateful as a result. She said that it was because education is the one thing nobody can take away from you. It’s impossible to see the future, but even if some tragedy meant you lost everything – your job, your home, all your money – you would still have the things you learned, the knowledge, skills and personal attributes that you developed during your school years.  

On reflection, it’s an incredibly insightful way to look at education – which is why I carried it with me into my teaching career. Yes, I wanted to ensure my students got the best grades possible, to ensure they could grasp as many opportunities as possible later in life, but I never lost sight of the fact that schools are about far more than this. They are places where young people learn at a far more fundamental level. 

Of course, students must learn subject knowledge: correct grammar, mathematical skills that they can apply throughout their life or scientific concepts that go beyond just theoretical discussions in the classroom. As they progress through education – and discover what interests them most – they are able to explore these subjects in more depth and choose a path that will fulfill them as they get older. 

All of this is very important, but learning extends far beyond the facts and figures of the classroom or the skillsets associated with particular subjects. Through learning, young people also gain the competencies and characteristics that they need to navigate and thrive in the adult world, wherever their lives take them. 

Developing the Learner Attributes

With this in mind, when OxfordAQA combined with the Oxford International Curriculum (a complete curriculum offer developed by Oxford University Press, covering pre-school, primary and lower-secondary) to create the Oxford International Programme, we discussed the attributes we wanted students to gain, whether they are with us for the entire 2-19 educational journey or just a part of it.  

This conversation led to the development of the Oxford International Programme Learner Attributes: 

As you can see, these Learner Attributes are not only applicable to every subject, they also focus on skills and competencies that go beyond exam performance, instead centring on personal development. 

Inventive and curious

The modern world is a challenging place, but also a wonderful and inspiring one. We want students to have the confidence to ask questions and encourage them to explore the world with a sense of wonder and possibility. 

Ambitious and self-motivated

We all want the best for our students. Seeing them thrive and succeed is why we push them and aspire on their behalf – but this can only go so far. Unless a student is willing and able to drive themselves, taking responsibility for their own success, they will never truly fulfil their potential, especially once life demands them to be more independent. We want to empower students to invest in their own future, motivate themselves and have high self-expectations, while also balancing their mental and physical wellbeing.

Future-ready

Aspirations and life goals are difficult to fulfil, unless you are equipped with the capacity to turn them into meaningful actions. While grades might get you to university, they alone cannot help you succeed academically; qualifications may get you a job interview – or even the job itself – but your progression is really determined by how well you meet the demands of the world you are navigating. We want to develop students who are well-rounded and excited for their futures

Empowered and independent

The truth is, none of us know what the future will look like. How many aspects of today’s world could have been predicted twenty-five years ago? This applies just as much to looking forward as it does to looking back: the future will continue to be surprising, unknowable and hugely exciting. Developing young people who are adaptable and able to lead in tomorrow’s world requires them to be lifelong learners, who see education as something that doesn’t stop when they sit an exam, but an intrinsic part of who they are. 

The Oxford International Programme – developing lifelong learners

Looking at these Learner Attributes, I feel they are very close to the kind of thing my mother wanted for me all those years ago. As a former teacher, I also feel they are the qualities that all teachers want for their students, and the chance to nurture these is a motivating factor for so many teachers around the world. 

But – I’d understand if you look at them with a little bit of hesitation. 

These Learner Attributes are ambitious, there is no doubt about that. At OxfordAQA, we want to be ambitious, we want to work with students who aspire to do great things, who see the world and want to make a difference, and we know that teachers and parents want that too. 

This is why we have designed a Professional Development (PD) programme, specifically created to support teachers in developing these qualities in their students. There will be an equivalent PD strand for each Learner Attribute, placing the student at the centre of all our teacher training. We can’t wait to share more about this with you in the coming months, so keep an eye out for our announcements. Register your interest in our PD courses, and we’ll get in touch when they are ready to book. 

In the meantime, we hope schools enjoy beginning to implement our Learner Attributes into their classrooms and discovering their own answers to the ultimate question: ‘what is school for?’