SEL Chat: Talking Transversal Skills

SEL Chat is back for another season! SEL Chat: Talking Transversal Skills is a bite-sized limited-run podcast series where we sit down with researchers and officials to get at the heart of what is meant by 21st century transversal skills and social and emotional learning, especially as it relates to East and South East Asian contexts.

Join us as we celebrate the 60th anniversary of Vietnam’s National Institute of Educational Sciences and the upcoming “Learning Transversal Competencies in ASEAN Countries and their Neighbors” conference to be held on December 2nd 2021.

The conference is managed by VNIES, with speakers selected jointly by NISSEM and VNIES. The Keynote speakers are as follows:

  • Kai-ming Cheng, Emeritus Professor, Social Contexts and Policies of Education, University of Hong Kong
  • Esther Care, Professorial Fellow, University of Melbourne
  • Kathryn Anderson-Levitt, Professor emerita of anthropology, University of Michigan–Dearborn.

 

Episode 1: Esther Care

This is your host John Patrick Young, associate-co-convener at NISSEM. Thank you for listening to SEL Chat. In episode 1, we re-connect with Esther Care, who chats about the integration of transversal competencies and 21st Century skills not only into national curriculums and assessments but also into the teacher training programs. Esther speaks about how the integration of the skills for teachers will require full integration of these skills in practice and actionable ways so that teachers have a deeper and fuller understanding of these competencies and skills and how they are being applied across subject areas and tasks.

Episode 2: Kathryn Anderson-Levitt

 

This is your host John Patrick Young, associate-co-convener at NISSEM. Thank you for listening to SEL Chat. In episode 2, we chat with Kathryn Anderson-Levitt of the University of Michigan – Dearborn. Kathryn looks at the why behind education reforms around the world. The conversation today centers around a discussion about how language and cultural context affect understandings around the world about what is included in 21st-century competencies and skills. Kathryn also discusses how the global conversation differs from the local conversation about what is included in 21st-century skills.

Episode 3: Kai-ming Cheng

 

This is your host John Patrick Young, associate-co-convener at NISSEM. Thank you for listening to SEL Chat. In episode 3, we chat with Kai-ming Cheng. Kaiming speaks on the ways that 21st skills and competencies differ across country contexts and whether the focus is on the development of work-related skills or person-related competencies. The discussion also looks at what the entry point is for teachers who are looking to incorporate skills and competencies into their teaching.

Episode 4: Yuto Kitamura

 

This is your host John Patrick Young, associate-co-convener at NISSEM. Thank you for listening to SEL Chat. In episode 4, we chat with Yuto Kitamura. Yuto expands on the transition that countries in Southeast Asia have gone through as they first began expanding educational access to now looking more at the educational quality and how transversal skills are included in quality education. Yuto also discusses how the changes in the industrial sectors and technological sectors within these countries have impacted how transversal skills are included in education.

Episode 5: Mikiko Nishimura and James Williams

In our final episode, we chat with Mikiko Nishimura and James Williams. They draw on their extensive professional experience in Asia and Africa to discuss the ways in which 21c and transversal skills are viewed in different country contexts. Mikiko and James go on to discuss the implication of specific education policy reforms on transversal issues. They share their viewpoint on the inherent challenge of developing pedagogical strategies teachers can engage in to highlight social and emotional learning.

This is your host John Patrick Young, associate-co-convener at NISSEM and thank you for listening to our final episode of SEL Chat. A thank you to Lydia Anise, the co-conveners at NISSEM, and all others who helped make this series possible.