Glenunga International 2

Capabilities Learning - the 5C’s

Why value capabilities-based holistic education?

At Glenunga we value capabilities learning known as 5C’s as we believe in developing the whole student through holistic education.

Capabilities learning means:

  • Developing the capabilities students need to thrive in the contemporary world.
  • Supporting them to understand how to exercise their agency through their capabilities.
  • Equipping them to use their capabilities to know what to do when faced with new challenges and they don’t know what to do.

 

Glenunga focuses on five capabilities, that we refer to as the 5C’s. These are:

  • Creative and Critical Thinking
  • Collaboration
  • Communication
  • Citizenship
  • Character

The Journey

Capabilities learning began at Glenunga in 2016 when we adopted Michael Fullan’s 6C’s. We initially started with 4C’s (Creativity, Critical Thinking, Collaboration and Communication) with the view of expanding these once capabilities learning was more established within the school.

By 2023 we had established student-led learner conferences where students reflected on their growth in each capability. We had also expanded the 5C’s by adding Character and Citizenship, and combining Creative and Critical Thinking. This combination was based on feedback from our work with the University of Melbourne (UoM) on the New Metrics project and from staff and students who found that Creativity needed further consideration and that some similar traits were embedded in Critical Thinking.

5Cs timeline