Outdated exams linger despite their shortcomings in assessing real potential. Pathways innovates, illuminating myriad avenues to showcase student strengths, fostering profound learning and breaking conventional assessment boundaries. It is vital, awakening educators to assess competencies beyond exams. Pathways offers curated dashboards, accommodating diverse goals including mandated exam results.
Students engage in multiple diverse commitments, moving beyond traditional exams. They align activities with global sustainability goals, focusing on seven areas, organised around autonomy, wellbeing, impact, communications, natural systems, human systems, numeric systems. Sub-categories under each attribute are mapped to competencies. They:
• Build their schedules
• Craft personal learning plans
• Design post-graduation pathways
• Produce artefacts showcasing mastery across attributes
• Develop an anthology of completed outputs
• Engage in collaborative projects – impact, changemaking & service learning
• Present capstone projects
• Track learning digitally
• Reflect and self-assess using quality rubrics
• Opt into Open Path learning track in order to pursue mandated exams or undertake passion projects
• Curate a Learning Vitae and portfolio
• Undertake wellbeing rites of passage
• Prepare defense-day dialogues
• Showcase readiness for graduation with a comprehensive 360 review
The spread of Pathways was initially internal, linked to the transitions through the stages for students. Introduced in a simplified form from early years, the program nurtures student ability to document and showcase their learning to external audiences. This process not only enhances understanding but also more authentically captures student capabilities.
Its external spread is fueled by biannual INSPIRE workshops and informal visits to the Hubs for educators, alongside Learnlife’s online teacher training, expanding its reach globally. Educators worldwide praise its effectiveness, recognising Pathways as superior to conventional assessments. "Until now I never believed that something could be better than the exam system. I see a rigour and depth of learning far better than any exam."
Explore Pathways with the perspective of creating something more rigorous than traditional exams:
•Challenge traditional beliefs about measuring learning
•Access detailed information on the Learnlife website
•Book training or visit a Hub to see Pathways in action
•Experiment with a variety of learning artefacts & projects
•Customise portfolios & learner dashboards to suit desired student futures
