Thinking Skills and Personal Capabilities

Thinking Skills and Personal Capabilities

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All parts of the curriculum emphasise the development of Thinking Skills and Personal Capabilities. These skills help pupils to think critically and creatively. They also help them to develop personal and interpersonal skills and dispositions that are essential for functioning effectively in a changing world.

The Thinking Skills and Personal Capabilities are:

  • Managing Information;
  • Thinking, Problem-Solving and Decision-Making;
  • Being Creative;
  • Working with Others; and
  • Self-Management.

The Thinking Skills of Managing Information, Thinking, Problem-Solving and Decision-Making, and Being Creative are tools that help pupils to go beyond acquiring knowledge. They enable pupils to:

  • search for meaning;
  • apply ideas;
  • analyse patterns and relationships;
  • create and design something new; and
  • monitor and evaluate their progress.

To develop pupils’ Thinking Skills, teachers should design learning experiences that will encourage pupils to think more skilfully and engage in better quality thinking.

The Personal Capabilities of Working with Others and Self-Management underpin success in all aspects of life.

To develop pupils’ Personal Capabilities, teachers should create opportunities for them to:

  • experiment with ideas;
  • take initiative;
  • learn from mistakes;
  • work collaboratively; and
  • become more self-directed in their learning.

See the Thinking Skills and Personal Capabilities resource and our guidance booklet Thinking Skills and Personal Capabilities for Key Stage 3 for more details.

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