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This research report focuses on the emergence of new forms of credentials for post-compulsory schooling. It explores how issuers of these credentials are building trust in them and utility for stakeholders. It explores implications for assessment and qualifications used in post-compulsory schooling in Australia. The report joins others in noting recent shifts in learning ambitions for Australian students. What they are expected to know and be able to do as a result of their schooling is changing. Curricula reforms of the last 15 years have extended learning ambitions beyond the academic achievements usually captured in current senior secondary qualifications to include attainments in the general capabilities. Proficiency in general capabilities is required to thrive in chosen fields of endeavour, and in family and community life.

The report draws upon six case studies of Australian and international organisations that have re-positioned these general capabilities at the heart of learning, to complement and deepen the domain-specific learning of more traditional disciplines and subjects. The case studies described in this report are: (1) Philippines Alternative Learning System (ALS); (2) Big Picture Learning; (3) High Tech High (HTH); (4) International Baccalaureate Career-related Programme Certificate (IB Career Programme); (5) Mastery Transcript Consortium (MTC); (6) Action Learning Institute. A premise of this report is that the changes illustrated in these case studies, which seek to better align assessment and credentialing with new learning ambitions and emergent learning designs, should be brought to scale. Every young person should have access to the advantages that accrue to the young people whose learning is supported in these organisations. The report explores features of a suitable framework for senior secondary qualifications in Australia that would better support the emergent learning ambitions and their associated learning designs of the kind represented in these cases.

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Future-proofing our students so that they will have the skills to negotiate and thrive in increasingly complex global workplaces is a challenge for all educators. These crucial capabilities are often referred to as 21st-century skills, general capabilities, graduate attributes, or transversal skills. For students to thrive they need to become expert learners. They need to acquire a body of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that enable them to adapt and contribute in an ever-changing environment. These capabilities can be learned, taught and assessed. Becoming an expert learner allows a person to master what they need to know in any circumstance. Some of the capabilities required to be a good learner are now included in various Australian and international curriculum statements. Education institutions - schools in particular - typically regard development of such capabilities as being at the heart of their teaching. However, consensus remains elusive about their definition and their significance. Debates ensue about whether or not it is feasible to formally teach these capabilities, as well as how, or indeed whether or not, these should be assessed and then reported on to students, parents and other stakeholders. In this paper, we present evidence and discussion in support of an argument that capabilities for learning, or learning capabilities, should be taught, assessed and recognised. We also examine how to assess, report and credential the degree to which young people have developed these capabilities.

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