Assessment of Learning to Learn in Early Childhood: An Italian Framework

Internationally, the importance of non-cognitive competencies determining success in life is widely recognized (Blair, 2002; Heckman, 2008; OECD ESP, 2015). Among long-term outcomes correlated with such competencies, researchers include the capacity of individuals to participate in society and in the labor market; lower crime rates and involvement in health- impairing activities (Heckman, 2008). Learning to learn could play a connecting role between cognitive and non-cognitive competencies (Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000). Listed among the eight European key competencies (EU Communities, 2006), this is a complex concept which has recently re-attracted the interest of researchers worldwide (Deakin Crick et al., 2014; Stipek, 2012). This paper analyses the notion of learning to learn (Stringher, 2014) for the development of an assessment battery providing teachers with essential information on the current state of learning competence in preschool children. This assessment serves formative purposes and represents a basis for interventions geared at children’s optimal development, in coherence with national curricular guidelines (MIUR, 2012) and with the recent European Quality Framework for ECEC (EU Commission, 2014). The paper addresses the theoretical basis of tool development, areas of assessment and relevant rationale behind these choices. A roadmap for the empirical phase of the validation study is also sketched.