io5

Socio-Civic Experiences’ Assessment Protocol

CIRCLE Context: Socio-Civic Experiences Assessment Protocol

Currently, there is no educational framework to assess solving circular challenges with a socio-civic approach. The Socio-Civic Experiences aim to inspire students to create circular solutions with socio-civic impacts. IO5 introduces an innovative assessment protocol to evaluate these experiences, awarding badges for solutions that align with socio-civic principles. The CIRCLE project evaluates SOCg competencies developed by participants during Circular Experiences. A specialized tool, created as part of IO5.T1, tracks and measures student growth in these competencies throughout the experience. It also incorporates participant feedback, encouraging reflection and continuous improvement.

Importance of SOCg Competency-Based Learning

Team efficiency depends on developing key competencies. Teams that focus on learning SOCg competencies—social, citizenship, and GreenComp skills—achieve better results and satisfaction. This often requires a leader to guide the team. However, despite the need for preparing graduates for a changing job market, SOCg competencies are rarely included or evaluated in higher education. SOCg competency-based learning is crucial as it meets the evolving needs of teachers, students, and society, offering more integrated and meaningful learning than current curricula.

IMPORTANCE OF MONITORING AND ASSESSING SOCg COMPETENCES

The assessment of SOCg competences sets CIRCLE apart from other projects. As a complement to higher education, it draws attention from both businesses and educational organizations, offering key benefits for collaboration. Monitoring and assessing the development of SOCg competences in participating students, workers and companies is essential for several reasons.

STUDENTS

Define clear objectives and achievements.
Respect the individual work rhythm of each student.
It allows to combine different teaching modalities.
Create a visible learning map.
Greater versatility in the use of learning resources.
Improves efficiency in the use of technologies.
It allows students to actively demonstrate their competence.
It leaves room for short-term success and true student engagement.

workers

Enhances the current level of knowledge by competence.
It emphasizes the most appropriate personnel to perform each process or task.
Determine the gap between the desired level of skills requested by the process and the
current level of skills possessed by the personnel involved in the process.

Provide recommendations to improve competences training

both, individually and in the working group.
Measure the effectiveness of the training program.
Review the level of improvement of competences after the training program.

COMPANIES

Improve efficiency in the use of time and resources.
It improves the retention of knowledge of the workers, and, therefore, the quality of the
result.
Ability to assess tactics and programs that give better results.

ASSESSMENT IN SOCg COMPETENCES

Monitoring personal progress is challenging, especially without an official framework of indicators, as is the case with SOCg competencies. However, assessing whether SOCg competencies are being developed properly is crucial for the success of the CIRCLE project, ensuring effective training and enhancement of these skills.

A tool has been created to analyze the growth of transversal competencies and sustainability during an educational or training period. This tool is designed for use by education professionals, teachers, and companies to assess students’ transversal competencies, aligned with the 2018 Key Competences for Lifelong Learning and the 2022 GreenComp, both validated by the Joint Research Centre (JRC).

CIRCLE Intelectual Output 5. Socio-Civic Experiences’ Assessment Protocol.

The transition to a circular economy requires multidisciplinary approaches. The CIRCLE Hub project drives this change through the CIRCLE Virtual Hub, a collaborative space that brings together students, experts, and decision-makers to reflect, co-create solutions, and foster social and civic competences. It promotes innovation, local action, and global thinking, integrating technical and social skills to apply circularity principles.

For the CIRCLE project’s approach to be effective, it is crucial for younger generations, in particular, to acquire transversal competences that support its objectives. These competences enable them to address the changing needs of the workforce, educators, students, and society, ensuring an integrated and practical learning experience that goes beyond the boundaries of traditional curricula.

The CIRCLE project is based on two theoretical competence frameworks: the key competences for lifelong learning, which include civic, personal, social, and learning-to-learn dimensions; and the GreenComp sustainability competence framework. The integration of both frameworks has led to the SOCg Competences, a holistic approach designed to encourage reflection on environmental and social impact, driving sustainable and respectful innovation.

Technical university practices in Europe often do not fully align with the skills required in today’s job market or with solving environmental and social challenges. To address this gap, it is essential for students to acquire SOCg Competences, enabling them to adapt to any context with a holistic approach.

Circular Experiences are key initiatives for developing these competences, empowering professionals committed to sustainability and socio-citizen impact. However, the development and research on evaluating SOCg competences remain limited. To ensure participants’ progress, the CIRCLE project proposes a SOCg Competence evaluation methodology aimed at measuring their development. These experiences seek to influence technical university programs in the EU, aligning them with the Sustainable Development Goals and the demands of the labor market.

SOCg Competences Assessment Methodology: Results

The CIRCLE team completes Intellectual Output 5 with the development of an innovative SOCg competences assessment methodology. This methodology is designed to measure the potential development of these competences in students participating in a Circular Experience. This tool allows higher education professionals to analyze the impact of educational programs on competence development while also valuing the skills students acquire through active involvement in their own university training.

The developed tool is versatile and can be used by teaching and research staff in a wide variety of higher education programs, regardless of their duration, modality, or number of participants. By presenting an instrument with a value scale, it facilitates the task of evaluating the adequacy of academic curricula and the pedagogical approaches used in relation to the principles of Competence-Based Education for Sustainable Development.

Additionally, this methodology places students at the center of the teaching process, paying special attention to their progression in the development of SOCg competences. At the same time, it raises students’ awareness of their own competence improvement, fostering active reflection and greater commitment to their personal and professional development.

Moreover, the ability to evaluate educational programs using this tool not only allows for measuring their impact on participants but also opens new perspectives for redesigning university curricula, moving towards higher education that is more aligned with Sustainable Development and global challenges.

Results obtained after assessing the SOCg competences of the participants in the UPM ATHENS 127 course «The Basics of Circular Economy in the Construction Sector: Transforming Wastes into Resources,» offered by the research group of Sustainability in Construction and Industry (UPM-giSCI) at the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM) and the EELISA Circular Community, in collaboration with the CIRC.LE project.

Source: Beatriz Martín Bautista-Cerro & Justo García Navarro. (2023). Development of an evaluation tool for the acquisition of social, citizenship, and sustainability competences in CIRCLE and EELISA circular experiences. Case study on UPM ATHENS 127 course I EELISA international conference «Becoming the Engine that Leads to a New Future» (pp. 82–84). EELISA.


If you would like more information about our research on methodologies for assessing transversal competences and sustainability, please feel free to contact us. We will be happy to assist you.

be.martin@upm.es circleupm@gmail.com