Representing over 100 thousand students in national, independent and international systems

The Coalition To Honour All Learning is a federation of schools across the world that aims to influence the discussion on school leaving certificates. 

We represent over 100 thousand students in national, independent and international systems in Australia, Canada, Colombia, China, Eswatini, France, Georgia, Ghana, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Peru, Poland, Senegal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States. 

The Coalition’s Five Principles describe what we have in common as schools: 

1 

We believe that while academic knowledge has a crucial role in the development of the child, the development of competences is equally important. Competences are more than knowledge: they also represent skills and dispositions. Our schools are all focussed on the development of competences that equip young people not just for academics, but for life. 

2 

We see that the vast majority of universities, colleges and post-secondary institutions require students to submit grade transcripts to make them eligible for further studies. While some institutions are prepared to look beyond this to the whole child, the majority of post-secondary institutions request academic subject grades only. 

3

We contend that this has the effect of narrowing the curriculum to a limited and restrictive experience that forces students and teachers to prioritise academic subject achievement above all else. Hence, as students progress towards the end of schooling, the experience becomes less and less inclusive. Furthermore, the end of Secondary / High School is at odds with our broader curriculum objective of educating the whole child for lifeworthy competences. 

4 

This situation puts tremendous stress on students since terminal assessments, in order to meet post-secondary admissions requirements, are both narrow and high-stakes; they exclude those who are gifted in ways that these assessments do not capture. 

5 

Therefore, we invite all post-secondary institutions, including universities, colleges and industries across the globe, to open their admissions criteria beyond academic subject grades and to recognise competences as captured in alternative school transcripts. 

There are different ways of drawing out these competences that tell a much richer story than grades alone and each of our schools does this in a manner that is fit to context. 

Among the various alternative transcripts that we request post-secondary institutions to recognise are:

• Portfolios 

• Micro-Credentialing 

• School-based diplomas that describe competences 

• Mastery Transcripts 

• Digital Badging

• The learner Passport

We ask that these be looked at carefully when assessing a student’s admissions eligibility and that these alternative transcripts be encouraged by all post-secondary institutions. 

This coalition aims to: 

We ask that universities join this coalition. Our aim is to agree on a fuller recognition of competences for a more inclusive, human gifts-centred approach to  education. 

By joining the coalition, universities can help us design an approach that honours all learning. 

Contact: honouralllearning@ecolint.ch