What are the 4Cs? And why are they important?

Communication

Collaboration

Creativity

Critical Reflection

The acronym 4Cs is shorthand for developing the capabilities of Communication, Collaboration, Creativity and Critical Reflection.

They are fundamental to deeper learning and critical for individuals and communities to respond with agility to change and challenges as they arise.

The 4C capabilities are inherent in all human beings, but we must engage with them and develop them in the context and culture around us, to ensure that we grow our ability to apply them.

The 4Cs are both individual and cultural capabilities that allow schools and other organisations to imagine, enable and enact transformative change.

The 4Cs are critical capabilities for the development of human agency and support the growth of learning dispositions and self-regulation.

The 4Cs in Schools

Understanding and applying creativity, critical reflection, communication and collaboration in classrooms and staff rooms leads to more effective learning, teaching and well-being.

They’re even more critical in post-normal times of chaos, contradiction and complexity because they are the core skills needed to adapt to emergent challenges and to innovate and transform.

How 4CTL Use the 4Cs in Their Approach

Our unique approach to developing the 4Cs provides practical experiences and coherent tools to make these capabilities a reality in classrooms and staff rooms.

We make sense of the 4Cs and other capabilities, such as leadership, teaching and learning, through the application of pedagogical schemas or coherence makers, such as the Creativity Cascade, pictured here.

Realising the 4C capabilities involves developing a collective understanding of them as concepts (shared language), the processes and environments in which they thrive (shared practices) and an embedding of these practices (shared culture).