Developing an instrument to measure learning to learn : Paper presented at the Association for Educational Assessment Europe 8th Annual Conference in Stockholm in November 2007

There is a growing interest in learning to learn in a European context. European Union initiatives have resulted in describing the competence of learning to learn in the framework for competencies for lifelong learning. Related to this has also been a wish to find ways to measure learning to learn. An Expert Group initiated by the European Commission developed a proposal to organise a pilot project on learning to learn. The group identified three interesting research projects which could be used in the further work to develop a European pilot study on learning to learn: an instrument to test learning to learn developed by the University of Helsinki, the Effective Lifelong Learning Inventory developed by the University of Bristol and the tests on cross-curricular skills developed by the University of Amsterdam. The Expert Group also proposed a framework on learning to learn. The framework was based on the assumption, proposed in the definition on learning to learn decided by the Education Council and the European Parliament, that this key competence can be defined as containing two dimensions; a cognitive and an affective (or belief) part. Under each dimension a number of subscales, based on existing subscales in the tests which have been developed in the research project mentioned above, were developed. A working group containing the authors of this paper was asked by the Expert Group to develop a test on learning to learn. This group has developed a draft instrument. The instrument has been constructed to correspond to the earlier developed framework. This paper describes how the work to construct this instrument has proceeded.