Transversal Competencies for the Challenges of the Anthropocene
Abstract
RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: This article examines the potential of transversal competences, interpreted from a pro-planetary perspective, as a universal framework for transformative education in the Anthropocene. It introduces this concept into pedagogical discourse by emphasising interdependence, sustainability, and the need to redefine the human-world relationship. This perspective broadens the educational meaning of competence beyond employability, adaptation, and individual performance in changing social conditions.
THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND METHODS: The main problem concerns how transversal competences, extended by a pro-planetary dimension, can overcome the adaptive and anthropocentric paradigm of education and support learning grounded in relationality, shared responsibility, and reflexivity. The study uses literature analysis, critical interpretation, and comparative analysis of European and Polish competence-related policy documents, including Key Competences for Lifelong Learning, LifeComp, GreenComp, and the Education Law Act.
THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: The article is theoretical and analytical. The first section reinterprets competence from a critical perspective and links it to transformative education. The second compares European and Polish competence frameworks, identifying axiological, conceptual, and operational differences. The third presents an original five-dimensional model of proplanetary transversal competences.
RESEARCH RESULTS: European documents place transversal competences within the sustainable development paradigm by integrating cognitive, ethical, and social dimensions. In Polish documents, this approach remains emergent and weakly operationalised, indicating the need to strengthen it through environmental values and responsibility. The findings also show how transversal competences may be operationalised in accordance with EU frameworks and current sustainability strategies.
CONCLUSIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND APPLICABLE VALUE OF RESEARCH: Adding a pro-planetary dimension to transversal competences shifts education from individual advancement toward creating a shared world. National curricula should be updated in light of LifeComp and GreenComp, competence descriptors should be developed for teacher education, and a pedagogy of interdependence should be cultivated through reflexivity, shared responsibility, and an ethics of moderation.
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