Assessment in Education, Vol. 10, No. 1, March 2003 Assessing Multiliteracies and the New Basics MARY KALANTZIS Faculty of Education, Language and Community Services, RMIT, PO Box 71, Bundoora, VIC 3083, Australia BILL COPE Centre for Workplace Communication and Culture, 73 The Esplanade, Altona, VIC 3018, Australia ANDREW HARVEY Australian Council of Deans of Education, c/o RMIT, PO Box 71, Bundoora, VIC 3083, Australia ABSTRACT This paper addresses the skills and characteristics required of successful learners, workers and citizens in the knowledge economy. The authors trace the shifting commercial, technological and cultural conditions characteristic of this economy, and highlight the key qualities now required for individual success. Effective learners will increasingly need to be autonomous and self-directed, flexible, collaborative, of open sensibility, broadly knowledgeable, and able to work productively with linguistic and cultural diversity. While still prevalent, it is held that standardised testing and a ‘back to basics’ approach to curriculum are unable to promote and measure effectively these skills and sensibilities. Instead, a broader and more creative approach to curriculum and assessment is recommended. A ‘new basics’ is argued for at the level of curriculum, with correlative assessment techniques such as analysis of portfolios, performance, projects and group work. Introduction At a time when they are perhaps least desirable, standardised basics skills testing regimes are increasing [1]. The quest for accountability and commensurability has focused global attention on producing education outcomes which are simple to interpret, tangible and transparent, and easily comparable. This is done in the interests of individual learners, who are seen to benefit from a culture of compe- tition, and from the accretion of knowledge committed to their individual memories. It is also done in the name of those whose delivery and rationalisation of education resources is aided by figures that are comparable and easily interpreted. Finally, the testing regime is justified in the name of parents who, it is argued, increasingly ISSN 0969-594X print; ISSN 1465-329X online/03/010015-12 2003 Taylor & Francis Ltd DOI: 10.1080/0969594032000085721