Waterford Kamhlaba UWCSA alumni Conrad Hughes has produced his latest book titled “Changing Assessment: How to Design Curriculum for Human Flourishing”.

It has been published by Brill with UNESCO.

The book offers a blueprint for change.

Hughes shows how education systems can be transformed to value diverse intelligences and align closely with the needs of learners, society, and the future of work.

In the book, Hughes says traditional exams were a problem because they narrowly focus on academic knowledge, overlooking crucial skills like creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking. This system often disadvantages students and stifles genuine learning.

He further highlights that current models were deeply rooted in rigid IQ testing and the concept of "normal distribution," creating an elitist, one-size-fits-all approach that does not reflect diverse human potential.

Hughes says COVID-19 exposed the fragility of traditional assessments, yet most systems reverted to old ways, missing a golden opportunity for meaningful reform.

“University admissions continue to reinforce narrow academic standards, hindering broader assessment recognition,” he says.

Hughes reveals that Vocational Education and Training (VET) systems, especially in countries like Switzerland and Germany, offer a robust alternative, preparing students with practical, in-demand skills and strong employment prospects. “This is a key area for expansion.”

He says there was a need for a competence-based model, uniting knowledge, skills, and attitudes, to prepare students for an unpredictable future.

He says the UNESCO IBE's seven global competences offer a powerful framework for this transformation. It calls for a global shift towards curriculum models that value doing, being, and becoming — not just knowing.

Hughes notes that the work environment was rapidly evolving, demanding skills like problem-solving, teamwork, and adaptability.

“Workplace assessment tools, such as personality tests and continuous feedback, provide valuable blueprints for schools to foster these critical competencies,” he says.

He has authored and co-authored several publications on prejudice reduction, creativity, assessment, competence-based learning and international-mindedness in education.

An expert in education and training policy Joao Santos describes the book; “It is a powerful call to rethink how we assess learning. This book (UNESCO IBE, 2025) exposes the deep flaws in 19th-century, high-stakes testing and presents a holistic roadmap to design curriculum and assessment for human flourishing. A must-read for educators, policymakers, and anyone working in skills development and VET.”

Hughes, who is fluent in English and French, is the Head of School of the Lycée International de Los Angeles where he oversees the strategic vision, academic excellence, and operational efficiency of the organisation. With over 18 years of experience in educational leadership, he has a passion for fostering transformative learning, intercultural understanding, and global citizenship among students and staff.

He holds an EdD in Critical Thinking from Durham University (UK) where he is a Professor in Practice, a PhD in English Literature from the University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa), and a Life Coach certification from Erickson Coaching International. He is also a Senior Fellow at IBE-UNESCO, where he contributes to the development of research-based and innovative curricula for the 21st century. His skills include comparative education, tutoring, educational leadership, and solution-based coaching.

His mission is to empower learners to become agents of positive change in their communities and beyond.

Meanwhile, Hughes recently visited The Getty Villa which compares museums with educational design.

“Too often our curricula are jam-packed with knowledge, sequenced in such a manner that the experience of incorporating all that information is neither ergonomic nor particularly enjoyable. It’s a kind of conveyor belt of transmission, forcing learning off by heart in a concentrated setting, ending with the brutal episode of very high-stakes and narrow assessments which are equally compressed. It's a bit like an overfilled museum.”

He says Getty’s Villa, on the other hand, contained two extremely powerful lessons that are a model to be venerated for the curation of art and, by analogy, the creation of curriculum design: curatorial aestheticism (a cogently designed curriculum is a beautifully told story, not some packaged industrial "unit" or a "scheme") and the artful bringing to life of knowledge.

“Powerful teaching is not about a dry utilitarian transmission of facts but a reawakening of the context, intrigue, passion and innovation that lies behind the knowledge.”

The Getty Villa is an educational centre and an art museum located at the easterly end of the Malibu coast in the Pacific Palisades neighbourhood of Los Angeles, California, United States.