The curriculum defines five basic skills: reading, writing, numeracy, oral skills and digital skills. These skills are part of the competence in the subjects and necessary tools for learning and understanding them. They are also important for developing the identity and social relations of each pupil, and for the ability to participate in education, work and societal life.
The development of the basic skills is important throughout the entire learning path. For example, there is continuous progression, starting from when one first learns to read and write all the way to acquiring the ability to read advanced subject texts.
In the teaching and training, the basic skills must be considered in connection with each other and across subjects. The basic skills are incorporated in all the subjects, but the subjects have different roles in the development of the five skills. Some subjects will have more responsibility than others. Developing subject competence must therefore occur in accordance with the development of subject skills as described in the subject curriculum. All teachers in all subjects must support the pupils in their work with the basic skills.