21st century skills

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P21's Framework for 21st Century Learning

21st century skills comprise skills, abilities, and learning dispositions that have been identified as being
required for success in 21st century society and workplaces by educators, business leaders, academics,
andgovernmental agencies. This is part of a growing international movement focusing on the skills required for
students to master in preparation for success in a rapidly changing, digital society. Many of these skills are also
associated with deeper learning, which is based on mastering skills such as analytic reasoning,
complex problem solving, and teamwork. These skills differ from traditional academic skills in that they are
not primarily content knowledge-based.[1][2][3]
During the latter decades of the 20th century and into the 21st century, society has undergone an accelerating
pace of change in economy and technology. Its effects on the workplace, and thus on the demands on the
educational system preparing students for the workforce, have been significant in several ways. Beginning in
the 1980s, government, educators, and major employers issued a series of reports identifying key skills and
implementation strategies to steer students and workers towards meeting the demands of the changing
workplace and society.
The current workforce is significantly more likely to change career fields or jobs. Those in the Baby
Boomgeneration entered the workforce with a goal of stability; subsequent generations are more concerned
with finding happiness and fulfillment in their work lives. Young workers in North America are now likely to
change jobs at a much higher rate than previously, as much as once every 4.4 years on average.[4][5] With this
employment mobility comes a demand for different skills, ones that enable people to
be flexible and adaptable in different roles or in different career fields.[6]
As western economies have transformed from industrial-based to service-based, trades and vocations have
smaller roles.[7] However, specific hard skills and mastery of particular skill sets, with a focus on digital
literacy, are in increasingly high demand.[1][2] People skills that involve interaction, collaboration, and managing
others are increasingly important.[8] Skills that enable people to be flexible and adaptable in different roles or in
different fields, those that involve processing information and managing people more than manipulating
equipment—in an office or a factory—are in greater demand.[9] These are also referred to as "applied skills" or
"soft skills",[10] including personal, interpersonal, or learning-based skills, such as life skills (problem-solving
behaviors), people skills, and social skills. The skills have been grouped into three main areas:[11]

 Learning and innovation skills: critical thinking and problem solving, communications and
collaboration, creativity and innovation
 Digital literacy skills: information literacy, media literacy, Information and communication technologies
(ICT) literacy
 Career and life skills: flexibility and adaptability, initiative and self-direction, social and cross-cultural
interaction, productivity and accountability
Many of these skills are also identified as key qualities of progressive education, a pedagogical movement that
began in the late nineteenth century and continues in various forms to the present.

Contents

 1Background
 2The skills
 o 2.1Common Core
o 2.2SCANS
o 2.3Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21)
o 2.4The Four Cs
o 2.5Participatory culture & new media literacies
o 2.6EnGauge 21st century skills
o 2.7OECD competencies
o 2.8American Association of College and Universities
o 2.9ISTE / NETS performance standards
o 2.10ICT Literacy Panel digital literacy standards (2007)
o 2.11Dede learning styles and categories
o 2.12World Economic Forum
o 2.13National Research Council
 3Implementation
 4See also
 5References
 6External links

Background[edit]
Since the early 1980s, a variety of governmental, academic, non-profit, and corporate entities have conducted
considerable research to identify key personal and academic skills and competencies they determined were
needed for the current and next generation. The identification and implementation of 21st century skills into
education and workplaces began in the United States but has spread to Canada,[12][13] the United
Kingdom,[14] New Zealand,[15] and through national and international organizations such as APEC[16] and the
OECD.[17]
In 1981, the US Secretary of Education created the National Commission on Excellence in Education to
examine the quality of education in the United States."[18] The commission issued its report A Nation at Risk:
The Imperative for Educational Reform in 1983. A key finding was that "educational reform should focus on
the goal of creating a Learning Society."[19] The report's recommendations included instructional content and
skills:
Five New Basics: English, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Computer Science
Other Curriculum Matters: Develop proficiency, rigor, and skills in Foreign Languages, Performing Arts,
Fine Arts, Vocational Studies, and the pursuit of higher level education.
Skills and abilities (consolidated):[20]

 enthusiasm for learning

 deep understanding
 application of learning
 examination, inquiry, critical thinking and reasoning
 communication – write well, listen effectively, discuss intelligently, be proficient in a foreign language,
 cultural, social, and environmental - understanding and implications
 technology – understand the computer as an information, computation, and communication device, and
the world of computers, electronics, and related technologies.
 diverse learning across a broad range - fine arts, performing arts, and vocational
Until the dawn of the 21st century, education systems across the world focussed on preparing their students to
accumulate content and knowledge.[21] As a result, schools focussed on providing literacy and numeracy skills
to their students, as these skills were perceived as necessary to gain content and knowledge. [21] Recent
developments in technology and telecommunication have made information and knowledge ubiquitous and
easily accessible in the 21st century. Therefore, while skills such as literacy and numeracy are still relevant and
necessary, they are no longer sufficient. In order to respond to technological, demographic and socio-economic
changes, education systems began to make the shift toward providing their students with a range of skills that
relied not only on cognition but also on the interdependencies of cognitive, social, and emotional
characteristics. [22]
Notable efforts were conducted by the US Secretary of Labor's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills
(SCANS), a national coalition called the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21), the
international Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the American Association of College
and Universities, researchers at MIT and other institutions of higher learning, and private organizations.
Additional research has found that the top skills demanded by U.S. Fortune 500 companies by the year 2000
had shifted from traditional reading, writing and arithmetic to teamwork, problem solving, and interpersonal
skills.[23] A 2006 Conference Board survey of some 400 employers revealed that the most important skills for
new workforce entrants included oral and written communications and critical thinking/problem solving, ahead
of basic knowledge and skills, such as the reading comprehension and mathematics. While the ‘three Rs’ were
still considered foundational to new workforce entrants’ abilities, employers emphasized that applied skills like
collaboration/teamwork and critical thinking were ‘very important’ to success at work."[24]
A 2006 report from MIT researchers countered the suggestion that students acquire critical skills and
competencies independently by interacting with popular culture, noting three continuing trends that suggest the
need for policy and pedagogical interventions:"[25]

 The Participation Gap — the unequal access to the opportunities, experiences, skills, and knowledge that
will prepare youth for full participation in the world of tomorrow.
 The Transparency Problem — The challenges young people face in learning to see clearly the ways that
media shape perceptions of the world.
 The Ethics Challenge — The breakdown of traditional forms of professional training and socialization that
might prepare young people for their increasingly public roles as media makers and community
participants."
According to labor economists at MIT and Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, the economic changes
brought about over the past four decades by emerging technology and globalization, employers’ demands for
people with competencies like complex thinking and communications skills has increased greatly.[26] They
argue that the success of the U.S. economy will rely on the nation’s ability to give students the "foundational
skills in problem-solving and communications that computers don’t have."[27]
In 2010, the Common Core State Standards Initiative, an effort sponsored by the National Governors
Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), issued the Common Core
Standards, calling for the integration of 21st century skills into K-12 curricula across the United
States.[28] Teachers and general citizens also played a critical role in its development along with the NGA and
CCSSO by commenting during two public forums which helped shape the curriculum and standards. States
also convened teams of teachers to assist and provide feedback as well as they looked towards the National
Education Association (NEA) and many other education organizations to provide constructive feedback.[29] As
of December 2018, 45 states have entirely adopted the common core standards, one state has adopted half by
only adopting the literacy section (Minnesota), and only four states remain who have not adopted into the
common core standards of education (Alaska, Nebraska, Texas, and Virginia).[30]

The skills[edit]
The skills and competencies that are generally considered "21st Century skills" are varied but share some
common themes. They are based on the premise that effective learning, or deeper learning, a set of student
educational outcomes including acquisition of robust core academic content, higher-order thinking skills, and
learning dispositions. This pedagogy involves creating, working with others, analyzing, and presenting and
sharing both the learning experience and the learned knowledge or wisdom, including to peers and mentors as
well as teachers. This contrasts with more traditional learning methodology that involves learning by rote and
regurgitating info/knowledge back to the teacher for a grade. The skills are geared towards students and
workers to foster engagement; seeking, forging, and facilitating connections to knowledge, ideas, peers,
instructors, and wider audiences; creating/producing; and presenting/publishing. The classification or grouping
has been undertaken to encourage and promote pedagogies that facilitate deeper learning through both
traditional instruction as well as active learning, project-based learning, problem based learning, and others. A
2012 survey conducted by the American Management Association (AMA) identified three top skills necessary
for their employees: critical thinking, communication and collaboration.[31] Below are some of the more readily
identifiable lists of 21st century skills.
Common Core[edit]
The Common Core Standards issued in 2010 were intended to support the "application of knowledge through
higher-order thinking skills." The initiative's stated goals are to promote the skills and concepts required for
college and career readiness in multiple disciplines and life in the global economy. Skills identified for success
in the areas of literacy and mathematics:[32][33]

 cogent reasoning
 evidence collection
 critical-thinking, problem-solving, analytical
 communication
SCANS[edit]
Following the release of A Nation at Risk, the U.S. Secretary of Labor appointed the Secretary's Commission
on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) to determine the skills needed for young people to succeed in the
workplace to foster a high-performance economy. SCANS focused on what they called "learning a living"
system. In 1991, they issued their initial report, What Work Requires of Schools. The report concluded that a
high-performance workplace requires workers who have key fundamental skills: basic skills and knowledge,
thinking skills to apply that knowledge, personal skills to manage and perform; and five key workplace
competencies.[34]
Fundamental Skills

 Basic Skills: reads, writes, performs arithmetic and mathematical operations, listens and speaks.
 Thinking Skills: thinks creatively, makes decisions, solves problems, visualizes, knows how to learn, and
reasons
 Personal Qualities: displays responsibility, self-esteem, sociability, self-management, and integrity and
honesty
Workplace Competencies

 Resources: identifies, organizes, plans, and allocates resources

 Interpersonal: works with others (participates as member of a team, teaches others new skills, serves
clients/customers, exercises leadership, negotiates, works with diversity)
 Information: acquires and uses information (acquires and evaluates, organizes and maintains, and
interprets and communicates information; uses computers to process information)
 Systems: understands complex inter-relationships (understands systems, monitors and corrects
performance, improves or designs systems)
 Technology: works with a variety of technologies (selects technology, applies technology to task,
maintains and troubleshoots equipment)
Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21)[edit]
In 2002 the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (now the Partnership for 21st Century Learning, or P21) was
founded as a non-profit organization by a coalition that included members of the national business community,
education leaders, and policymakers: the National Education Association (NEA), United States Department of
Education, AOL Time Warner Foundation, Apple Computer, Inc., Cable in the Classroom, Cisco Systems,
Inc., Dell Computer Corporation, Microsoft Corporation,SAP, Ken Kay (President and Co-Founder), and Dins
Golder-Dardis.[35] To foster a national conversation on "the importance of 21st century skills for all students"
and "position 21st century readiness at the center of US K-12 education", P21 identified six key skills:[35][36]

 Core subjects.
 21st century content.
 Learning and thinking skills.
 Information and communication technologies (ICT) literacy.
 Life skills.
 21st century assessments.
7C Skills have been identified by P21 senior fellows at P21, Bernie Trilling and Charles Fadel:[11]

 Critical thinking and problem solving

 Creativity and innovation
 Cross-cultural understanding
 Communications, information, and media literacy
 Computing and ICT literacy
 Career and learning self-reliance
The Four Cs[edit]
The P21 organization also conducted research that identified deeper learning competencies and skills they
called the Four Cs of 21st century learning:

 Collaboration
 Communication
 Critical thinking
 Creativity
The University of Southern California's Project New Literacies website list four different "C" skills:[25]

 Create
 Circulate
 Connect
 Collaborate
Participatory culture & new media literacies[edit]
Main article: Participatory culture
Researchers at MIT, led by Henry Jenkins, Director of the Comparative Media Studies Program, in 2006
issued a white paper ("Confronting the Challenges of a Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st
Century"), that examined digital media and learning.[25] To address this Digital Divide, they recommended an
effort be made to develop the cultural competencies and social skills required to participate fully in modern
society instead of merely advocating for installing computers in each classroom.[37] What they
term participatory culture shifts this literacy from the individual level to a broader connection and
involvement, with the premise that networking and collaboration develop social skills that are vital to new
literacies. These in turn build on traditional foundation skills and knowledge taught in school: traditional
literacy, research, technical, and critical analysis skills.
Participatory culture is defined by this study as having: low barriers to artistic expression and civic
engagement, strong support for creating and sharing one’s creations, informal mentorship, belief that members'
own contributions matter, and social connection (caring what other people think about their
creations).[25] Forms of participatory culture include:[25]

 Affiliations — memberships, formal and informal, in online communities centered around various forms
of media, such as message boards, metagaming, game clans, and other social media).
 Expressions — producing new creative forms, such as digital sampling, skinning and modding, fan
videomaking, fan fiction writing, zines, mash-ups.
 Collaborative Problem-solving — working together in teams, formal and informal, to complete tasks and
develop new knowledge (such as through Wikipedia, alternative reality gaming, spoiling).
 Circulations — shaping the flow of media (such as podcasting, blogging).
The skills identified were:[1]

 Play
 Simulation
 Appropriation
 Multitasking
 Distributed Cognition
 Collective Intelligence
 Judgment
 Transmedia Navigation
 Networking
 Negotiation
A 2005 study (Lenhardt & Madden) found that more than one-half of all teens have created media content, and
roughly one third of teens who use the Internet have shared content they produced, indicating a high degree of
involvement in participatory cultures.[25] Such digital literacies emphasize the intellectual activities of a person
working with sophisticated information communications technology, not on proficiency with the tool.[1][38]
EnGauge 21st century skills[edit]
In 2003 the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory and the Metiri Group issued a report entitled
"enGauge® 21st Century Skills: Literacy in the Digital Age" based on two years of research. The report called
for policymakers and educators to define 21st century skills, highlight the relationship of those skills to
conventional academic standards, and recognize the need for multiple assessments to measure and evaluate
these skills within the context of academic standards and the current technological and global society.[39] To
provide a common understanding of, and language for discussing, the needs of students, citizens, and workers
in a modern digital society, the report identified four "skill clusters":

 Digital-Age
 Inventive Thinking
 Effective Communication
 High Productivity
OECD competencies[edit]
In 1997, member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development launched
the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) to monitor "the extent to which students near the
end of compulsory schooling have acquired the knowledge and skills essential for full participation in
society".[8] In 2005 they identified three "Competency Categories to highlight delivery related, interpersonal,
and strategic competencies:[40]"

 Using Tools Interactively

 Interacting in Heterogeneous Groups
 Acting Autonomously
American Association of College and Universities[edit]
The AAC&U conducted several studies and surveys of their members. In 2007 they recommended that
graduates of higher education attain four skills - The Essential Learning Outcomes:[41]

 Knowledge of Human Cultures and the Physical and Natural World

 Intellectual and Practical Skills
 Personal and Social Responsibility
 Integrative Learning
They found that skills most widely addressed in college and university goals are:[42]

 writing
 critical thinking
 quantitative reasoning
 oral communication
 intercultural skills
 information literacy
 ethical reasoning
A 2015 survey of AAC&U member institutions added the following goals:

 analytic reasoning
 research skills and projects
 integration of learning across disciplines
 application of learning beyond the classroom
 civic engagement and competence
ISTE / NETS performance standards[edit]
The ISTE Educational Technology Standards (formerly National Educational Technology
Standards (NETS)) are a set of standards published by theInternational Society for Technology in
Education (ISTE) to leverage the use of technology in K-12 education.[43][44] These are sometimes intermixed
with information and communication technologies (ICT) skills. In 2007 NETS issued a series of six
performance indicators (only the first four are on their website as of 2016):

 Creativity and Innovation

 Communication and Collaboration
 Research and Information Fluency
 Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making
 Digital Citizenship
 Technology Operations and Concepts
ICT Literacy Panel digital literacy standards (2007)[edit]
In 2007 the Educational Testing Service (ETS) ICT Literacy Panel released its digital literacy standards:[45]
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) proficiencies:

 Cognitive proficiency
 Technical proficiency
 ICT proficiency
A person possessing these skills would be expected to perform these tasks for a particular set of information:
access, manage, integrate, evaluate, create/publish/present. The emphasis is on proficiency with digital tools.[45]
Dede learning styles and categories[edit]
In 2005, Chris Dede of the Harvard Graduate School of Education developed a framework based on new
digital literacies entitled
Neomillennial Learning Styles:[1]

 Fluency in multiple media

 Active learning based on collectively seeking, sieving, and synthesizing experiences.
 Expression through non-linear, associational webs of representations.
 Co-design by teachers and students of personalized learning experiences.
Dede category system
With the exponential expansion of personal access to Internet resources, including social media, information
and content on the Internet has evolved from being created by website providers to individuals and
communities of contributors. The 21st century Internet centered on material created by a small number of
people,Web 2.0 tools (e.g. Wikipedia) foster online communication, collaboration, and creation of content by
large numbers of people (individually or in groups) in online communities.[1]
In 2009, Dede created a category system for Web 2.0 tools:[1]

 Sharing (communal bookmarking, photo/video sharing, social networking, writers’ workshops/fanfiction)

 Thinking (blogs, podcasts, online discussion fora)
 Co-Creating (wikis/collaborative file creation, mashups/collective media creation, collaborative social
change communities)
World Economic Forum[edit]
In 2015, the World Economic Forum published a report titled ‘New Vision for Education: Unlocking the
Potential of Technology’ [46] that focused on the pressing issue of the 21st-century skills gap and ways to
address it through technology. In the report, they defined a set of 16 crucial proficiencies for education in the
21st century. Those skills include six “foundational literacies”, four “competencies” and six “character
qualities” listed below.
Foundation Literacies

 Literacy and numeracy

 Scientific literacy
 ICT literacy
 Financial literacy
 Cultural literacy
 Civic literacy
Competencies

 Critical thinking/problem solving

 Communication
 Collaboration
Character Qualities

 Creativity
 Initiative
 Persistence/grit
 Adaptability
 Curiosity
 Leadership
 Social and cultural awareness
National Research Council[edit]
In a paper titled ‘Education for Life and Work: Developing Transferable Knowledge and Skills in the 21st
Century’ [47] produced by the National Research Council of National Academies, the National Research defines
21st century skills, describes how the skills relate to each other and summaries the evidence regarding 21st
century skills.
As a first step toward describing “21st century skills,” the National Research Council identified three domains
of competence: cognitive, interpersonal, and intrapersonal while recognizing that the three domains while
different, are intertwined in human development and learning. These three domains represent distinct facets of
human thinking and build on previous efforts to identify and organize dimensions of human behaviour. The
committee produced the following cluster of 21st century skills in the above mentioned 3 domains.
Cognitive Competencies

 Cognitive processes and strategies: Critical thinking, problem solving, analysis, reasoning and
argumentation, interpretation, decision-making, adaptive learning
 Knowledge: Information literacy, ICT literacy, oral and written communication, and active listening
 Creativity: Creativity and innovation
Intrapersonal Competencies

 Intellectual openness: Flexibility, adaptability, artistic and cultural appreciation, personal and social
responsibility, appreciation for diversity, adaptability, continuous learning, intellectual interest and
curiosity
 Work ethic/conscientiousness: Initiative, self-direction, responsibility, perseverance, grit, career
orientation, ethics, integrity, citizenship
 Positive core self-evaluation: Self monitoring, self evaluation, self reinforcement, physical and
psychological health
Interpersonal Competencies

 Teamwork and collaboration: Communication, collaboration, cooperation, teamwork, coordination,

interpersonal skills
 Leadership: Responsibility, assertive communication, self presentation, social influence with others

Implementation[edit]
Multiple agencies and organizations have issued guides and recommendation for implementation of 21st
century skills in a variety of learning environments andlearning spaces. These include five separate educational
areas: standards, assessment, professional development, curriculum & instruction, and learning
environments.[48][49]
The designs of learning environments and curricula have been impacted by the initiatives and efforts to
implement and support 21st century skills with a move away from the factory model school model and into a
variety of different organizational models.[50][51] Hands-on learning project-based learning have resulted in the
development of programs and spaces such as STEM and makerspaces. Collaborative learning environments
have fostered flexibility in furniture and classroom layout as well as differentiated spaces, such as small
seminar rooms near classrooms. Literacy with, and access to, digital technology has impacted the design of
furniture and fixed components as students and teachers use tablets, interactive whiteboards and interactive
projectors. Classroom sizes have grown to accommodate a variety of furniture arrangements and grouping,
many of which are less space-efficient than traditional configurations of desks in rows.[52]
 What should
students learn
in the 21st?

It has become clear that teaching skills requires answering “What should
students learn in the 21st century?” on a deep and broad basis. Teachers need
to have the time and flexibility to develop knowledge, skills, and character, while
also considering the meta-layer/fourth dimension that includes learning how to
learn, interdisciplinarity, and personalisation. Adapting to 21st century needs
means revisiting each dimension and how they interact:

Knowledge – relevance required: Students’ lack of motivation, and often

disengagement, reflects the inability of education systems to connect content to
real-world experience. This is also critically important to economic and social
needs, not only students’ wishes. There is a profound need to rethink the
significance and applicability of what is taught, and to strike a far better balance
between the conceptual and the practical. Questions that should be answered
include: Should engineering become a standard part of the curriculum? Should
trigonometry be replaced by more statistics? Is long division by hand necessary?
What is significant and relevant in history? Should personal finance, journalism,
robotics, and other new disciplines be taught to everyone – and starting in which
grade? Should entrepreneurship be mandatory? Should ethics be re-valued?
What is the role of the arts – and can they be used to foster creativity in all
disciplines?

Skills – necessity for education outcomes: Higher-order skills (“21st Century

Skills”), such as the “4 C’s” of Creativity, Critical thinking, Communication,
Collaboration, and others are essential for absorbing knowledge as well as for
work performance. Yet the curriculum is already overburdened with content,
which makes it much harder for students to acquire (and teachers to teach) skills
via deep dives into projects. There is a reasonable global consensus on what the
skills are, and how teaching methods via projects can affect skills acquisition, but
there is little time available during the school year, given the overwhelming
amount of content to be covered. There is also little in terms of teacher expertise
in combining knowledge and skills in a coherent ensemble, with guiding
materials, and assessments.

“Character” (behaviours, attitudes, values) – to face an increasingly challenging

world: As complexities increase, humankind is rediscovering the importance of
teaching character traits, such as performance-related traits (adaptability,
persistence, resilience) and moral-related traits (integrity, justice, empathy,
ethics). The challenges for public school systems are similar to those for skills,
with the extra complexity of accepting that character development is also
becoming an intrinsic part of the mission, as it is for private schools.

Meta-Layer: Essential for activating transference, building expertise, fostering

creativity via analogies, establishing lifelong learning habits, and so on. It will
answer questions such as: How should students learn how to learn? What is the
role of interdisciplinarity? What is the appropriate sequencing within subjects and
between subjects? How do we develop curiosity? How do we facilitate students’
pursuing of their own passions in addition to the standard curriculum? How do we
adapt curricula to local needs?

So what is actually being done to ensure that our workforce is skilled for 21st
century success and to ensure that students are skilled, ready to work and
contribute to society?

The global transformation, often called the “21st century skills” movement is
helping move schools closer to learning designs that better prepare students for
success in learning, work and life. The OECD Skills Strategy is responding to this
by shifting the focus from a quantitative notion of human capital, measured in
years of formal education, to the skills people actually acquire, enhance and
nurture over their lifetimes. My hope is that schools, universities and training
programs will become more responsive to the workforce and societal needs of
today, and students will increasingly focus on growing and applying essential
21st century skills and knowledge to real problems and issues, not just learning
textbook facts and formulas.

This will raise levels of creativity and innovation, and provide better skills , better
jobs, better societies, and ultimately better lives.
 It all starts with
Building the
right skills
Previous

Next

by Andreas Schleicher
Deputy Director for Education and Special Advisor on Education Policy to the OECD’s Secretary
General

Skills transform lives and drive economies. Without the right skills, people are
kept on the margins of society, technological progress does not translate into
economic growth, and countries can’t compete in today’s economies. But the
toxic co-existence of unemployed graduates and employers who say that they
cannot find the people with the skills they need, shows that skills don’t
automatically translate into better economic and social outcomes. The OECD has
put together a strategy that helps countries transform skills into better jobs and
better lives.

It all starts with building the right skills. Anticipating the evolution of the demand
for labour is the essential starting point. We then need to improve the quality of
learning outcomes, by putting a premium on skills-oriented learning throughout
life instead of qualifications-focused education upfront. That’s about fostering
relevant learning. Skills development is far more effective if the world of learning
and the world of work are linked. Compared to purely government-designed
curricula taught exclusively in schools, learning in the workplace allows young
people to develop “hard” skills on modern equipment, and “soft” skills, such as
teamwork, communication and negotiation, through real-world experience.
Hands-on workplace training can also help to motivate disengaged youth to stay
in or re-engage with education and smooth the transition to work. Data from our
new Adult Skills Survey (PIAAC) provide powerful evidence of that. While you
learn when you are in education between the ages of 16 and 25, the learning
curve is even steeper if you combine education with work.

All of this is everybody’s business; and we need to deal with the tough question
of who should pay for what, when and how, particularly for learning beyond
school. Social partners can help in developing curricula that include broader,
transferable skills and ensuring that good-quality training is available to all.
Employers can do a lot more to create a climate that supports learning, and
invest in it. Some individuals can shoulder more of the financial burden. And
governments can do a lot to design rigorous standards, provide financial
incentives and create a safety net so that all people have access to high quality
learning.

But even the best skills simply evaporate if they aren’t maintained and upgraded
to meet the changing needs of societies. There are people who are highly skilled
who have decided not to work. Why? They may be too busy caring for children or
elderly parents; they may have health problems; or they may have calculated that
it just doesn’t pay to work. The answer is that we need to make better use of our
talent pool.

Equally important, we need to ensure that skills are used effectively at work.
OECD data show the link between how skills are used on the job and people’s
earnings prospects and productivity. If you have great skills and have a
demanding job, you’re fine, and your earnings continue to increase. If you don’t
yet have the skills but your job is demanding, you’ll see progress too. But if your
employer does not use your skills, the earnings over your lifetime tend to
deteriorate.

So what can we do about this? Quality career guidance is essential. People who
have the latest labour-market information can help steer individuals to the
education or training that would best prepare them for their prospective careers.
Helping young people to gain a foothold in the labour market is fundamental too.
Vocational training is a very effective way to achieve this. Coherent and easy-to-
understand qualifications help employers identify potential employees who are
suitable for the jobs they offer. And reducing the costs of moving within a country
can help employees to find the jobs that match their skills and help employers to
find the skills that match their jobs.

There may be young people just starting out who are well educated but have
trouble finding jobs that put their education and training to good use. What most
people don’t realise is that we can shape the demand for skills. Often we think
that the demand for skills is as it is, and we just need to educate people to meet
existing demand. That is a big mistake. There is much that governments and
employers can to do promote knowledge-intensive industries and jobs that
require high-skilled workers. Adding these kinds of high value-added jobs to a
labour market helps to get more people working—and for better pay.

Last but not least, education that fosters entrepreneurship can help create jobs.
Indeed, education is where entrepreneurship is often born.

In short, we’re all in this together – and there’s a lot more that we all can do to
develop the right skills and turn them into better jobs and better lives.

In the 21st century, the world is changing and becoming

increasingly complex as the flow of information increases
and becomes more accessible day by day. The world is
radically more different than it was just a few years ago,
hard to imagine that it’s such a short period of time - the
world and its people, economies and cultures have become
inextricably connected, driven by the Internet, new
innovations and low-cost telecommunications technology.
A computer is a must, to be a successful student, in this
modern age, all the required information and
communication is accessible online.

The education is structured for all students, regardless of

background or community, so that they have the
opportunity not only to reach their goals …show more
content…

Multi-tasking rather a new term for a reason. The fact that

some people can’t do it, doesn’t mean that nobody can.

Students are learning differently than before. Teachers are

teaching differently. Education changes. 21st century

allows students to be recipients and creators of the

information at the same time, which prepares them for a

new kind of a workplace in the future - fast pace,

technology-rich, and fostering life-long learning.

In the 21st century, the focus is being put on these skills:

• WAYS OF THINKING:

CRITICAL THINKING AND PROBLEM SOLVING

CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION

• WAYS OF WORKING:

COLLABORATION AND TEAMWORK

• TOOLS FOR WORKING:

TECHNOLOGICAL LITERACY

COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA LITERACY

FUNCTIONAL NUMERACY AND LITERACY

• SKILLS FOR LIVING IN THE WORLD:

PERSONAL ORGANIZATION

MOTIVATION, SELF-REGULATION AND ADAPTABILITY

ETHICS, CIVIC RESPONSIBILITY, CROSS-CULTURAL

AWARENESS
There are two skills that span all four categories:

• COLLABORATIVE PROBLEM-SOLVING:

Working together to solve a common challenge, which

involves the contribution and exchange of ideas,

knowledge or resources to achieve the goal,

 Appendix A
 America’s public schools seek to provide all students with an education that is marked
by excellence and equity. Many schools and districts across the country have made
great strides in creating engaging learning environments that foster student
achievement while meeting the needs of all students.Yet, despite significant efforts on
the part of policymakers, administrators, and teachers, public education as a whole
does not provide all students with the skills and competencies necessary for success in
postsecondary education and employment. Instead of systemically responding to the
social, economic, and political changes that mark the 21st century, education largely
retains its 19th century design. As a result, the United States has not kept pace with the
educational attainment and achievement levels of many other nations, and has in fact
fallen behind (Harvard Graduate School of Education, February 2011). Whereas “thirty
years ago, the United States ranked 1st in the quality of its high school graduates, today
it is 18th among twenty-three industrialized nations” (National Center for Education and
the Economy, 2006). Key to achieving excellence in our schools is a focus on 21st
century teaching and learning.

Defining 21st Century Skills and Competencies

Ensuring students’ success requires that we define the skills and competencies
reflective of quality in the 21st century. Twenty-fisrst century skills and competencies
encompass core knowledge, the application of core knowledge, and the 4Cs (critical
thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication).

Core Knowledge

The development of 21st century skills and competencies depends upon students
acquiring core knowledge. The need for a solid foundation in reading, writing, and
mathematics cannot be displaced. Content knowledge should be offered in multi-
faceted ways so that our students simultaneously develop a broad set of skills and
competencies. Craig Jerald advocates: “Applied skills and competencies can best be
taught in the context of the academic curriculum, not as a replacement for it or ‘add on’
to it; in fact, cognitive research suggests that some competencies like critical thinking
and problem solving are highly dependent on deep content knowledge and cannot be
taught in isolation.” (July 2009)

Application of Core Knowledge

For the full benefits of core knowledge to be realized, students need to be able to
demonstrate higher-order thinking skills and apply their learning. Since many of the
challenges that our children will face in the 21st century do not have clearly defined
answers, recall will not serve students well in the roles of student, employee, citizen,
and consumer. Rather, success in any of these domains depends upon the ability to
analyze, synthesize, and evaluate core knowledge when faced with a novel situation.

Critical Thinking, Creativity, Collaboration, and Communication

Employers have identified a set of broad competencies that are necessary to fully
engage in work that demands analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. These include the 4
Cs developed by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills: critical thinking,
communication, collaboration, and creativity.

o Critical thinking is essential as students are expected to both identify and

confront problems that are local, national, and global in scale with neither a
single nor a prescribed solution.
o The ability to relate well to others, cooperate, resolve conflicts, and acknowledge
alternate viewpoints—all attributes of an effective collaborator—are indispensible
in the world of work.
o Workers need to be able to communicate across corporations, sectors, time
zones, nations, and cultures. Communication requires an individual to clearly
articulate his/her viewpoint and help move conversations forward through
effective and focused participation.
o Problem solving is an exercise in creativity that requires its participants to
integrate knowledge across silos, combine existing patterns in unique ways, and
originate new ideas.

The Challenge

While there is widespread agreement that 21st century skills and competencies are
critical to success in today’s world, our graduates are far from highly skilled in these
areas. As reported by the Harvard Graduate School of Education, “Increasingly, U.S.
employers complain that today’s young adults are not equipped with the skills they need
to succeed in the 21st century workforce” (February 2011). The report, Are They Ready
to Work?, maintains that “far too many young people are inadequately prepared to be
successful” (Conference Board, 2006). In particular, a majority of employers surveyed
by the Conference Board point to oral and written communication skills as both highly
important and significantly lacking, particularly-though not singularly-in high school
graduates.College officials similarly hold that many of their incoming students do not
have the required skills and do not attain success, as demonstrated by enrollment in
development coursework and college completion rates High school graduates by and
large do not disagree with these perceptions, as “40 to 45% of recent high school
graduates report significant gaps in their skills, both in college and the workplace”
(Achieve, Inc., 2008).

Characteristics of a 21st Century Teaching and Learning Environment

How can we create a teaching and learning system that fosters the development of
these 21st century skills? Several areas of focus are critical for administrators, teachers,
and researchers to consider as they seek to answer this question. They include
personalized learning, the use of technology, an expanded definition of “educator,” the
time and place of learning, structures for the delivery of learning, and the measurement
of learning.

Personalized Learning

Personalized learning is an important aspect of 21st century teaching and learning.

Neurological research supports the development of a teaching and learning system that
is tailored to the needs of individual students and reflective of multiple intelligences,
Because each human brain is wired differently, students comprehend knowledge at
different times and at different depths, a fact that is at odds with the uniformity of public
education. Achieving educational excellence and equity requires a teaching and
learning environment that addresses the needs of each student rather than treats them
as a single unit. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills confirms the need for schools
to “more effectively incorporate advances in learning science into instructional practice”
and create a more student centered learning environment” (October 2007).

Use of Technology

A student-centered approach demands a shift in the current use of technology.

Technology will not in and of itself create a 21st century teaching and learning
environment. If used intentionally to support learning, technology provides teachers with
a tool to determine students’ needs and serve them accordingly, as well as to prepare
students to be critical consumers of online information. It also enables teachers to draw
upon the vast expertise of their students. As digital natives, students have vast
knowledge of the capacity of technology to support learning. Tapping into their expertise
both enhances the learning experience and empowers students by allowing them to
take on a more active role in the classroom.

Expanded Definition of “Educator”

Chen asserts: “The days of being the sole source of knowledge and authority in the
classroom are over, way over” (2010). The 21st century calls for community experts,
employers, and parents to share the role and responsibilities of educator. By bringing
community experts into the classroom, students receive a more complete picture of the
topic under discussion. McCain points to the benefits these experiences afford students:
“Placing course content in the context of a real-world scenario helps a student
remember specific details of a lesson because the context gives the information
meaning” (2005).

Employers similarly support teaching and learning in the 21st century, both in helping
set the standards of study and in providing expanded opportunities for learning to be
linked to work. The public school system should “elevate the importance of relevant
work experience in a successful transition from adolescence to adulthood” (Harvard
Graduate School of Education, February 2011). Providing students with opportunities to
engage in the world of work serves students and employers alike. Students are given a
real world context for their learning and a forum to develop 21st century skills, whereas
employers have the chance to prepare the next generation of workers. To fully advance
learning in the school, community, and workplace, schools must partner with parents so
that they are apprised of the teaching and learning process and support it accordingly.

Time and Place of Learning

For community-based experiences to be possible, the learning environment needs to be

altered. School is currently driven by a 50/6/5/180 schedule that is at odds with both the
ubiquity of learning resources and research pointing to the summer learning loss. Fifty
minute class periods create unnecessary road blocks to interdisciplinary study, team
teaching, and experiential learning. The short episodes of instruction reinforce a
teacher-centered classroom that artificially divides subjects and disconnects teachers
from available expertise both within and outside of the building. To create a more
student-centered learning environment, “the school day need[s] to be redesigned to
include more learning time beyond the school day, including summers, but also a
different kind of learning, anchored in high standards and authentic curricula and
utilizing technology, the Internet, and community-based experiences” (Task Force on
Time, Learning, and Afterschool, 2007).

Structures for the Delivery of Learning

Effective learning delivery includes focusing on depth of content rather than breadth, as
well as connecting disciplines rather than artificially dividing them into subject areas.
Connecting disciplines enhances creative problem-solving skills by preparing students
to use content from seemingly disparate areas. It also enables teachers to draw upon
their colleagues’ expertise and facilitate deeper learning experiences for their students.
Teacher collaboration simultaneously provides teachers with a richer professional
experience, as educators are provided with a forum to showcase their knowledge and
learn from their fellow educators. Educators become “pedagogical experts sharing their
own pedagogical inventions with peers, subject to questioning, critique, and revision”
(Darling-Hammond and Sykes, 1999). Ultimately, engagement in professional inquiry
enables educators to share, reflect upon, and improve their practices.

Measurement of Learning

Altering how learning is delivered also requires redefining how learning is measured.
Authentic assessments need to be developed to measure student performance more
deeply and assess the skills deemed critical in the 21st century. A range of stakeholders
have articulated that “college students, workers, and citizens must be able to solve
multifaceted problems by thinking creatively and generating original ideas from multiple
sources of information—and tests must measure students’ capacity to do such work”
(Silva, November 2008).

Organizing for 21st Century Teaching and Learning Organizational Flexibility and
Adaptability

While altering practices, policies, and procedures to create a more student-centered

learning environment is critical, doing so will not, in and of itself, create a 21st century
teaching and learning system. To address the speed with which change transpires in
today’s world, a 21st century teaching and learning system must have organizational
structures in place that adapt and communicate with comparable speed. This requires a
shift to a culture in which the organization’s participants are more flexible and receptive
to innovation.

Organizational Accountability

In order to attain the caliber of leadership, instruction, and collaboration necessary in

the 21st century, an organization must also submit to standards of accountability. By
holding itself accountable, an organization fosters the commitment and information-
sharing that is necessary for continuous progress monitoring. Through regular individual
and group reflection, the organization becomes better-equipped to pursue the
modifications associated with exemplary performance. In coupling flexibility with
accountability, an organization is well-positioned to adopt the characteristics of a 21st
century teaching and learning environment.
Conclusion

Deliberately creating a 21st century teaching and learning environment requires an

organization to determine the skill and competencies required of today’s citizens,
consumers, students, and employees. Upon the identification of these 21st century
skills, practices, policies, and procedures must be examined and altered to facilitate
development. In the process of pursuing these modifications, participants need to
cultivate the structures necessary to promote a 21st century teaching and learning
system that is open to future changes.