21st century skills have always received a great deal of attention, but in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, has the way we define 21st century skills changed? What does this mean for teaching and learning?
There are many definitions and models when it comes to 21st century skills. It is important to see them as not purely ‘creating the workforce of the future’, but instead, creating the well-rounded humans of the future. 21st century skills go beyond work to help students prepare for a rapidly changing world. This will enable them to be successful and have the best possible life chances.
The content for this article is from Sharon Hennam-Dale’s recent talk at our Be Ready for the World conference.
The impact of the pandemic
Whether the pandemic has changed what people think of as 21st century skills, or it has simply made certain skills more important, is up for debate. COVID-19 and the resultant learning from home has definitely had an impact on what most people now refer to as 21st century skills.
According to a recent World Economics Forum report, the top skills in the lead-up to 2025 are:
The top two skills – analytical thinking and active learning – are completely new entries to the World Economic Forum’s list. As is number five, resilience.
While some would argue that these have always been important when preparing children for an unknown future and job market, there has undoubtedly been greater urgency for learners to take responsibility for their own learning.
Benefits of remote learning
Learning remotely has forced students to interact in different ways. When we have asked teachers about remote learning, they responded to say that in many cases it has caused disruption, stress and fatigue. However, they were also quick to highlight the benefits of remote learning:
The transition to remote learning has given students the opportunity to develop their 21st century skills beyond the classroom. However, will students retain these skills after returning to the classroom? While we shouldn’t teach these skills in isolation, the experience of remote learning has shown us how to bring them into the lessons holistically.
Developing 21st century skills in the classroom
When in the classroom, how do we ensure students are still practising these skills?
Learning to fail
As we’ve seen above, both teachers and students have learnt a lot from the experience of remote lessons. But perhaps resilience is the skill that has come through the most. Ensuring that classrooms are a safe place to fail and learn from mistakes is critical for developing resilience.
When learning remotely, not using webcams or encouraging students to type answers into the chat if they don’t feel comfortable speaking are great ways to build confidence. How do we replicate this in the classroom?
Organising students into smaller groups or supporting the development of self-regulation skills are just two ways that you can encourage this. Both provide opportunities for meaningful interactions (which I think we’ve all learnt the importance of during the pandemic), helping to build communication and collaboration skills.
Promoting passion
When we’re passionate about something, we tend to forget our fears. Create opportunities to promote creative expression in classroom. If a student loves drawing, presenting, writing or filming, then use this as the medium for them to demonstrate their skills or assessment objectives.
Learning to learn
Metacognition is key when teaching students resilience. Learning isn’t a straight line, it’s often a messy process that requires trial and error. There will be times when students don’t know what to do, but this isn’t a negative thing.
Give students questions, rather than answers so that they can think harder (active learning) and work things out for themselves. Learning to do this gives them the self-awareness to say – ‘OK, this hasn’t worked, but maybe I can try this.’
Assessing 21st century skills
One of the areas teachers often find challenging is assessment. While formal assessment for these types of skills isn’t largely available, there are other ways you can monitor how students are developing and applying 21st century skills.
Create opportunities for reflection and self-evaluation of the learning process – assessment for learning (AfL). In this way, assessment just becomes part of the learning process. And if you are using Cambridge Primary and Lower Secondary resources, AfL is built into all the learner’s books, workbooks and teacher’s resources.
You can also provide feedback to learners about how they are building 21st century skills. Positive reinforcement goes a long way and it’ll encourage them to identify new ways to show they are demonstrating these skills.
Refection
- Consider where your school is now – where are the skills gaps? What skills do you need to focus on that are relevant?
- What instructional practices do you need to develop?
- How can you measure impact?
If you would like to find out more, watch Sharon’s full session on our YouTube channel or visit our website to learn about how our primary and lower secondary resources can help you build 21st century skills.
