Pressing Forward: 21st Century Skills

What is the purpose of schooling?

Fernando Reimers, a contributor to 'Educational Leadership' writes that the 'purpose of schooling is to prepare students for life in the real world in their communities and societies, both in the present - while students are in school - and in the future - after they leave school behind.'

So, good educators today must be adapting outmoded systems in order to reflect the interconnected and interdependent nature of life as we know it now. Educator's must be leading with a new set of skills. One American organization; the Partnership for 21st Century Learning is working to provide a new framework for teaching and learning in our era. They redefine the three r's of learning (reading, writing, r'thmatic) into a broader configuration which includes the integration of the four C's, critical thinking/problem solving, communication, coolaboration, creativity and innovation. A fusion of these is necessary to cultivate effective student outcomes. Elizabeth Burmaster, State Superintendent of Public Instruction in Wisconsin breaks down the new demands as the following:

"Students need to be technologically proficient, globally aware, civically engaged and financially and economically literate to most effectively use their creativity in the 21st century."

See the interactive version of this rubric at Route 21

The demand for global competency is more dire than ever. If students want to be a dynamic part of the global workforce and competitive in the economy a sense of global proficiency is essential.

"I define global competency as the knowledge and skills people need to understand today's flat world and to integrate across disciplines so that they can comprehend global event and create possibilities to address them. Global competencies are also the attitudinal and ethical dispositions that make it possible to interact peacefully, respectfully, and productively with fellow human beings from diverse geographies (Reimers, 2009)"

What is Global Competence anyway?

Today I am loving the Asia Society's 'education and learning' stockpile. Asia society has created efforts across domains to form the Partnership for Global Learning. It is an innovative educational movement.

"As a membership network, its purpose is to provide leadership and structure to move international education from the margins to the mainstream by connecting policy and practice to prepare American students to excel in an interconnected world."

The interconnected programs and schools are pushing boundaries in order to advance global competence in youth. So, what exactly is global competence? Broken down, it works like this....

Investigate the world

Children are naturally curious. A Montessori school toy.

Students investigate the world beyond their immediate environment.

This means they are able to Generate and explain the significance of locally, regionally or globally focused researchable questions.

Identify, collect and analyze the knowledge and evidence required to answer questions using a variety of international sources, media and languages.

Weigh, integrate and synthesize evidence collected to construct coherent responses that is appropriate to the context of issues or problems.

Develop an argument based on compelling evidence that considers multiple perspectives and draws defensible conclusions.

Recognize Perspectives

Image from Pieterse's 'Globalization and Culture'

Students recognize their own and others’ perspective.

Recognize and articulate one’s own perspective on situations, events, issues or phenomena and identify the influences on that perspective.

Articulate and explain perspectives of other people, groups or schools of thought and identify the influences on those perspectives.

Explain how the interaction of ideas across cultures influences the development of knowledge and situations, events, issues or phenomena.

Articulate how the consequences of differential access to knowledge, technology and resources affect the quality of life and influences perspectives.

Communicate Ideas 传达想法

deel Ideeën mee

communiquez les idées

Teilen Sie Ideen mit

Επικοινωνήστε τις ιδέες

Comunichi le idee

考えを伝えなさい

아이디어를 전하십시오

Comunique idéias

Связывайте идеи

Comunique las ideas
Kuwasiliana wawazo
لإيصال الأفكار

Students communicate their ideas effectively with diverse audiences.

Recognize that diverse audiences may perceive different meanings from the same information.

Use appropriate language, behavior and strategies to effectively communicate, both verbally and non-verbally, with diverse audiences.

Explain how effective communication impacts understanding and collaboration in an interdependent world.

Select and effectively use appropriate technology and media to communicate with diverse audiences.

Take ACTION

Image from Change.org on Social Entrepeneurship

Students translate their ideas and findings into appropriate actions to improve conditions.

Recognize one’s capacity to advocate for and contribute to improvement locally, regionally, or globally.

Identify opportunities for personal and collaborative action to address situations, events, issues or phenomena in ways which can make a difference.

Assess options for action based on evidence and the potential for impact, taking into account varied perspectives and potential consequences for others.

Act creatively and innovatively to contribute to improvement locally, regionally or globally both personally and collaboratively.

*all of this information came from Asia society, 'What is Global Competence'