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Education
With the accelerating pace of change, these critical skills empower
children to secure information-age jobs, survive challenges of
a highly uncertain future and protect themselves in unfiltered
environments.
21st Century Skills
The increasingly globalized world has prompted us, as parents,
educators and researchers, to redefine the traditional notion
of which skills are required to prepare children for success in
life outside of school. We need to move beyond the common
formulations of learning that the majority of us grew up with and
it takes more than just computer and technological skills to face
the increasingly competitive society. The diagram below illustrates
the top skills that children need to embrace:
Learning Skills
Crical Thinking
Creave Thinking
Collaborave
Communicaon
Literacy Skills
Informaon Literacy
Media Literacy
Technology Literacy
Life Skills
Flexibility
Leadership
Iniave
Producvity
Social
How Are Educators Adapting?
Early education plays a crucial role in this. It requires redesigning
of education systems and curricula, and retraining educators to
encourage flexibility rather than specialization. In our efforts
to help parents make informed educational decisions, we have
observed a sharp increase in the number of local schools being
strong advocates of 21st century education. They favour childcentred
teaching methods, for example, project-based learning
and problem-based learning, to inculcate critical thinking, creative
thinking, communication and collaborative skills in the children.
Instead of memorizing facts through rote learning, there is strong
emphasis on teaching children how to learn and how to solve
problems. The learning experiences strive to break down the
barriers that exist between education and the real world, making
them more relevant. The implementation of these practices calls
for an iterative process of planning, teacher’s training, execution
and evaluation.
A Need to Reimagine Education
Curricula, assessments, teacher expertise, and management
have fallen short of its goals in past education reform efforts.
Acknowledging and making changes to the key components that
have undermined the success of the reform movement is our best
hope for turning our education system into one that is in line
with the 21st century skills movement, and hopefully benefit lessadvantaged
children as well. Fixing these would not be easy, but it
is doable over time.
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