Educating for the XXIst Century

What is XXIst century education’ It is bold. It is flexible, creative, challenging, and complex. It addresses a rapidly changing world filled with challenges and problems as well as exciting new opportunities and possibilities.

Schools in the XXIst century will be founded on a project-based curriculum aimed at engaging students in addressing real-world problems, issues important to humanity, and questions that matter for our future culturally, socially and globally.

“Schools” will go ‘from ‘buildings’ to nerve centres, not limited by the four walls of the classroom, connecting teachers, students and the community to the wealth of knowledge that exists in the world.’

The teacher will change from being a dispenser of information, to becoming a facilitator of learning who helps students turn information into knowledge, and knowledge into a useful and practical tool.

The XXIst century will require knowledge generation, not just information delivery, and schools will need to create a ‘culture of enquiry’.

Bloom´s Taxonomy of Learning has now been modified in line with changes in the concept of Higher Order Learning Skills with the ability to handle knowledge in an organised way is now considered a necessary skill.

Whereas in the past a learner was a young person who went to school, spent a specified amount of time in certain courses, received passing grades and graduated. Today we must see learners in a new context:

Firstly we must maintain student interest by helping them see how what they are learning prepares them for life in the real world.

Secondly we must instill curiosity, which is fundamental to lifelong learning.

Thirdly we must be flexible in how we teach.

Fourthly we must motivate and excite learners to become even more resourceful so that they will continue to learn outside the formal school day.

The twenty-first century curriculum has certain critical attributes. It is interdisciplinary, project-based, and research-driven. It is connected to the community ‘ local, state, national and global. Sometimes students are collaborating with people around the world in various projects. The curriculum incorporates higher order thinking skills, multiple intelligences, technology and multimedia, the multiple literacies of the XXIst century, and authentic assessments. Learning through Service is also an important component.

The classroom is expanded to include the greater community. Students are self-directed, and work both independently and interdependently. The curriculum and instruction are designed to challenge all students, and provides for differentiation.

The curriculum is not textbook-driven or fragmented, but is conceptual and thematic, project-based and integrated. Skills and content are not taught as an end in themselves, but students learn them through their research and application in their projects. Textbooks, if they have them, are just one of many resources.

Knowledge is not memorisation of facts and figures, but is constructed through research and application, and connected to previous knowledge and personal experience. The skills and content become relevant and needed as students require this information to complete their projects. The content and basic skills are applied within the context of the curriculum, and are not ends in themselves.

Assessment moves from regurgitation of memorised facts and disconnected processes to demonstration of understanding through application in a variety of contexts, becoming competencies. Real-world audiences are an important part of the assessment process, as is self-assessment. 

XXIst century skills are learned through a curriculum, which is interdisciplinary, integrated, project-based, and more, include and are learned within a project-based curriculum focussed on:

Core Subjects and XXIst Century Learning
Learning and Innovation Skills
Life and Career Skills
Information, Media and Technology Skills

By:

• Collaboration ‘ the ability to work in teams
• Critical thinking ‘ taking on complex problems
• Oral communications ‘ presenting
• Written communications ‘ writing
• Technology ‘ use technology
• Citizenship ‘ take on civic and global issues; service learning
• Learn about careers ‘ through internships
• Content ‘ conduct research and do all of the above.

Educating for the XXIst century therefore requires a complete change of perspective from the traditional paradigm of education to a system which puts the child and the child’s world and reality at the centre of the learning process. It goes beyond the simple acquisition of knowledge to a central focus on developing skills and attitudes ‘ thinking skills, problem solving skills, organisational skills, and positive attitudes, self-esteem, innovation, creativity, communication skills, technological skills and of course values, self confidence, resilience, self motivation and environmental awareness. Above all the ability to handle knowledge effectively in order to use it creatively is vital to the skills needed by the XXIst Century student. St George’s College considers this to be our challenge, – to educate our students not for the past but for the future, to provide our students with the skills, attitudes, values and personal formation to face the future with optimism and achieve both success and happiness.