PARTNERSHIP FOR 21ST CENTURY SKILLS
The Partnership for the 21st century Skills represents national organization that advocates for the readiness of students all over the United States. It was a pleasant surprise for me to see such a very strong movement initiating, canvassing and mobilising organizations, government leaders, education departments and individuals to embrace and to ensure that every student is given a chance to develop and acquire the necessary skills that are needed for any individual to become a useful member of the society and compete in the 21st century economy. The group’s website is inviting, user-friendly, robust, awash with valuable resources and information that many organizations and individual will find very useful.
The discussions around the issues of academic, life and career skills necessary for the 21st century were thorough, frank, comprehensive and purposeful.
There is no doubt about the good intentions of the people behind this initiative, however, I do not find anything new or anything that surprised me in terms of the information provided on the website. (Dede, & Thurnburg, 2010) both eloquently talked about the need for the education system to help students acquire the 21st century skills that will help students to become successful in the global economy. They both mentioned collaboration, critical thinking, problem solving, self direction, lifelong learning etc, as well as “expert thinking and Complex Communication” as indispensable part of 21st century skills for anybody to become successful (Dede, 2010).
21st Century Partnership on its website provided rationale for the thinking of the founding fathers, and they try to come up with reasonable solutions. One thing that I totally disagree with is the insinuation that the current methods of educating students should be replaced altogether and substituted with what the founding fathers believe will rejuvenate education and ensure 21st century skills for all students. This assertion was implied in some of the statements on the website such as P 21st Vision: “Student mastery of the 21st century skills should be recognized as one of the most critical outcomes of the teaching and learning process. Therefore, it is necessary to develop and implement curriculum and instructional strategies that by design enhance these skills.” (P 21st website) this presupposes that the current design cannot guarantee the successful attainment of the 21st century skills. I do not believe this, many experts (Dede, 2010), (Thurnburg, 2010, Leu, 2007, Bates, & Phelan, 2002.) all agreed that the current system can be adapted to deliver the skills needed for the 21st century a long list of these skills was included in their write up. Another area that took me by surprise is the cost of attending the workshop! It is not cheap at $5000.00; many school districts and individulas may be excluded from this conference because of the cost.
The implications for my students and for me as a contemporary educators are very grave. First, both students and educators alike must come to realization that the global community has changed, education environment has changed, therefore pedagogy must change, workplace environment has equally changed, workforce must therefore adapt to the change as well, the skills required for 21st century have changed, therefore, we can no longer do business as usual, obtaining the critical skills needed for future economy must be given priority if we must compete successfully with others for the same scarce resources in the face of fierce competition. In the 21st century environment, only the fittest of the fittest will survive.
Reference;
Bates, R. & Phelan, K. (2002) Characteristics of a globally competitive workforce. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 4(2), 121.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010). Program number 11: Skills for the 21st century [DVD]. Understanding the impact of technology on education, work, and society. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010). Program number 12: Technology interfaces [DVD]. Understanding the impact of technology on education, work, and society. Baltimore, MD: Author.
http://p21.org/documents/p21-stateimp_curriculuminstruction.pdf
2 comments:
I don't think that the Partnership for 21st Century Skills necessarily wants eliminate all current instructional strategies and programs, but instead encourages us to examine and incorporate aspects of critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, technology, etc. I am sure that many instructors are currently already doing these things, but there are also several that are not.
If P21 wanted us to scrap everything we were doing, they wouldn't include the core subjects as part of its framework. It is recommended that while teaching the core subjects we include 21st century skills and by fusing these together, we prepare students for the workplace they will one day encounter.
Like you have said, the ideas are not new to the world of education; however, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills has outlined and organized the thoughts of many experts, as you have mentioned with the likes of Dede (2010), Thurnburg (2010), Leu (2007), and Bates & Phelan (2002). This doesn't take away from the effort of the organization. Rather, I believe that it strengthens and gives the movement credibility.
Oluyemi, I noticed your comment in there about how just attending the conference cost $5,000. After looking at some of the groups involved in this movement, I'm left to wonder, why aren't they doing more to either make attaining these skills easier or helping provide equipment or defray the cost involved for ensuring that all classrooms have the necessary technology to ensure that their students master these skills?
Post a Comment