I’m just returning from a visit to The Partnership for 21st Century Skills and I feel a bit like Alice coming back from a trip down the rabbit-hole. This is a truly amazing and comprehensive website for teachers and administrators who are interested in preparing their students for success in a new and demanding world. We all know that technology and society have changed dramatically in the last several years, yet most of us teach in industrial age schools which focus on individual knowledge, thought, and achievement. Today’s society has made the shift to a teamwork and collaboration oriented, constructionist view of knowledge, where people from different locations and backgrounds come together to engage in complex problem-solving and communication (Laureate Education, Inc., 2008). We see this happening, we know the world is changing, yet our schools are lagging behind – and we often feel powerless to do anything about it.
The Partnership for 21st century skills seems intent on changing that, however! This forward-thinking partnership of businesses, educational leaders, and policy makers has clearly been hard at work developing a concept, backed up with resources and support, to help today’s educators take the steps needed to integrate 21st century skills into today’s schools. What most surprised me about the Partnership’s framework for 21st century learning (known as P21), was the minimal focus on the technological tools themselves; this site is not a tutorial on how to use one technology or another in the classroom. Rather, it is a comprehensive look at kind of skills and knowledge that our student’s will increasingly need, and ways to integrate these into our teaching practice.
My first thought once I got oriented in this site was, “Wow, somebody’s doing it! We’re not on our own!” We don’t need to reinvent the wheel – it’s been done, and the blueprints are here for the viewing. After navigating around this website, I began to realize that there are no excuses (even without school-wide internet access we can begin the transition to 21st century skills), all of the resources you need to begin adapting your instructional practices are available (I wouldn’t even dare to guess at the incredible number of quality links), and the support systems are in place.
One of the things I found most inspiring in the P21 Framework was the interdisciplinary 21st century themes, such as global awareness or civic literacy, which are meant to run through the traditional content areas and across skill groups. I find this approach holistic, in contrast to the fragmented, compartmentalized approach of the industrial past. Reaching across subject boundaries will certainly serve to inspire more flexible and complex thought and give rise to opportunities for quality communication and collaboration; it is reflective of the “elemental changes in the way that organizations organize and approach work” (Bates & Phelan, 2002, p.121) that have taken place in today’s economy.
Truly inspiring!
Resources:
Bates, R., & Phelan, K. (2002). Characteristics of a globally competitive workforce. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 4(2), 121.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2008). Program Eleven. Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work and Society. [Motion picture]. Technology Interfaces. Baltimore: Author.
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Response: Wegener to Paul
ReplyDeleteI agree Tsenala, that the information on the website from the Partnership for 21st Century Skills is amazing and comprehensive, and might I add exciting as well? For several years in the career and technical education field, educators have been made aware of the growing vocalism of business and industry on what they as employers demand in their workers and more recently, what business and industry expects from schools in the preparation of workers. This website brings together so many individual threads of information, research, data analysis, and resources all into one place that is easy to access. I also like that the purpose of the website, or its audience, is clearly not just for educators or teachers. It includes information targeted to business and industry as partners, as well as community members, teacher preparation institutions (colleges), teacher licensing divisions, policy makers and parents. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills appears to have taken seriously the information presented in the report, A Nation at Risk (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983) which included recommendations for citizens to hold educators and elected officials responsible for providing the leadership necessary to achieve reforms (which could be applied to any public reform), and that these same citizens provide the fiscal support and stability required to bring about the reforms. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills knows the value of an informed citizen, and that an informed community, across many levels, is more likely to achieve success.
The current climate in education, at both the national and state level, has not focused its attention or funding on the skills that comprise 21st Century Skills. Teachers will need to adapt or change their techniques and strategies, materials and resources to effectively teach 21st Century Skill, and deserve every resource to assist them in these changes. This website provides those resources, and also models a plan that includes many partners to help ensure success with those changes.
References:
National Commission on Excellence in Education. (1983). A Nation at Risk. Washington D.C.: United States Government.
Inger,
ReplyDeleteI imagine that the work you do in the career and technical education field must keep you pretty aware of the skills needed for today’s workplace - you’re right in the thick of it. The connection between skills developed in school and skills needed in the “real world” must be especially evident to you. It struck me as I was reading Levy & Murnane’s (2006) article how many mid-level jobs are being and have been lost to out-sourcing or new (automating) technologies. Young people entering the workplace today need more than narrow training aimed at filling one particular function; they need to be flexible, self-directed, inquiring, and resourceful. Do you find that there is a large gap between the skills the young people you work with have acquired in school and those being sought in the workplace?
Resource:
Levy, F., & Murnane, R. (2006). Why the changing American economy calls for twenty-first century learning: Answers to educators' questions. New Directions for Youth Development, 2006(110), 53–62.
I'm so glad that you found this site to be beneficial as well as inspiring for you. You are definitely right about this: we all need to change our way of instructing students today... and we need to do this soon! I hope you will be going back and revisiting this site on a regular basis.
ReplyDeleteDr. L.
Hi Tsenala,
ReplyDeleteReaching across subject boundaries really does seem the way to inspire communication and collaboration. I think that it also helps our students see "the big picture", how everything fits together and hopefully see the value in everything that we are trying to teach them. Beyond helping them in the classroom, this idea of "seeing the big picture" will also help them succeed in the 21st century, as interpreting information and ideas and seeing how they all fit together is an invaluable skill that our students will need later on in life.