Last week, I investigated some of the contrarian opinions related to 21st-century learning ideas and skills. It's clear to me now that even though there is a global attempt towards preparing students for a world where knowledge is no longer king and cognitive processes are, there is still a strong presence of educators who are not fully supportive of the changes being proposed. In this post, I wanted to look a little more into whether or not the definition of 21st-century learning is consensual among all parties; specifically, I have decided to take a look at the initiatives and perspectives with regards to 21st-century learning at an international level. As my current understanding of it is largely based on North American ideas, I wanted to include other perspectives to gain further insight, as "There is no single international definition of 21st century competencies, but there are common elements among countries' goals" (Stewart, 2015). Stewart goes on to write that the fundamental skills that seem to be omnipresent throughout most of the media I have been exposed to regarding 21st-century learning are more or less the same in these other cultures, however, "...countries put weight on different elements, based on their own cultures, traditions, and analyses of the social and economic challenges they are facing" (Stewart, 2015). A good example of this is what is happening in South Korea, where academic achievement is near the top of the scale, and yet student happiness and satisfaction is extremely low. In fact, The World Population Review indicated that "...students have higher-than-average suicide rates, at least partly because their families tend to put high levels of pressure on them to succeed academically" (2021). One initiative that is being introduced is that " Arts and humanities have been added to the traditional science and math-heavy curriculum to foster creativity and student engagement" (Stewart, 2015). Additionally, "...extracurricular activities, not just exam results, are now being reflected in university entrance procedures" (Stewart, 2015). During my own time in South Korea as an ELL teacher, I recall that the educational climate was extremely rigid, and that creativity was nowhere to be found in the classroom. I'm glad that some actions are being taken to rectify some of the dissatisfaction that students are feeling. Another interesting thing to note is the pre-existing disparities that exist between countries in terms of the skills that students already possess. In examining the information produced by the World Bank Income found here, there is a large disparity between different countries faculties in arts, science, and core competency skills, and there is a correlation between a country's GDP and their performance in these areas, with some exceptions existing. This graphic below highlights this effectively: In analyzing all of this information, the conclusions that I can draw are that 21st-century learning skills are more of a guide than a rigid set of rules that must be fully adhered to. Because each part of the world has a different starting point, it would be ridiculous for an educator with a North American context to dictate to someone from another part of the world as to how they should best implement these practices. Certain parts of the world, as can be shown by the graphic above, do not yet even possess sufficient enough literacy and numeracy skills to even consider introducing 21st-century learning skills on such a wide scale. Finally, I would also argue that certain schools within Canada that are located in an impoverished area may not be as well-prepared to engage in 21st-century learning as other parts of the country are. In some ways, this poses a problem, as there will likely be an inequality of information that will persist in our world and in our country for a long time. What can be done to more evenly spread information to parts of the world where it is limited?
I am having a hard time understanding why those who want to read in other countries are unable to in the age of the internet where YouTube and a plethora of other instructional materials exist. I will investigate this further in my next post. WORKS CITED Stewart, V. (2015, December 17). Preparing students for the 21st century. Retrieved February 22, 2021, from https://asiasociety.org/global-cities-education-network/preparing-students-21st-century World Population Review. Suicide rate by country 2021. (2021). Retrieved February 22, 2021, from https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/suicide-rate-by-country
1 Comment
Jen Proce
2/21/2021 06:48:07 pm
Hi Tim,
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AuthorTim Raposo is a teacher of grades 3 & 4 at Cawston Primary School in BC. With a firm grasp of burgeoning technologies. he seeks to introduce students to new ideas and skills to produce a passion for 21st century learning as early as possible in their educational careers. ArchivesCategories |