The knowledge, life skills, habits, traits, and career skills that are crucial for the success of a student in the current world are referred to as 21st-century skills. These are helpful for students as they move on to college and work in their adult life. 21st-century skills are included in the strategic plans of educational institutions for preparing students better for their careers and life. The most relevant skills include critical thinking, collaboration, and problem-solving skills.
The Essence of 21st-Century Skills for Students
21st-century learning and innovation skills matter today, because of the following reasons:
- Soft skills drive success in high-level courses and workplaces
- Students are being prepared for jobs that are not yet popular today. Such career readiness needs to equip them with skills that keep them prepared for the unknown
- The internet era has made vast information accessible to students. They need to have the skills to process and analyze this information by overcoming the challenges occurring while navigating social situations and other circumstances
- Theoretical knowledge from textbooks is no more sufficient. Students need to understand their practical application to efficiently solve complex problems
Important 21st-Century Skills for Students
The list of 21st-century learning skills which must be woven into the learning experiences of students are as follows:
- Creativity
- Problem-solving
- Perseverance
- Collaboration
- Information literacy
- Media literacy
- Civic literacy
- Social responsibility
- Innovation skills
- Thinking skills
- Global Awareness
- Self-direction
- Social skills
- Literacy skills
- Critical thinking
- Communication skills
- Technology skills and digital literacy
Besides learning the key academic subjects, the following 21st-century skills need to be inculcated in the students. All the above skills are classified into the following categories:
- Learning Skills: These include critical thinking, creativity, communication, and collaboration skills
- Life Skills: These include learning to be flexible, social, productive, and a good leader
- Literacy Skills: These involve learning about technology and media to be well-equipped with information technology
Building the 21st-Century Skills
Learning 21st-century skills to ensure relevance in the current era is the first step toward progress. So, a proper plan has to be made to ensure that students acquire the required skills. Some ways of doing this are explained below:
i. Creating staff capacity
The teachers and staff need to understand and model the skills that students need to learn. The 21st-century skills need to be integrated into staff personal development so the competencies can grow in the students. Various ideas, activities, and worksheets can be implemented for building adult SEL.
ii. Creating an inquiry-based environment in the classroom
Students learn when they freely ask questions and get answers to them. The best way to achieve this is to follow a KWL chart in which K stands for knowledge in what the students know so far, W stands for want in what they want to know and L stands for Loud in wondering out loud to the teachers when they come across some new information. Inquiry-based learning can keep students self-motivated in their learning path.
iii. Encouraging collaboration
An optimum positive classroom environment is crucial for enhanced collaboration. Students are social creatures and hence every opportunity must be used for helping them form pairs and small groups. This helps in boosting their speaking and language skills. Moreover, they also learn to attain their goals together.
iv. Focus on the development of critical thinking skills
Learning doesn't involve just memorizing and remembering things but involves the development of critical thinking skills. This helps students to move beyond simple comprehension of any information. With such skills, they can resolve issues, come to conclusions and generalize things, form new patterns by combining the available information, and form judgments based on certain evidence and criteria. Because of all these advantages, teachers introduce activities in classrooms which develop critical thinking and language skills.
v. Encourage creativity among students
When students are creative, they can express everything they have learned, in a new way. So, when efforts are made to synthesize and personalize knowledge, it creates an experience that stays with the students even when their schooling is over.
vi. Assessing skills of students
When something is measured, it gives the impression that it is important. So, it is important to regularly collect data about the progress of students in acquiring 21st-century skills. This can be qualitative, quantitative, or anecdotal data. Teachers can encourage students to add comments to report cards about their skills.
vii. Paying special attention to students who are off the track
The data collected about the 21st-century skills of students should be actionable for the teachers. Certain districts implement early warning systems by setting indicators against various parameters such as the social-emotional learning of students or 21st-century skills, their behavior, attendance, and academics.
Data-driven decisions are taken by the teachers with such details, to ensure that every student is on track. In case, someone goes off track, teachers pay special focus to keep them aligned with the target goals.
viii. Allowing the students to lead learning
No matter what strategies are implemented in educational institutes, teachers should understand that the best learning environment gives a sense of empowerment to the students.
Efficient teachers act as moderators who inspire the students and guide them to discover themselves while learning new skills. They let the students be self-learners so that they love learning throughout their life, not just under compulsion for completing the syllabus. This ensures that students are best prepared for their life after school or college.
Conclusion
Implementing the above strategies can help students acquire 21st-century skills besides the regular knowledge from textbooks. Initially, some may find it tough to adjust to this new learning method but gradually, it will make them feel empowered. They will begin to think critically and creatively and be better suited to grow in the competitive world by efficiently facing challenges.
With Teachmint Integrated School Platform, schools can easily automate almost all the strenuous tasks that otherwise were laborious and time-taking. The LMS portal, performance management, attendance management system, and other valuable features make Teachmint one of the best solutions for educational institutions.
Suggested Read: Teachmint rolls out NEP 2020 aligned course to upskill school teachers across India
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