Twenty-first Century Skills is an educational catchphrase that is used to describe the types of competencies that individuals will need to succeed in our ever changing “real world” work environment. The framework that we are using as our initial starting point for the development of 21st Century Skills is the one developed by The Partnership for 21st Century Skills.
Learning and Innovation Skills
Learning and innovation skills increasingly are being recognized as the skills that separate students who are prepared for increasingly complex life and work environments in the 21st century, and those who are not. A focus on creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration is essential to prepare students for the future.
- Creativity and Innovation
- Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
- Communication and Collaboration
Information, Media and Technology Skills
People in the 21st century live in a technology and media-suffused environment, marked by various characteristics, including: 1) access to an abundance of information, 2) rapid changes in technology tools, and 3) the ability to collaborate and make individual contributions on an unprecedented scale. To be effective in the 21st century, citizens and workers must be able to exhibit a range of functional and critical thinking skills related to information, media and technology.
- Information Literacy
- Media Literacy
- ICT (Information, Communications & Technology) Literacy
Professionalism Skills
Today’s life and work environments require far more than thinking skills and content knowledge. The ability to navigate the complex life and work environments in the globally competitive information age requires students to pay rigorous attention to developing adequate professionalism skills.
- Flexibility and Adaptability
- Initiative and Self-direction
- Social and Cross-cultural Skills
- Productivity and Accountability
- Leadership and Responsibility
While the skill sets described above will serve as the initial foundation of our 21st Century Skills program, we expect our model to continually evolve as we interact with our industry partners.
