Teaching and Assessing Skills and Competencies for Meeting the Demands of the 21st Century
Esther Care, Associate Professor and Research Coordinator, University of Melbourne, Australia
The presentation opens with a set of critical questions: Do the 20th and 21st centuries demand different skill-sets? Might there be qualitatively different skills required, or might the difference lie in different skill combinations? In other words, are the skills needed to navigate the 21st century merely more of those needed previously, a more complex mix of the same, or are they different in nature? Much of the literature surrounding the topic presumes a qualitative difference between the two. If we are to assume a qualitative leap between the two centuries, what defines this leap?
The presentation posits that two dimensions which might serve to characterize change between these two centuries may be the volume of information and increased access to that information; facilitated by technology. It addresses the question whether based on technological infrastructure, the increase in volume of information and access to it implies the need for a different set of processes or skill-sets in order to use and act upon it in a critical manner? The identification of these skill-sets is considered critical for determining the extent to which the education system can respond to such needs. The rest of the presentation shares experiences from the Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills (ATC21S) project which sits firmly in a skills framework. It argues that in response to the changing face of labor requirements and practices, many of the traditional divides between broad categories of occupational endeavors, have become obscured. Different skill-sets are brought together to solve problems which bridge, for example, both technical and human dynamics issues. But how should education systems integrate these changing needs into the classroom?
ATC21S has identified a framework within which these skill-sets can be viewed. It takes the perspective that key cross-curricular skills are not all new, but that some of these may take on new forms. The project takes the perspective that assessment can be used to drive teaching and therefore drive change. To exemplify this approach, the presentation details two skill-sets which are the current focus of ATC21S efforts – collaborative problem solving, and interactive (or social) learning. ATC21S is developing tasks to showcase these skill-sets in a digital environment. The capacity of these tasks to inform teaching and to model the skill-sets for integration within the classroom is demonstrated.