AFRICAN KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE (AKE) WORKSHOP21st Century Skills, ICT, Curriculum and Assessment8-10 July 2009, Accra, Ghana

The context…..

A new day for learning: 21st Century Learning

“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read or write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn”.

(Alvin Toffler)

Why this theme?

• A changing world: fundamental changes in society, economy, jobs and businesses

• Complex, multi-faceted challenges• Different skills demands• Achievement gaps, despite progress on

MDGs and EFA targets and WE ARE AT A CRITICAL POINT

Why change?

• If you think our future will require better schools, you're wrong.

• The future of education calls for entirely new kinds of learning environments.

• If you think we will need better teachers, you're wrong.• Tomorrow’s learners will need guides who take on

fundamentally different roles.• As every dimension of our world evolves so rapidly, the

education challenges of tomorrow will require solutions that go far beyond today’s answers.

The imperative ….

Today’s education system faces irrelevance unless we bridge the gap between how students live and how they learn. Schools are struggling to keep pace with the astonishing rate of change in students' lives outside of school. Students will spend their adult lives in a multitasking, multifaceted, technology driven, diverse, vibrant world--and they must arrive equipped to do so.

http://www.thegateway.org/teaching-learning

21st century learning: do we know what it is?

• Shift from an emphasis on 'teaching' to an emphasis on 'learning'

• Change accepted as the constant rather than the variable.

• Learning is dynamic, flexible and responsive to the needs of particular contexts.

• “Just in time” rather than “just in case” learning

• Lifelong learning

21st century learning

(21st century) skills

• Critical thinking, problem solving, and effective communication

• Proficiency in both core subjects and new, twenty-first-century content and skills:

- learning and thinking skills - information- and communications-technology literacy skills

- life skills - collaboration, self-management, self-reliance - leadership

How to …..

• To learn collaboration, work in teams.• To learn critical thinking, take on complex problems.• To learn oral communication, present.• To learn written communication, write.• To learn technology, use technology.• To develop citizenship, take on civic and global issues.• To learn about careers, do internships.• To learn content, research and do all of the above.

21st century learning: environment

Qualities of where we learn, affect quality of how we learn:• Visionary and effective leadership• Flexible spaces • Creative and flexible use of time• Climate promoting excellence and fostering innovation and creativity• Internal accountability• Parental/community involvement• Partnerships: creating links and momentum for change• Extensible technology to support interaction, collaboration and continuous

learning• School as learning organisation• 21st century skills development embedded in teacher preparation

Learning processes

• Focus on learning rather than teaching• Integrated and multi-disciplinary• More expansive and more inclusive learning• Focused on real-world, contextual and multi-faceted learning• Promotion of interaction, collaboration and encouragement of innovation

and creativity• Development of higher-order skills, problem-solving• High quality teaching aligned with assessment and accountability• Seamless support to learning: blending physical and digital infrastructures • Professional learning communities

Food for thought…

In the words of a 15-year-old girl:

“You teachers bore us. You treat education rather like a pre-packaged TV dinner. You tell us to go to the deepfreeze, pull out the appropriate package, read the instruction, take off the wrapper, perforate the cellophane, set the oven to the right temperature and then press the start button. If we do that properly you’ll give us ten out of ten. That is what is so boring. What we would far prefer is to invent the recipe for ourselves, go out and find the ingredients, work out how to mix them and then how to cook them. If the result was only just edible and you only gave us five out of ten we would feel proud that it was we that had actually made it, and then we would want to know how to improve it”.