Teacher Education and 21st Century Skills

In the 21st century, the most perceptive educational thinkers recognize that something new is happening to learning. Models of providing an education that developed to meet the needs of students of the last two centuries, while not irrelevant, are increasingly being transformed and infiltrated by the introduction and integration of new tools and technologies, and novel approaches to work, many of which are now commonplace in business and consumer spheres. The emphasis on collaboration and critical thinking to solve problems, and the flattening of the world of commerce are challenging the fundamental assumptions of what an education must provide to its young people in order for them to succeed or even cope in a complex world. Find out more here: http://www.pearsonfoundation.org

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Teacher education
• 21st century
• models of education
• technology
• integration
• learning

[jenkinsd1000]

This video hits some of the big shifts educators need to address to prepare students for their futures rather than their teachers' past!

[Debjams]

EXCELLENT!!!

[daddyslackful]

@ak4tune Teachers viewing learners as inferior shouldn't be teaching. I'm not talking about individual teachers, I'm talking about Education Systems as lumbering giants that, currently, cannot move and change fast enough to keep up with a quickly changing, digital world.

Collaboration has always happened - it's just easier these days. It's not the individuals that need changing, it's the centralised bureacratic systems that are in need of radical change. Buzzwords won't achieve that..

[ak4tune]

@daddyslackful I think you miss the point; they are talking about school changing, but, I agree, in a primitive level. The key word was "collaborative leadership"; teachers must understand they are dealing with people like them, and not some kind of inferior species. If you see closely, you will understand they start talking about skills, but they go on to teaching changes, curriculum changes, society changes. If we want education to change, we are the ones to do it. And I'm a teacher to be.

[daddyslackful]

21st century skills? I wish these soothsayers would clarify their flippant buzzwords. Is this the ability to click a mouse button? Does it involve a willingness to pay for expensive gadgets? Is it the tendency to get a loose feel for what you skim read? Is it a case of accepting that static=boring?

21st century learners are the same as learners from all the previous centuries. They will face the same challenges but the wrapping will be different (digital?).

[pinum56]

Standards do not prevent us from implementing a thinking curriculum, it's "old" stand and deliver methods of instruction that prevent the delivery of a constructive "thinking" curriculum. Please stop whining and complaining about why you can't deliver a 21st century curriculum - learn how to or please get out of the profession. We can hire anyone off the street to stand and deliver content.

[Shakespeare1612]

The only question on my students minds were: "Why are there 45 people in this class?" "Where is my father?" "Is teach watching or is is safe to write on this desk?" "Why is marijuana illegal?" "How am I going to get so and so to like me?" "Why can't I listen to my IPOD in class, or chew gum, or wear sexy clothes?" and "What does a bank giving out bad loans have to do with there being 45 people in this class?" Only the last one gives me some leverage to teach with.

[nyoracl]

Good content but too polished for my taste - loses some authenticity. The "Did you Know" vids were cool but this is too polished - i duno if you get what i mean.

[TeachAll]

It's a great thought: Teach children to think. Unfortuately, the pressure for teachers to produce specific outcomes on state standards does not allow time or freedom to teach children to think for themselves. It takes a strong teacher and knowledgeable administrator to teach beyond skill and drill.