21st century skills refers to the abilities that students need to master to succeed in what has been referred to as the information age. These skills are listed below:
• Critical Thinking
• Creative Thinking
• Collaborating
• Communicating
• Information Literacy
• Media Literacy
• Technology Literacy
• Flexibility
• Initiative
• Social Skills
• Productivity
• Leadership
While these skills have always been important, they are particularly important for the information-based economy that is prevalent in the 21st century. In the past, workers that held jobs in industrial roles needed skills that involved mastering a trade, following directions, working with others, involved physical activities while being efficient, prompt and honest. Schools have been effective in teaching these skills and some students will still need them.
In the information-age, however, students also need to consider social issues, solve problems creatively, work collaboratively with other in teams, be able to communicate in a range of media, learn new technologies quickly and deal with large amounts of information quickly. In this new age, students to be flexible, take the initiative and be prepared to be leader to be effective employees.
The aim of promoting 21st century skills is motivated by the argument that teaching students the most relevant, useful, employee demanded, and universally applicable skills should be a priority in modern education
This means that students need to be taught the skills that will enable them to meet the specific demands required in a competitive, complex, knowledge-based and technology-driven economy and society.
While these skills can be taught in all areas of schooling there are several ways in which teaching these skills also aligns with efforts to improve schools: Teachers need to be more intentional about teaching cross-disciplinary skills in specific courses. In a science course, for example, students may use the research methods taught there in other disciplines and articulate technical concepts in written and graphic forms that are mostly taught in humanities subjects. Presenting information is also likely to require sophisticated new technologies, software applications or multimedia applications which also need to be addressed in an assigned project to a student.
To further broaden a student’s outlook, schools might allow students to pursue different learning pathways to earn academic credit and satisfy graduation requirements. This could include completing an internship, apprenticeship, or volunteering. This helps students to acquire a variety of practical, job-related skills and work habits outside the classroom to complement completing the academic coursework required.