This report describes an online course developed to support education systems to build an aligned and sustainable approach to integration of 21st Century Skills (21CS). 21CS are those skills that are considered particularly important to succeed in today’s knowledge-based society in which innovation and technology are predominant. Prominent examples include critical thinking, creative thinking, and collaboration, and such skills need to be better understood in order for them to be integrated. While different countries may have their own frameworks or priorities surrounding 21CS, a consistent approach to integration can still be achieved with a shared understanding from all stakeholders within the system. The course objectives focused on supporting countries to develop a strategic plan for 21CS integration, providing resources to aid that plan, and building capacity to implement the plan. The specific learning objectives were to: understand components and steps leading to 21CS alignment; conduct a needs analysis, identifying which steps are currently being met, and which steps need more attention; develop a strategic plan, identifying which steps are to be prioritized and in which order; gain insights from other education systems from reflections on successful developments and lessons learned; and engage in discussion within education systems and with other countries about the emerging area of skills integration, as well as identify future directions. Course participants joined from across 16 Asia Pacific countries and from the Education Quality and Assessment Programme for the Pacific Community (EQAP). The course comprised eight modules that were spread over three weeks, with content hosted online through the Moodle platform. Each module consisted of pre-recorded video content (30-60 minutes) and team and/or individual activities. The modules were supported by three live sessions that allowed participants to ask questions and share reflections in real time. The course concluded with a webinar that consisted of presentations that were delivered by one member from each Core Strategy Team who shared their team’s strategic plan and reflections from this course.
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This report was funded by the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), through a partnership known as the Global Education Monitoring Centre (GEM Centre). The course was delivered in collaboration with the Network on Education Quality Monitoring in Asia-Pacific (NEQMAP) and additional funding was provided by GPE. The authors of the report would like to acknowledge the contribution of the NEQMAP secretariat and the valuable input provided by Mark Manns and Phenwilai Chaiyaporn of UNESCO Bangkok.