As the 2015 academic year closes and academic performance across the country is met with scrutiny, a greater case should be made to extending skills to prepare school leavers to participate in the global economy.
John Luis, academic head at the ADvTECH schools division, says, "As the job market becomes harder to break into with the rapid developments of digital, premium schools are working hard to keep up with the fluid career requirements as school leavers apply for tertiary study, internships, or online correspondence study."
Greater focus is being placed on developing learners who are able to participate and succeed in the ever-changing 21st century business landscape. It is more than just technology and greater integration with the internet, but rather to ensure that learners are well rounded as players within the fields of academics, work, arts and culture, personal life and as responsible citizens.
Prospective employers are looking beyond marks and academic performance, and want candidates who have distinguished themselves in other areas.
It is imperative that learners are equipped with the key pre-requisites that allow for a competitive advantage in the modern world of study, collaboration, innovation, enterprise and entrepreneurship. This new set of 21st century skills that all school leavers must have should comprise:
- Higher order thinking skills: Creating opportunities for critical thinking and problem solving by students when learning about real world problems. This includes encouraging innovation and consideration of new ideas.
- Collaboration skills: Encouraging scenarios where students are working with others, across different groups and networks, as well as developing their team participation skills and attributes. This includes encouraging students to be empathetic and inclusive in the ways they interact with others.
- Research and inquiry skills: Ensuring that teaching and learning has an interdisciplinary / transdisciplinary approach that is relevant, engaging, challenging and authentic in context. Through this approach, students are encouraged to construct and connect knowledge, patterns and skills, which will build their greater understandings of the world around them.
- Communication tools and techniques: Developing, extending and applying effective oral, written, visual and digital communication strategies, tools, techniques and approaches.
- Use of various technological tools and platforms: Providing a variety of suitable digital tools, technological fluencies, media fluencies and information fluencies, so that students become more technologically aware, able and active. They will need to use these tools to share their knowledge, insights, key messages and understandings.
- Ongoing self-assessment and reflection: Generating transparency when referring to relevant learning goals and objectives for learning. Providing ongoing and timely feedback, so that students become more self-directed, reflective and insightful to their personal capabilities and approaches to learning.
- Developing self-awareness through developing personal characteristics such as:
- perseverance & resilience
- flexibility and adaptability
- initiative and self-direction
- optimism
- self-regulation and responsibility
- social and cross cultural skills
"Academic performance will continue to remain an important deciding factor for learners leaving the school environment, but it is certainly no longer the deciding factor," he concludes.
