This is a bit of a buzzword in educational circles, and indeed those of us who remember the last century note that these skills were mostly just as important back then. Regardless, these are a set of cross-cutting skills that have consistently been identified as most important by employers in the knowledge economy, and as fundamental to innovation and productivity. Many of these are taught in university courses, although often implicitly, rather than being identified as core learning outcomes. In this class, many of them are core learning outcomes.
There are many definitions of 21st century skills. A very broad one, promoted by the Organization for Economic and Co-operation and Development (OECD) highlights a set of cognitive skills, intra-personal skills, interpersonal skills, and technical skills (Ananiadou & Claro, 2009). More concretely, Binkley and colleagues Binkley et al. (2012) articulate the KSAVE model (knowledge, skills, attitudes, values, and ethics), which they break down as follows:
Ways of Thinking
creativity and innovation
critical thinking, problem solving, decision making
learning to learn, metacognition
Ways of Working
communication
collaboration
Tools for Working
information literacy
information and communication technology literacy
Living in the World
citizenship (local & global)
life & career
personal & social responsibility, cultural awareness & competence
- Binkley, M., Erstad, O., Herman, J., Raizen, S., Ripley, M., Miller-Ricci, M., & Rumble, M. (2012). Defining Twenty-First Century Skills. In P. Griffin, B. McGaw, & E. Care (Eds.), Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills (pp. 17–66). Springer Netherlands. 10.1007/978-94-007-2324-5_2