Abstract:- (21st century is considered as the age of virtual world that the whole part of our life is directly or indirectly interlocked with World Wide Web (www) i.e., the power is centralized in a ‘Click’ and so is the educating process in the developed countries. But the bitter reality is that our curriculum, classroom and assessment system from school level to the university level except little effort made by some organizations is still highly dominated by paper pen practice. Today, most of our children are brought up in cyber culture. Their mind can fast connect with computer, internet and e-mail. They love learning in virtual -culture. Irrespective of our teachers’ tough teaching technique, the students pay almost zero attention towards teachers’ teaching in a classroom. Of course, this is due to a huge gap between the psychology of teachers and students teaching and learning science respectively. The most resentfully accepted fact is that our education, our career and our future is running just opposite direction and there needs to be a paradigm shift to address this on-going trend. So, this paper tries to make a fancy like tic-toc of our classroom vs. the 21st century life-skills. )
Background:
The 21st century is the current century of the Anno Domini era or Common Era, in accordance with Gregorian Calendar. It began on January 1, 2001 and will end on December31, 2100. It is the first century of 3rd millennium. The term 21st century skills refers to a brand set of Knowledge, skills, work habits and character traits that are believed by educators, school reformers, college professors, employers and others..to be critically important to success in today’s world; 21st century skills can be applied in all academic subject areas, and in all educational career and civic setting through out a student’s life.
Generally speaking, the 21st century skills concept is motivated by the belief that teaching students the most relevant, useful, in-demand, and universally applicable skills should be prioritized in today’s school, and by the related belief that many schools may not sufficiently prioritized such skills or effectively teach them to students, the basic idea is that students, who will come of age in the 21st century ,need to be taught different skills than those learned by students in the 20th century, and the skills they learn should reflect the specific demands that will be placed upon them in a complex, competitive knowledge based, information age, technology driven economy and society.
The following list provides a brief overview of the 21st century skills:
- Critical Thinking
- Problem Solving
- Research skills and practices
- Creativity, artistry, curiosity, imagination, innovation and personnel expression
- Perseverance, self -direction, planning, self discipline, adaptability
- Public Speaking
- Leadership, teamwork, collaboration, co-operation
- ICT friendly
- Civic, ethical and social justice literacy
- Economic and Financial literacy, entrepreneurialism
- Global awareness, multicultural literacy, humanitarianism.
- Environmental and conservational literacy
- Health and wellness literacy including nutrition, diet- exercise and public health safety.
Today’s students need to master several survival skills to thrive in the new world of work. And these skills are the same as mentioned above which will enable students to become productive citizens who contribute to solving some of the most pressing issues we face in the 21st century. Now, the question arises who actually is this mysterious 21st century learner? It might be called “the net generation”, or “digital natives” and is often defined as those born after 1980 (That is after the realization of personal computer). But it’s not a complete definition rather it is the life long learner who is drawn to both formal and informal opportunities to learn. They are the learner in and out of school and college .They enjoy learning in autonomous way. They are day to day up to date to the recent scenario. They themselves can endeavor through vast source of knowledge world. Hence the students of 21st century are just the learning wings or partners which can be united as whole in learning process.
How do they learn in the 21st century?
The teacher vs. students teaching method applied in our classroom is the main barrier for not paying attention towards learning. Students are not motivated to teachers and course content. They have no will power at all in classroom; Students state a Clare preference for using mobile devices that allow them to work un-tethered from traditional school boundaries. They also desire the opportunity to learn using digitally-rich curriculum and have a preference for learning through collaboration with peers. Through mobile devices and instant access to the internet, students now see the world as their classroom and they have clearly stated that using their own mobile devices anytime or anywhere to learn will help them improve their personal productivity and learning. Today’s students are free agent learners, taking more and more reason ability for their learning into their own hands. So, to address the need and interest of aforementioned learners a 21st century teachers are expected to have the flowing qualities within themselves:
15 Qualities of 21st Century Teachers:
- Learner- centered classroom and personalized instructions.
- Students as producer
- Learn new technologies
- Go global
- Be smart and use SMART phone
- Blog
- Go digital
- Collaborate
- Use twitter chat
- Connect
- Project Based learning
- Build your positive digital footprint
- Code
- Innovate
- Keep Learning.
Shifting to 21st Century Learning:
21st century schools are designed not to fill up students with particular kinds of existing knowledge, but to increase student’s ability to learn independently and with others, and to produce new knowledge. Not everything about learning has changed. The big shift is the context and the purpose of learning. Ideas about what, how and why students learn are changing. This means that teachers, students, parents and people who run education system, need to think differently. There is now much more emphasis on learning as skills on increasing people’s ability to learn and on developing this ability in everyone. This change means that school and other educational institution now need to be organized differently:-
Twenty -first century students live in an interconnected, diverse and rapidly challenging world. Emerging economic, digital, cultural, demographic and environmental forces are shaping young people’ s lives around the planet and increasing their intercultural encounters on a daily basis .This complex environment presents an opportunity and challenge .Young people today must not only learn to participate in a more inter connected world but also appreciate and benifit from cultural differences .Developing a global and intercultural outlook is a process- a lifelong process -that education can shape.
What is global competence?
Global competence is a multidimensional capacity. Globally competent individuals can examine local, global and intercultural issues, understand and appreciate different perspectives and world views, interact successfully and respectfully with others, and take responsible action towards sustainability and collective well-being.
Can School promote Global Competence?
Schools play a crucial role in helping young people to develop global competence .They can provide opportunities for young people to critically examine global developments that are significant to both the world at large and to their own lives. They can teach students how to critically, effectively and responsibly use digital information and social media platforms .School can encourage intercultural sensitivity respect by allowing students to engage in experiences that foster an appreciation for diverse people, language and culture. Schools are also uniquely positioned to enhance young people’s ability to understand their place in the community and in the world, and improve their ability to make judgments and take action(Hanvey, 1975).
Conclusion
We cannot escape from the juncture of the globalization era and age of information. We can not avoid the trend of knowledge economy and the need for knowledge society and critical mass. In this case our government already enacted lots of policies to support students on mastering 21st century skills. Some important work that needs to be done is on the shoulders of teacher who have vision far ahead, intellectual interest, love to the students and humanist. Another hard work is on the shoulders of schools where there should be a good quality learning environment and support students to overcome 21st centuries competencies. We need to invite the government, educational agencies, school supervisors, head teachers, teachers, parents and students to be more concerned with the substance of learning rather than to the administrative domain of curriculum and learning. Ultimately the pandemic of covid -19 has not only created a challenge but also opened the eye to review, reform, renovate and revolutionize the entire schooling system.
