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Katerina Ananiadou
Innovation Strategy: Education and Skills
Paris, 7 December 2009
Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI)

Overview of presentation
• Brief discussion and our working definition of 21 st c skills and competencies
• Findings from a questionnaire study in OECD countries
• Conclusions/key questions in this domain

• 21st century skills and competencies: belief that the current century will demand a very different set of skills from people
• But no universal agreement on the exact set of skills and competencies
• The OECD approach
– DeSeCo
– PISA Survey

• Typology with three approaches to defining and assessing 21st century skills and competencies (from more to less directly related to ICT):
– ICT functional skills
– ICT skills for learning
– 21st century skills and competencies

• Our working definition of 21 st c skills and competencies:
Those skills and competencies young people will be required to have in order to be effective workers and citizens in the knowledge society of the 21st century.

Aim of the questionnaire survey
To obtain up-to-date information on whether and how OECD countries teach and assess 21 st century skills and competencies
Survey took place summer 2009

Questions:
• How are 21 st century skills/competencies defined in current policy guidelines and regulations?
• What was the context that led to their introduction?
• Are there guidelines or regulations on teaching or
assessing 21 st skills/competencies?
• Has there been an impact on teacher training programmes?

creativity innovation critical thinking decision making collaboration communication productivity leadership

• Curriculum reform (eg Mexico,
Norway)
• Innovation (eg new curriculum
Australia)
• Specific projects or studies (eg
Austria, Italy, Spain)

• Mostly positive answers to first question
• However few clear definitions
• Some countries have groups of ‘key’ competencies (eg Belgium (Fl),
Korea, Slovak Republic)
• Mostly taught across the curriculum, with exception of ICT in some countries (eg Turkey)

• Mostly positive answers but few assessments targeted to these skills and competencies
• Are rigorous assessment procedures an essential condition for the teaching of these skills and competencies?

Impact on teacher training
• Few teacher training programmes that target specifically the teaching of these skills.
• Several programmes/initiatives for developing ICT pedagogical skills.

Questions for discussion
• What are the key success factors for policies?
• In what way should 21 st century skills be integrated into subject-based curricula?
• Are ICT skills different from the others?
• What role does ICT play in 21st century skills?
• How can we involve teachers in the debate and the design of teacher training programmes?
• What types of assessment are appropriate for the monitoring and evaluation of 21 st century skills and competencies?

Thank you!
www.oecd.org/edu/nml katerina.ananiadou@oecd.org