Eight Skills Every 21st Century Worker Must Have

An increasing number of studies show that employers are demanding 21^st Century Skills from their workers.  As the United States and other post-industrial economies shift away from manufacturing, the skill sets required by employers are changing as well.  Gone are the days where a worker could be highly desired after only mastering rote memorization and routine-manual abilities.  Today’s employers want a workforce that can work together, critically analyze global problems and creatively find solutions.  As educators we must recognize this reality and rethink our instruction.  Are we requiring our students to develop these critical 21^st century skills?

Shared Leadership- participative leading where all team members are making decisions.  How can we structure classroom activities to enforce participative leadership?

Collaboration/Communication- following the shared leadership theme, the ability to listen and actively contribute in a team environment is a crucial skill for 21^st century workers.  How much of your instructional activities require students to work together and communicate effectively? 

Adaptability- the world continues to advance rapidly quickly making the ability to be fluid and adaptable a crucial skill.  How can we incorporate adaptability into our instruction? 

Innovation/Creativity- The “Creative Economy” or “Innovative Economy” refers to production largely focused on the generation of new ideas, products, and services.  As the United States and other post-industrial economies continue to advance, creativity and innovation become more highly sought after skills by employers.  How can you structure your lesson design so that it requires kids to think creativity?

Critical Thinking (Accessing, analyzing and synthesizing information)-

As previously discussed in this blog, the Digital Revolution has brought access to infinite amounts of information, and subsequently degraded the value of information.  So, as educators we are no longer tasked with the distribution of content, but instead teaching kids how to use information.  How can we ensure our lessons tap Bloom’s Higher-Ordered thinking and stay way from simple recall?

Productivity and accountability- computing and communication advances have increased worker productivity to the highest levels ever seen.  This is not multi-tasking, but instead the ability to utilize 21^st century tools to increase the speed and quality of work products.  How can we design our learning outcomes to ensure kids are learning to use modern work tools to increase their learning and productivity levels?

Entrepreneurialism- moving beyond the traditional definition, 21^st century entrepreneurialism refers to individuals identifying global problems/needs and utilizing 21^st century resources to provide solutions.  Clearly, from a capitalistic perspective, there is money to be made, however not all entrepreneurialism must be profit driven.  Is it possible to teach kids how to identify areas of potential need and the ability to solve them?  

Global Citizenship- globalization continues to erode physical boundaries that traditionally have divided peoples.  Never before have ideas, information, and people been able to freely move across the globe.  Toward this end, educators need to instill a sense of collective ownership in students.  Is your instruction promoting global citizenship?