21st century skills for 21st century needs Erasmus Project

Project Title

21st century skills for 21st century needs

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for school education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

Young people today face a society in constant change. Competent workers and citizens in the future are individuals who can learn and adapt to new knowledge – alone or in collaboration.

Consequently, the objectives of education are no longer just what you learn, but how you learn, and also what you can one do with the knowledge you have. It becomes important to “learn how to learn” and to create new solutions to new problems.

This is the discussion on the 21st century skills – on which skills are needed to navigate through future challenges. For the students to be skilled for the 21st century there is a need for the education to have more of an entrepreneurial approach and methodology. This will make the students competent for future job opportunities in a constantly changing labour market.

We regarded this project as a unique opportunity to work further with these topics and approaches in collaboration with teachers in different countries in gaining new knowledge in teaching 21st century skills in the education of future teachers.

The project’s objective was to raise the awareness of 21st century skills among teachers through developing a “21st Century Skills for 21st Century Needs” methodology/curriculum for a teacher training course in three modules, and a sample of tutorials/lesson plans from teachers in the partner countries that can be used as tools of inspiration for other teachers. The methodology/curriculum focused on the importance of soft skills and used Michael Fullans 6 C’s as a foundation theory. The 6 C’s – and consequently skills – we focused on in the project were Creativity, Communication, Collaboration, Citizenship, Critical thinking and Character (Fullan, M., Quinn, J. & McEachen, J. 2018).

The project was structured around two major intellectual outputs:

O1 – Development of a methodology, curriculum and design of a teacher training course in three modules
O2 – Development of a Handbook of methodology and tools for 21st Century Skills for 21st Century Needs

Three teacher training events were held for teachers in the partner countries who tested and evaluated the three modules of the course. The project also hosted a Final Conference (online) for approximately 115 teachers and other stakeholders across Europe, particularly in the partner countries of this project.

The project was carried out in close cooperation with the participating teachers and associated partners, who work with skills development on a daily basis. The Handbook was based on the tested teaching methods of the teachers in the project and serve as a tool kit for other teachers, so they can try out lesson plans developed to stimulate students’ soft skills. The evaluation measured the usefulness of the project through questionnaires, interviews and a digital board (menti).

The project strongly believed that the Stronger Together curriculum has enhanced the social inclusion, critical thinking, individual self-control and morality among the young pupils in a fun and educational way. Moreover, it went beyond the four walls of the classroom by including the parents’ online participation in the game. It provided teachers and parents with an important tool where they were able to discuss with children highly difficult themes, such as radicalization. Finally, to the consortium’s knowledge, this curriculum was be the first to target a younger age group – a contribution that would have greater effect on the prevention of radicalization.

The need for 21 century skills is not a national issue. The need for these skills is world wide. In Europe people move between countries to study, to work and to live and the European job market therefore requires employees who can easily adapt and who hold universal skills that will meet the needs of the 21st century.
This project belives that the methodology/curriculum in the teacher training course has increased the teachers’ awareness of the importance of 21st century skills in general and soft skills in particular. The participating teachers have continued to integrate the training of soft skills in their teaching and this tells us that the knowledge from this project can be of use to many more schools and teachers world-wide.

Project Website

http://www.21cskills21cneeds.com

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 187272 Eur

Project Coordinator

Verdal kommune & Country: NO

Project Partners

• Asociatia pentru Consolidarea Societatii Civile – Valea Jiului (ACSCVJ)
• Form the Future CIC
• NORD UNIVERSITET
• Municipality of Vejle