21st Century Skills in the Context of the UN’s Social Development Goals for Pupils Erasmus Project

Project Title

21st Century Skills in the Context of the UN’s Social Development Goals for Pupils

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 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Environment and climate change; ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Social entrepreneurship / social innovation

Project Summary

Today, children are growing up in a world completely different from previous generations. The planet is under stress from pollution and climate changes (http://www.un.org/en/climatechange/un-climate-summit-2019.shtml). If we want to secure the planet and future generations, we need to learn to be sustainable in order to enable everyone to live a good quality life. If we want to succeed in this, it is important to recognize that children and pupils need to be a part of the solution, because obviously, they are the future. Therefore, they need to be able to address the problems and this requires 21st century skills such as creative thinking, critical thinking, problem-solving skills, media literacy and entrepreneurship. The new Skills Agenda for Europe (June 2016), enshrines critical thinking, entrepreneurship, problem solving or digital competences, among others, as vital skills that the 21st century pupil needs to learn (https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/news/competence-frameworks-european-approach-teach-and-learn-21st-century-skills). This is to ensure that pupils develop a broad set of skills from early on in life and to make the most of Europe’s human capital, which will ultimately boost employability, competitiveness and growth in Europe.

The project objective is to increase pupils’ skills and competences in 21st century skills with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) as the framework. This will be done by developing online learning materials and modules for pupils between 10 and 15 years, aiming to improve their understanding of current societal issues, i.e. environment, circular economy etc. The digital materials will focus on developing critical thinking skills, creativity, problem solving skills and digital competencies such as media literacy in the context of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Children and pupils must learn to be pro-active and think outside the box in order to address the changing world and its challenges. Moreover, children are increasingly exposed to news, pictures and pop culture from all around the world (http://reports.weforum.org/human-implications-of-digital-media-2016/downsides-and-risk), and it is important that they are able to figure out the facts from the falsehoods. Without skills regarding creative thinking, critical thinking and media literacy, they risk being seduced by easy solutions and left behind in the constant development of the world.

The partnership aims to challenge the pupils to come up with new solutions, work together, co-create and think critically both about how the issues of the world have arisen and how they can contribute to a solution. We will do this in cooperation with teachers by developing modules and learning materials that combine the UN SDG’s with workshops, case competitions, group discussions etc. that promote the use and acquisition of 21st century skills, e.g. critical thinking, creativity, problem-solving, entrepreneurial skills and media literacy. Combining 21st century skills and UN SDG’s provides a perfect opportunity for pupils to develop critical thinking, problem solving, entrepreneurship and digital competences while working with real world issues such as pollution, water contamination, equality, etc.

Project Website

https://21stcskills-sdg.eu/en/home/

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 223424 Eur

Project Coordinator

VEJLE KOMMUNE & Country: DK

Project Partners

• Daugavpils pilsetas Izglitibas parvalde
• Eco Logic
• UNIVERSIDADE DO PORTO
• The Hub Nicosia Ltd
• Consorzio Scuola Comunità Impresa