21st Century Education and its Challenges

21st Century Education and its Challenges

Our world has changed significantly in the last century. Unfortunately, most current educational systems have not evolved quickly enough to meet the new challenges that our children now face.

For the schools that have evolved, they are no longer educational institutes that merely disseminate data to students to memorise and regurgitate, rather, they have become nerve centres. A place for teachers and students to connect with other like-minded individuals to learn and grow together. Educators in this new environment will become less instructors, spoon feeding information to their students, but become facilitators of learning. Allowing students the ability to turn knowledge into wisdom.

In order to effectively educate in the 21st century, educators and administrators need to cultivate and maintain the student’s interest in learning by demonstrating how the curriculum applies in the real world. They must also try to be flexible, teaching according to each student’s needs and abilities. Such a system will greatly enhance the student’s enjoyment of learning, bring out their natural curiosity, and enable lifelong learners.

There are many skills that children will need in order to be successful in this new system of education. 
This includes:
Critical thinking skills
Oral presentation skills
Written communication skills
IT skills
A global mindset
The ability to conduct their own research independently

In a 21st century classroom, students should be actually excited and look forward to learning. They will be able collaborate with other students and commercial enterprises both locally and globally.
The environment in the school should be as conducive to learning as possible.
This will foster a love of learning the student will bring along to adulthood.