C21 Canada

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Canadian School Boards’ Association Endorses the “Shifting Minds: A 21st Century Vision of Public Education in Canada” Document

21st Century Learning is a key priority of the Canadian School Boards Association.  Canadian students require a learning experience that develops competencies required into the future.

We applaud the efforts of C21 Canada, and are proud to be a founding partner. The release of “Shifting Minds” provides the education sector and in particular school boards the opportunity to reflect and inspire new innovative practices in support of student outcomes in a global economy.

On behalf of the Canadian School Boards Association, I am pleased to send you this formal endorsement of the document “Shifting Minds: A 21st Century Vision of Public Education in Canada” as a means to inspire a national conversation to create a 21st century learning framework.  We invite all Canadians to join the conversation!

Sincerely,

Sandi Urban Hall

President

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Shifting Minds: Education System Re-Design Priorities

C21 Canada is pleased to present our third blog in our series on Shifting Minds, our vision for 21st Century learning in Canada. Over the past few months we have sought public feedback on our draft document which can be found here.

Our first blog focused on the nature of 21st Century models of learning and the principles that underlie Shifting Minds. The second blog introduced Shifting Mind’s seven 21st century competency themes. This third blog highlights the systemic changes required to position Canada’s education systems for 21st century models of learning.

If the penultimate goal of 21st century models of learning is to produce creative, innovative and collaborative global citizens well versed in using modern technologies, then educators and the systems within which they function must emulate these traits. Fostering an innovative learner is more likely to be achieved by an innovative teacher. Similarly, an innovative teacher is more likely to flourish within an innovation oriented education system.

The first priority in redesigning education systems for 21st century models of learning is to recruit the right people. Faculties of Education across Canada must adopt appropriate selection protocols and learning standards for aspiring new teachers. Faculty staff should also be recruited and remunerated on their capacity to emulate 21st century instructional practices to pre-service teachers. Education systems must then focus their in-service training efforts to augment 21st century teaching competencies and skills on an ongoing basis. Alignment of purpose between pre-service and in-service recruitment and training would certainly accelerate the overall process.

Canada’s education curricula must be relevant to today’s student and learning outcomes designed to fully engage students in their own learning. Today, learning must be about fostering the ability to create knowledge, find innovative solutions to complex problems, and fostering global citizens. The plethora of learning outcomes that has infiltrated curricula over time must be reduced to give teachers more instructional time to ensure learners have a depth of understanding of complex subjects. Curricula must also be re-designed to infuse the 21st century competencies and skills identified in Shifting Minds.

Teaching practices must also evolve to align with the needs of today’s students. Project based learning, personalized learning opportunities, and professional learning communities must become the norm. Teachers must also be prolific at integrating technology with pedagogy.

Today’s learning environments must be flexible and offer opportunities for both personalized and collaborative learning opportunities. Individualized access to the internet and a diversity of ICT tools and digital learning resources by both teachers and students must be ubiquitous.

Governance models must also evolve. If educators and schools are to be innovative by design, central agencies must be less prescriptive in how learning is achieved. Providing supportive policy frameworks for front line educators must be the focal point of central agencies. However, along with the enhanced autonomy of front line educators comes an enhanced level of accountability for student achievement results.

Citizen engagement in the re-design process is a pre-requisite to success. Societal support for the required changes will only be achieved if communities and parents are made aware of the imperative for and benefits of change, both for their children and for society at large.

In the knowledge and digital era, the adoption of 21st century models of learning in Canada’s education system is an economic and social imperative. The questions are no longer what do we need to do and how do we do it. We have these answers. The questions today are when do we start and how quickly can we make it happen. Indeed, what we really need is leadership!

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Shifting Minds: Our vision and framework for 21st Century learning in Canada (Pt 2)

C21 Canada is pleased to present our second blog in a series on Shifting Minds, our vision and framework for 21st Century learning in Canada. The document in its entirety can be downloaded here. Over the next few weeks we will be presenting a series of blogs that introduce the key elements of Shifting Minds. Our first blog  focused on the nature of 21st Century models of learning and the principles that underlie Shifting Minds. This second blog focuses on 21st Century competencies.

First, it is important to emphasize that students will still require a firm foundation in literacy, numeracy and science to succeed and C21 Canada firmly believes that these areas of learning must remain a focal point for Canada’s education systems. The question is whether student achievement in literacy, numeracy and science can be substantially improved if Canadian schools adopt modern teaching and learning methodologies and technologies. The answer is yes, if we change what and how we teach. What we teach must be relevant to students and how we teach must engage them in their own learning. Adopting modern instructional practices will lead to higher levels of student engagement which in turn will lead to deeper levels of understanding and higher levels of achievement. Schools and teachers currently using 21st Century instructional practices and information and communication technologies are witnessing higher levels of student performance, increased levels of student engagement, and enhanced levels of teacher satisfaction.

However, in today’s world being highly skilled in literacy, numeracy, and science is merely a prerequisite for attaining the higher order thinking skills that world experts are calling for to meet growing economic, social and environmental requirements. A key element of 21st Century models of learning is the need to infuse 21st Century competencies into the mainstream curricula of Canada’s education systems. These higher order thinking skills are often referred to in modern education literature as 21st Century competencies. They are not entirely new learning concepts. However, two things have changed. First, they are profoundly different by definition and they are far more important than ever before.
What are these competencies?

C21 Canada has conducted extensive research on 21st Century competencies and the learning frameworks for these competencies that currently existing worldwide. While there is a high degree of consensus on the nature of these competencies, various jurisdictions and authors have depicted them in different ways, often to reflect local priorities and realities.

C21 Canada has consulted widely within Canada with a view toward offering Canadians a summary of the global work on 21st Century competencies but in a manner that reflects Canadian learning priorities and societal values.

C21 Canada has condensed this enormous body of knowledge into what Shifting Minds calls the 7 C’s of 21st Century learning. The 7 C’s are listed below, with brief descriptors. Readers will need to review the document in its entirety to benefit from a fuller description.

  1. Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship: The ability to apply creative thought processes to create something of value. The capacity to create and apply new knowledge in innovative and entrepreneurial ways to create new products or solve complex problems.
  2. Critical Thinking: The ability to acquire, process, interpret, rationalize and critically analyze large volumes of often conflicting information to the point of making an informed decision and taking action in a timely fashion.
  3. Collaboration: The ability to interact positively and respectfully with others in creating new ideas and developing products;
  4. Communication: The capacity to communicate using a variety of media technologies and social networks and to access, analyze and managing large volumes of information.
  5. Character: The attainment of life skills, such as being a life-long and self directed learner proficient in managing personal relationships and resolving conflict.
  6. Culture and Ethical Citizenship: The capacity to comprehend Canada’s political, social, economic and financial systems in a global context, appreciate Canada’s cultural and societal diversity and understand society’s dependence on our natural systems.
  7. Computer and Digital Technologies: The capacity to use computers and digital resources to access information and create knowledge, solutions, products and services; the capacity to use social media for learning.

Although C21 Canada has identified Computer and Digital Technologies as a distinct competency, technology is quickly becoming ubiquitous in society and needs to be the same within Canada’s learning systems.

Imagine an education system focused on educators working with students to attain the above competencies. Imagine learning systems where students are encouraged to be as creative as they can be, and rewarded for using and creating knowledge in innovative and entrepreneurial new ways. Imagine a system where students are encouraged to collaborate and communicate with other students, educators and societal leaders located in other countries, virtually.

The reality is that this is where the world is going at an ever faster pace. It is essential that Canada’s learning systems begin to position our youth for success in a world we can only imagine.

John Kershaw
C21 Canada

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Shifting Minds 2.0 New and Improved Thanks to your Support! Your Feedback Means the World to Us!

C21 Canada is pleased to present Shifting Minds 2.0, framework for 21st Century learning in Canada. The document in its entirety can be downloaded here. Over the next few weeks we will present a series of blogs that introduce the key elements of Shifting Minds. This blog focuses on the nature of 21st Century models of learning and innovation and the principles that underlie this relevant and engaging learning framework for Canada.

To begin, it is important to state that 21st Century learning is applicable to public and private sectors of education, and to Aboriginal band schools located on reserve.

This is the knowledge and digital era, characterized rapidly shifting economic and social landscapes and the need for highly skilled, innovative and creative people. While digital technologies have touched on and transformed virtually every facet of the economy and society in general, most education systems remain rooted in the agrarian and industrial education models of past generations.

The OECD, EU, UNESCO and many global learning experts are citing the need for highly skilled people to meet the demands of this new era. A report recently released by the OECD re-emphasizes the need for highly skilled people to position people and societies for success (see: http://www.keepeek.com/Digital-Asset-Management/oecd/education/better-skills-better-jobs-better-lives_9789264177338-en)

Global leaders in education and other sectors of society have identified a number of competencies and skills that are now critical for personal and societal success in the knowledge and digital era. These competencies and skills are global in nature, and as such are critical for both Canadians and Canada as a whole. C21 Canada has summarized these competencies in Shifting Minds as follows:

  • Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship
  • Critical Thinking
  • Collaboration
  • Communication
  • Character
  • Culture and Ethical Citizenship
  • Computer and Digital Technologies

Each of the above competencies will be explained further in our next blog. However, by way of example two important elements of the competencies are creativity and innovation. In this context creativity means the ability to create something of value, and innovation means the ability to extract economic and social value from knowledge.

At the same time, Canada’s public education systems are witnessing a crisis of disengagement. The results of the Canadian Education Association’s report on student engagement in learning, entitled What Did You Do In School Today http://www.cea-ace.ca/programs-initiatives/wdydist should serve as a clarion call for action from educators, parents and governments. The CEA surveyed over 60,000 Canadian students to obtain their views on the level of their intellectual engagement in school. Less than half of all high school students surveyed reported that they felt intellectually engaged in school.

In the above context, the goal of C21 Canada, as reflected in Shifting Minds, is to witness an accelerated pace of 21st competencies, instructional practices, and digital resources and services being integrated into Canada’s learning systems.

Shifting Minds provides an in depth overview of the nature of 21st Century models of learning. However, in the interest of brevity we will identify four key elements: 1) Relevancy: This means re-designing curriculum to ensure learning outcomes are relevant to positioning student for success in the 21st Century knowledge and digital era; 2) 21C Instructional Practices: This means ensuring teachers are trained in teaching 21st Century competencies and integrating technology with pedagogy; 3) ICT Rich Learning Environments: This means ensuring schools have high quality connectivity capacity and both students and teachers have access to a variety of classroom technologies; and 4) Global: This means students are provided opportunities to connect with the world around them, from a local, regional and international perspective.

The principles underlying 21st Century models of learning and C21 Canada’s Shifting Minds framework are:

Principle 1
All Canadians have a universal right to reach their full learning potential and to have a voice in their learning needs.

Principle 2
The primary focus of Canadian education is to position learners for fulfillment and success in the modern world.

Principle 3
Literacy, numeracy, science, life skills and 21st Century competencies must now be the foundational learning outcomes of Canada’s public education systems.

Principle 4
Instructional, assessment practices and learning environments must be modernized to personalize the learning experience and better engage Canadian students.

Principle 5
Personalized access to teachers highly skilled in 21st Century learning skills and research-based learning environments is a universal right of every Canadian learner.

Principle 6
Public education is a community and societal enterprise where all Canadians share both the responsibility for and benefits of providing high quality and modern learning opportunities.

Principle 7
Canadians must engage in and support their education leaders in offering today’s students – creative, innovative, authentic, dynamic and modern learning experiences and environments.

In schools where 21st Century models of learning have been introduced student engagement, student achievement and teacher satisfaction increase. Most importantly, the students are being positioned for success in a world where the ability to create and use knowledge and connect with the world are the driving forces of success for individuals, companies, governments and virtually every facet of global society.

In Canada we are already witnessing excellent examples of 21st Century models of learning and teaching within our education systems. Unfortunately, these inspiring examples exist only as pockets of innovation when we need a systemic transformation of our education systems.

Shifting Minds is offered as a framework for Canadians to follow in creating 21st models of learning in our education systems. Our next blog will outline in more detail the seven 21st Century competencies identified in Shifting Minds and the rationale for infusing them into education curriculum outcomes for our youth.

Best!

John Kershaw
President
C21 Canada

Profile

C21 Canada and its members provide collaborative vision and support to help Canadian education organizations enhance learning in the foundation areas of literacy, numeracy and science while infusing 21st Century skills (creative problem solving, critical thinking, collaboration, communication, personal development, global citizenship and digital competency) into content, and instructional and assessment practices.

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