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By John Kershaw, President of C21 Canada, President of 21st Century Learning Associates, and the former Deputy Minister of Education for New Brunswick

C21 Canada applauds the federal budget’s focus on skills development. Our organization has consistently stated that highly skilled people are the economic and social drivers of the knowledge and digital age and more and more Canadians are recognizing this to be the new reality. C21 Canada will not debate the wisdom of the solutions to the current skills gap proposed in the budget; we just welcome the priority on education and human capital.

However, we offer a word of caution. While the federal government’s focus on skills is welcomed, any trend going forward to limiting the national debate on closing the skills gap to the post secondary sector is a mistake.

Fortunately, there is positive news in this regard. On March 25^th the Canadian Council of Chief Executives hosted a forum on the K-12 system. John Manly chaired and signalled that the CCCE wishes to foster a national dialogue on whether Canada’s public education systems are where they need to be given the transformational changes being witnessed in the global economy and society.

At long last Canada’s economic leaders are recognizing Canada’s K-12 systems as an essential element of Canada’s economic competitiveness. Given that highly skilled people are now the economic drivers of the 21^st Century, this should come as no surprise; but it is highly welcomed nonetheless. A national dialogue on public education in the 21^st Century is long overdue.

Why? C21 Canada is calling for Canada’s public education systems to be modernized to position Canadian youth for success in the knowledge and digital age. While repositioning the post secondary sector to the new reality is also critical, if Canada’s youth continue to disengage from learning and reach colleges and universities without the pre-requisite 21^st century competencies and skills, the game is already lost.

What needs to be done? As first steps, Provinces and Territories must infuse 21^st century competencies into their targeted learning outcomes and invest in technology enabled learning systems. Differentiated learning and personalized access to the internet and digital learning resources must become the hallmarks of Canada’s public education systems.

If we are to nurture responsible citizens and productive innovators, we need to engage learners with the tools of their generation. Access to information for learning via technology should be an inherent right of citizenship. If we are to successfully close the skills gap long term, we must have a concerted national effort to equip our learners in the K-12 system with ICT rich learning environments, and have teachers trained to harness the power of technology enabled learning. We need to embrace personalized access to the internet as the most powerful learning opportunity in human history. And where affordability is an issue for some young learners and their families, the technology for learning must be provided.

Innovative 21^st century inspired models of learning in public education are expanding globally, and while we have pockets of brilliance and innovation here in Canada as well, we are not embracing and investing in these models fast enough. As a result the majority of our youth are not being adequately prepared for their futures. This issue is particularly acute in many of our First Nation communities. By not equipping individual learners with the skills they will need for success in an innovation-driven world, Canada’s future competitiveness is at risk. The call to action is clear. Modernize Canada’s education systems for our K-12 learners on an urgent basis, or all the millions of dollars to be directed by the federal government in the years ahead to post secondary and adult training will not fix the skills gap long term.

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!

Canada’s Skills Gap and the Federal Budget

Shifting Minds: Education System Re-Design Priorities

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