In evaluating the website by the Partnership for 21st-Century Skills (http://www.p21.org/) I found a lot to like, and some things to dislike. The overall mission and idea behind the website is very on target with much of the research I have recently followed in education. In fact, as a part of my school's Professional Learning Communities I was put in a group to research this very topic, the changing role of education in preparation for the workplace. The overall premise of the website was the skills necessary for the 21-st century workplace. I like a lot of the information. One of the things I found most interesting was the ideas of topics beyond the classroom. As a Social Studies teacher several of the things I found fascinating were the emphasis on both global awareness and civic literacy. These are both hot-bed topics in the Social Studies world and it was nice to see recognition of that outside a strictly Social Studies setting. Another thing I found fascinating was the implementation of life and career skills. This section of their framework fits into what it is I try to communicate to my students, the changing world. So many of my current high school students will work from home, at hours outside of the 9 - 5 workday and on normally off days that it is hard to explain to them. It is very nice to see such things added into the P21 framework. It addresses topics such as self-direction, independence, flexibility, project based situations and much more. So much of this is also in line with research I have conducted through my PLC.
A few things that concerned me about the site include it layout/organization and it major partners/sponsors. It is driven by major education and technological companies, which concerns me a bit. Not that these entities cannot be on target with educational goals and a changing workplace, but it would be nice to see a higher amount of educator input in an initiative looking to affect education so drastically. Another issue I had with the site was I felt it was difficult to navigate and seemed a little unorganized. As simply a browser, it was hard to tell what it was I was getting into with each link or section of the site.
In looking at the information in the framework, I certainly am able to reinforce many of the ideas I have been looking at for a couple of years now. Moving in the direction of a different world of work is something I have begun to do in my classroom. It is something we discuss on occasion, allowing students to realize that they will not enter a workplace like those in the generation before them have been in. The site offers some tools and other helpful pieces to implement in the classroom. I hope to continue to find tools to help make my students aware of the changing workplace as well as to help prepare them for it.
Hi Rob,
ReplyDeleteReading your "dislike" paragraph, I found out that your concern was one of my high points in evaluating p21.org. :)
While I was thrilled that the support for 21st century skills was not only educators but other sectors of society like businesses and policy makers endorse it as well. I thought that with real-world skills being targeted at school level, we need all the help we can get, just because we can't do by ourselves with issues that affect society when students leave schools.
However, I do see your point and am concerned as well. Since we're talking about teaching students the 21st century skills, educators should have higher amount of input and the final say on classroom matters. It will be a sad day when the class is controlled by the folks who have the deep pockets.
It's also funny to read your issue with the site's navigation problems... 2 thumbs-up for that section eh?