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Business and political leaders are increasingly asking schools to integrate development of skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, and collaboration into the teaching and learning of academic subjects.  Collectively these skills are often referred to as "21^st century skills" or "deeper learning."

Education for Life and Work: Transferable Knowledge and Skills in the 21^st Century, a new report from the National Research Council, more clearly defines these terms and lays the groundwork for policy and further research in the field.  The new report: 

• clarifies the meaning of "deeper learning" and "21^st century skills."  Deeper learning is the process through which a person becomes capable of what was learned in one situation and applying it to new situations.  Through deeper learning, students develop 21^st century competencies—transferable expertise within a given subject area, including both knowledge and skills.

• examines links between 21^st century competencies and adult outcomes.  Research on link between 21^st century competencies and adult outcomes has been limited so far.  Cognitive competencies—those related to thinking, reasoning and memory—show consistent, positive correlations of modest size with desirable outcomes in education, work, and health.  Being conscientious is also correlated with desirable outcomes.

• identifies instructional methods that can support students' development of transferable knowledge and sills in a subject area.

• examines the Common Core State Standards in math and English language arts and NRC's K-12 science education framework to assess how well they support deeper learning and 21^st century competencies.  All three documents highlight the importance of helping students understand the general principles underlying specific content, a hallmark of deeper learning.

• recommends that state and federal governments establish policies and programs to support students' acquisition of transferable knowledge and skills.

Press coverage:

- Researchers and Politicians

Agree on 21st-Century Skills--

Ed Week, February 27, 2013

Formulas—Inside Higher

Education, July 11, 2012

- Study: 21st Century

Learning Demands Mix of

Abilities—Education Week,

July 10, 2012

Webinars related to the report:

Alliance for Excellent Education

Webinar

Partnership for 21st Century Skills

Webinar on Education for Life and Work

Assessing 21st Century Skills: Summary of a Workshop (2011)

The routine jobs of yesterday are being replaced by technology and/or shipped off-shore.  In their place, job categories that require knowledge management, abstract reasoning, and personal services seem to be growing.  The modern workplace requires workers to have broad cognitive and affective skills.

Commissioned Papers

Exploring the Intersection of Science Education and 21st Century Skills: A Workshop Summary (2010)

This report addresses key questions about the overlap between 21st century skills— such as adaptability, complex communications skills, and the abilitiy to solve non-routine problems—and scientific content and knowledge; explores promising models or approaches for teaching these abilities; and reviews the evidence about the transferability of these skills to real workplace applications.

Research on Future Skill Demands: A Workshop Summary (2008)

Over the past five years, business and education groups have issued a series of reports indicating that the skill demands of work are rising, due to rapid technological change and increasing global competition. Researchers have begun to study changing workplace skill demands. Some economists have found that technological change is "skill-biased," increasing demand for highly skilled workers and contributing to the growing gap in wages between college-educated workers and those with less education.