New learning outcomes for the 21st Century - British Council Core Skills Programme

In addition to basic literacy, numeracy and scientific understanding , there is growing consensus that school systems should also help their student develop additional competencies, known as 21st Century or core skills. These... [ view full abstract ]

In addition to basic literacy, numeracy and scientific understanding , there is growing consensus that school systems should also help their student develop additional competencies, known as 21st Century or core skills. These skills are increasingly seen as essential for students to succeed in a globalised labour market and for addressing fundamental societal challenges. However, despite widespread recognition of the issue very few school systems are actually looking at it. The British Council’s core skills programme has been running since May 2015 and works with Ministries of Education in more than 50 countries to help address this.  More than 20,000 teachers and 8,000 head teachers have participated in the programme, building core skills development activities into classroom practice.  This talk uses external impact evaluations from the first two years to look at core skills development in schools that have been part of the programme, compared to non-programme schools.