To help researchers, educators and policy makers understand and support the development of 21st-century skills in schools, this edited volume explores the various iterations of "soft" skills with a particular focus on their implications for values and evaluates ways in which "soft skills" and "hard" values can be integrated.
Discourse throughout the 21st century has focused on the changing nature of work, the need for new skill sets and the disruptive effects of new technologies. This has been a neo-liberal discourse that subordinated personal and individual needs to the needs of a productive workforce delivering more and more efficiencies linked to higher and higher profits. The solution is often seen to be in the development of a school curriculum that focuses on work-ready skills for an increasingly complex work environment and its demands. Agencies such as OECD and UNESCO highlight the need to link the skills agenda with complementary values. Yet this process is at a very early stage. The proponents of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) for example highlight the impact of new technologies, not just on work but also on the social world. Yet they neglect to explore the values that would be needed in these new disruptive environments.
This book takes up that issue and lays out the multiple value systems that are available for this new 21st century world. It is an important resource for policy makers, academics and teachers with responsibility for a new generation.
Author(s): Kerry J. Kennedy, Margarita Pavlova, John Chi-Kin Lee
Series: Routledge Series on Life and Values Education
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 233
City: London
Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
List of Contributors
Series Editors’ Note
Part I: Soft skills and their stories
Chapter 1: Skills agendas in the 21st century: Understanding the stories
21st-century skills – realist or imaginary?
Successors to P21 – from school to the world of work
21st-century values – beyond well-being
Values for the 21st century – options for living in difficult times
Conclusion
Acknowledgements
References
Chapter 2: Green economies, green values: Story for the times
Introduction
Values for green economies
Green values – weak anthropocentrism
Green values, attitudes and behaviour
The gap between green values, attitudes and actions
Translating values and attitudes into actions
Felt involvement towards environmental issues
Self-efficacy
Self-control
Green skills development in education
Conclusion
Acknowledgement
References
Chapter 3: The Fourth Industrial Revolution: Humanoids, humanity and agency
The baseline – the World Federation Forum’s construction of 4IR
Interrogation of the baseline – 4IR as a socio-technical imaginary
Being human in the age innovation and disruption
The future of work in a disrupted world
Narratives on living with 4IR
Schools & schooling in 4IR – is reskilling enough?
The “great reset” – implications for social justice
Conclusion
References
Part II: Values for a better world
Chapter 4: Future stories: Narrative, values and the management of radical uncertainty
Prologue
Future stories
What is narrative – and why is a narrative more than a theory?
What happens in change – and how do we try to foresee it?
Recent ruptures
Cultural stories and cultural processes
The narratives behind values
Values, and narrative universals or variation?
So where do we go from here?
Postscript
References
Chapter 5: Global citizenship education: Searching for global cohesion
Globalisation and education for citizenship in societies affected by social protest movements
Global Citizenship Education
International law and policy on education: A supra-national framework?
The concept of dealing with difference within Global Citizenship Education
The citizenship education curriculum in the context of social movements and unrest
Hong Kong
Thailand
Summary and some concluding thoughts on prospects for Global Citizenship Education: Social media and extra-curricular signs of hope for global cohesion?
References
Chapter 6: Inclusive education: Equal opportunities for all
Setting the scene: Inclusive education, soft skills and hard values
Challenges to the value of inclusion in Hong Kong
Complexity of the school-based situation
Effective use of funding for inclusion
Addressing concerns about soft skills for inclusion
Managing diversity
Translating inclusion into practice
Resource input
Inclusive policy
Funding
Leadership
The curriculum
Processes of development
Teacher professional development
Individualised support
Collaboration
Accountability for outcomes
Social participation
Student achievement
Post-school opportunities
Conclusion
References
Chapter 7: Life and values education: Beyond the self
The urge and calling of life and values education in the 21st century
Life and values education in Hong Kong schools
Mindfulness and life-wide learning as approaches for promoting life education and cultivating social and emotional competencies and well-being of youth and students in Hong Kong
Three approaches for implementing positive education and cultivating positive values
The PERMA approach of human flourishing
The cultivation of positive attributes, traits or constructs
Mindfulness for enhancing well-being
Mindfulness practices implemented in a primary school in Hong Kong
Mindfulness integrated into all subjects
A three-tier system to support students’ mindfulness practices
Whole-school approach to involve all stakeholders
Impact of mindfulness on students, teachers and parents
Values education via life-wide learning in Hong Kong – an example in a Christian primary school
COVID-19’s influence on life-wide learning
A brief introduction to the partnership project
The practice of values education via LWL
The evaluation results and findings
Key Stage One (P.1) results
Key Stage Two (P.5) results
Reflections
Be flexible under COVID-19
Experiential learning approach in informal curriculum
Collaboration with outside organisations
Explicit and implicit curriculum and alternative assessment methods for values education
Conclusion
Acknowledgement
Notes
References
Chapter 8: Anti-racist values and intercultural skills
Introduction
Racism and its effects
Manifestations of racism
Stereotypes and prejudice
Discrimination
Microaggressions
Unconscious bias
Anti-racist education and intercultural skills
Conclusion
References
Chapter 9: Education for sustainable development: Experiences from a Tree Assessment for Life Education (TALE) project in Hong Kong
Introduction
Background and rationale of the project
Key features of the TALE project
Echoing UNESCO and International Geographical Union Commission on Geographical Education (IGU-CGE) documents
Life education through trees illustrated by two school cases
Remaining issues
Toward people-tree intimacy through education
Acknowledgements
Notes
References
Chapter 10: Media and information literacy: Evaluating misinformation and fake news in a complex world
Smart Cities, the Post-Truth Era, and the Infodemic
MIL Education: Critical Minds for Critical Times
Thinking Skills and Information Consumption
An MIL Model for Determining the Authenticity of Information
Step One: Mindful Access to Information
Step Two: Critical Assessment and Interpretation
Step Three: Reflective Usage and Sharing
Step Four: Proper Mindset for Information Processing
Concluding Remarks: MIL as a Life Skill in a Quickly Changing World
References
Chapter 11: Learning to live together: The hidden curriculum
Introduction
The hidden curriculum of civic education
National living together
Global living together
Local living together
Civilisational living together
Interpersonal living together
Civic education versus learning to live together
Conclusion
References
Part III: Integrating skills and values: Agenda for the future
Chapter 12: Constructing the future: Integrating values and skills to meet the challenges of a precarious world
Skills and their stories – capturing the complexities of 21st century learning needs?
Motivation for the skills’ agendas – change, disruption and the world of work
Integrating skills and values – beyond lists, towards understanding
Skills, values and culture – socio-emotional skills and values for the future
Helping students understand skills and values – issues for curriculum and assessment
Conclusion
Acknowledgement
References
Index
