Teaching in the 21st Century

As educators in these rapidly changing times, we have the extremely important and challenging task of preparing our students for a future that is difficult for us to even imagine. How do we prepare students for jobs that haven’t been thought of yet? How do we prepare students to use technologies that haven’t been invented, or to solve problems that haven’t yet been created? And of course, we must prepare ourselves first, since we were all taught in the traditional ways that we know are inadequate for today’s students.

This job is not for the faint of heart! Teaching in ways we weren’t taught ourselves, learning the latest technologies as they are emerging, preparing students for challenges we haven’t dreamed up yet… A daunting task, at best. But even for those among us who jump at the challenge, there is another obstacle to face – this groundbreaking work must be done within the confines of a system that is entrenched in the past. Everything about our schools, from the facilities themselves to the systems they operate under, needs to be rethought if we are to be successful in preparing our students for the 21st Century.

Schools and those associated with them have always maintained an internal focus. School boards, administrators, teachers, parents, and students focus on what goes on inside the four walls of the physical buildings. That focus has to shift outward, and our definition of “school” as a brick and mortar building needs to be reshaped, in order to meet the needs of our current and future students. Connecting, communicating, and collaborating with people around the world – and developing the skills needed to do these things effectively - needs to be the main goal in education today. Standardized tests that measure only the traditional skills of reading and math are no longer adequate predictors of student success in the global marketplace in which they will be living.

What we need is top-down change, beginning with the highest authorities. The mission and vision of our educational system need to be revised to encompass the 21st Century reality in which our students are immersed, rather than the 20th Century traditions in which our schools are entrenched. The pioneers among us will do their best to reform their classrooms and serve their students well within the confines of the current system, but true systemic change is needed to revolutionize the way we educate ourselves and our students and to bring about the reform needed to be competitive in the 21st Century.