Learning in the 21st Century

I've had to two days listening to Tony Ryan. He is an Australian educationalist. I have listened to Tony four times now and I have never been disappointed. He is inspiring! He talks about learning in the 21st century, 'The Age of Learning'. We need to ensure that the single greatest competency will be for kids to become learners and thinkers. This is what we have been promoting for our children at Wanaka. At the course and on the Tony's blog he discusses the importance of creative thinking and sees this as the most vital 21st century skill. He had a quote from UK presenter Ken Robinson. “Creativity is as important as literacy.” I loved this quote. He proposes that all education systems need to nurture the creative spirit in all children. As Tony said, "The old saying on 'thinking outside the square' in the 20th century has become more like 'thinking outside the dodechedron' in the 21st century. We need to become more solution focused and provide real life opportunities to do this in all areas of life. Thinking is learning is thinking. The future belongs to a different kind of person with a very different kind of mind, creators and empathisers, pattern recognisers and meaning makers. Powerful stuff and something we as teachers and parents need to think about. The new NZ curriculum addresses this change.

The key competencies in the new NZ curriculum will help teachers prepare children for their futures and hopefully help to develop more creativity in children and teachers (especially the thinking aspect of the key competencies).

thinking
using language, symbols, and texts
managing self
relating to others
participating and contributing

People use these competencies to live, learn, work, and contribute as active members of their communities. More complex than skills, the competencies draw also on knowledge, attitudes, and values in ways that lead to action. They are not separate or stand-alone. They are the key to learning in every learning area.

We are really excited about these as they provide a sound foundation to build on these 21st century learning dispositions needed by our children.

If you would like more information about these please pop in and see me. I would love to talk about these with you. If you want to read more on these click on this site.

http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/the_new_zealand_curriculum/key_competencies