Researching education: Five further readings on 21st Century skills

Welcome to our first edition of Researching education: Five further readings. In this monthly series, we take a look at some further readings available on a particular topic, including open access research papers from various online catalogues, and Teacher archive content you might not have come across yet.

This year, ACER's Research Conference had the theme ‘Preparing students for life in the 21st century: Identifying, developing and assessing what matters'. As ACER CEO Professor Geoff Masters said, ‘Globalisation, technological advances and the changing nature of work all have far-reaching implications for the work of schools. At the same time, schools are grappling with a range of challenges, including social inequality, mental health issues, substance abuse, cyber bullying, environmental sustainability and radicalisation.'

The full conference proceedings are available in ACER's research repository, but in this edition of five further readings, we'll take a look at some other resources available on the theme of learning in the 21st Century.

Five further readings on 21st Century skills

  1. Cunningham Library Catalogue – 21st Century skills. The Cunningham Library Catalogue is an open access resource filled with Australian education research material. It's continually being updated and includes journals, government reports and books. Click the link to search for resources on 21st Century skills. These links will continue to be updated as new resources become available.
  2. EdResearch Online – 21st Century skills, which contains hundreds of articles from Australian education journals.
  3. Supporting assessment of teaching and learning of 21st Century skills. Sally Robertson explores a new program which is helping education stakeholders in Asia to develop and use assessment tools to improve teaching and student learning of 21st Century skills.
  4. Why is a STEAM curriculum perspective crucial to the 21st Century? Peter Charles Taylor outlines how two secondary schools in Western Australia are developing interdisciplinary STEAM curricula to develop students' disciplinary knowledge and skills, as well as their abilities as good communicators and collaborative decision-makers.
  5. How will schooling change over the next 10 years? What are some pressing issues that educators are likely to face over the next decade? In 10 years, what will classrooms look like? And, what role will artificial intelligence have in changing the ways school operate? Professor Neil Selwyn shares his insights.

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