Paper 3: 21st Century Education Comparative Analysis

Patrick Fernandez
New Jersey City University
EDTC 804: Global Issues in Educational Technology Leadership
Fall 2022
 1

When studying educational systems in the field of comparative education it is important

to consider the approaches to educational development in each country or region. This paper

seeks to summarize the historical approaches of six countries (Singapore, China, Chile, Mexico,

India and the United States) as well as their approaches in meeting 21st century competencies

in educational goals, policies and curricula. Lastly, this paper will offer commentary on the

differences and common themes among these countries and their unique approaches.

Singapore

When discussing Singapore it is important to remember it is a relatively small city state

that has been independent only for a few decades. Singapore also has a multinational and

multicultural identity because of its history. As a result, their educational framework and

government leaders set policy to reflect this in their educational curriculum. This is evident with

their framework, which focuses on shared and common beliefs that reflect their society; values

include appreciating diversity, respect and social harmony. Another way Singapore’s

multicultural identity has influenced their curriculum was noted with their recent reforms

beginning in 2011 (Tan & Low 2016) which became more student centric. With recent reforms

focusing on how to best personalize education and creating multiple ways to support students.

Overall Singapore’s trajectory as a nation and recent educational reforms have been

positive. Financially the country has continued to develop and become one of the stronger

economies in their region; this financial rise has translated to a stronger infrastructure and gains

in education. With a strong GDP and strong literacy rate Singapore boasts an impressive track

record in developing a country that is relatively young.

Despite their impressive development, Singapore still faces challenges. A negative effect

of their individualized approach toward education is it can lead to a lack of cohesion. Striking a

balance between individualization and a collective vision could be difficult especially when
 2

creating clear articulated goals in educational frameworks or policy. Creating clear articulated

goals should be a priority for Singapore moving forward. Lastly while Singapore has been

looking globally and completing more comparative studies they should continue to look globally

more to catch up to its regional and national competitors; if not they risk falling behind.

China

China globally is a superpower both politically and economically. Among developing

countries and worldwide it is one of the largest in various factors including geographic size,

population and economically. It boasts a population of close to a billion people and its economy

is one of the three largest. Historically, China is also one of the most ancient civilizations and

this allowed China to gain an advantage in education over relatively new countries like

Singapore. Since China has a long history, this has allowed the country to create an inherited

educational culture, which began centuries ago with ancient teachings of Confucius.

When discussing China’s educational system in modern times it serves a much different

purpose than it did during the days of Confucius. As in most countries, education in China only

served the elites and the royal court at first before reaching its common people. Therefore,

education’s purpose was for the people but during the late 20th century this shifted with reforms

which focused on becoming a national superpower. Evidence of thinking globally or “big picture”

began in the 1970’s, with an educational system that was modeled and inspired largely by the

Soviets (Wang 2016). The Chinese educational system began to focus on the connections

between education and production, teaching well and learning well, knowledge and future needs

of the country.

In the late 1970’s, China’s educational system also introduced and placed a large

emphasis on a high stakes college entrance exam. It’s still used today and it determines the

future of many students in the country. While recent reforms in 2014 (Wang 2016) have tried to
 3

make the entrance exam measure 21st century skills, it continues to be criticized for being too

knowledge based. The high stakes entrance exam is one of the biggest criticisms of the

Chinese system in meeting 21st century competencies. In addition to being too knowledge

based the exam highlights the differences between urban and rural areas, rich and poor, haves

and have nots; in short it is not equitable or creating equality.

The strength of China's system is it has potential in sparking new innovations both within

their own country and using ideas from other global systems. From a national perspective,

another strength lies in their focus on a national curriculum which accounts for 80% of their

educational standard curriculum (Wang 2016). While the Chinese face similar challenges as

other countries in the form of the quality of their teachers and teacher preparation,

regional/location gaps and balancing individual and collective goals the general outlook on their

educational system is positive. Much of the focus in the Chinese system in recent decades is to

compete globally and they continue to do so; which has been shown in the metrics.

Chile

Among developing countries in the South American region Chile is one of the most

developed, with a stable government and economies. However, Chile’s history and educational

system are both complex stories that intertwine. In the 1980’s the Chilean government went

through a government change under a dictatorship regime. Eventually the regime and

government would change hands and become a democratic country, but even under democracy

the country politically is still considered center-left leaning. Its current leader, Gabriel Boric, is a

member of a socialist party.

For Chile’s educational system it has translated to a tiered system of education which is

not equitable for all its citizens. While the country offers local public schools the government has

dispersed a large amount of investments into its private education sector. In this tiered system
 4

both public and private schools compete in a voucher like system. The system’s goal is to

penalize its lowest performing schools and provide more funding to higher performing schools to

combat social economic equality. However penalizing its lower performing schools actually

creates more inequality.

The Chilean system is complex and an interesting case study. Its reforms and standards

are written to meet 21st century competencies but its execution simply does not allow it to meet

them. The largest reason is it's not an equitable system for all; its tiered system creates haves

and have nots. Those in the lowest socioeconomic tier attend Chilean underfunded public

schools, its middle class attends moderately funded subsidized schools and its highest

socioeconomic tier attends high achieving private schools. The Chilean system needs to create

a system which would allow equal access to quality education to all its citizens before it could be

considered 21st century.

Mexico

Mexico faces many challenges in their educational system which struggles with

low enrollment, low graduation rates and low test scores. The overall dissatisfaction with the

educational system and low morale has led many of its citizens to voice their public opinions,

calling for reform. While Mexico has many socio economic issues to address and public opinion

of their education system is low, its citizens seem welcoming to reform and improvement in

education. Recent reforms have been considered mixed because while many of the reforms the

Ministry of Education created are in line with basic 21st century competencies such as effective

communication, a focus on human rights and an appreciation of the arts; others fall short like

using technology or higher order critical thinking (Cardenas 2016).

Overall the educational system is struggling and while reforms have been well

intentioned, they have fallen short on execution. To meet 21st century competencies Mexico

needs to focus more resources and research into education. As well as create more buy-in from
 5

all stakeholders in its system. However, this is easier said than done, considering a large

number of social and economic challenges the country faces.

India

India's long history under British imperialism makes the country an interesting case

study; unfortunately during that time period the caste system only allowed the upper classes

and the elites to receive it. Much like most countries discussed, the education in its early history

was not available to the masses. As a result, a large population of India did not have equal

access to education for a large amount of their history and it still struggles with various

challenges today. India has been plagued with social economic issues and struggles in

developing its education system today which is largely guided by its National Curriculum

standards (NCF), developed in 2005.

The NCF was developed to reform education with the goal in mind to increase

employment and additional socio-economic issues that hinder the development of the country

(Natraj 2016). Its framework was created to meet the demands and competencies of the 21st

century. Many of its goals focus on developing 21st century skills such as critical thinking,

authentic work, empowerment and living in a globalized society. However, the NCF was the

product of various discussions, opinions, and factions among the Indian people which resulted

in a very flexible guiding document. With a guiding document which was intentionally created to

be flexible, the biggest barrier for India lies in its standards. The NCF has been updated and

improved but standards continue to be a general guideline which are allowed to be interpreted

locally or in various ways (Natraj 2016). This has translated to a very decentralized education

system and for many local areas there are a number of gaps in achievement.

A second barrier to India meeting 21st century competencies is India's mindset which is

very rooted in hierarchical thinking due to its colonial history. A solution for India’s mindset

barrier is to simply change their mindsets; however this is easier said than done. India as a
 6

country continues to grow and develop but their educational system would have to become

more centralized and would require additional changes/actions heading toward 21st century

goals. One possible solution to strengthen India’s education and vision would be to look

elsewhere and seek new ideas and perspectives abroad.

United States

Like many countries the United States sets forth national policy and guidelines which are

interpreted and executed by local educational systems. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001

and Race to the Top program are examples of national policy which has shaped what education

looks like in the United States. States like Massachusetts are typically the ones used for

analysis considering their long historic track record in piloting and influencing national

curriculum and policy.

In 2008, Massachusetts attempted to set forth recommendations and then measure how

effective the state was in meeting 21st century competencies. Unfortunately the report and

initiative was never fully completed (Reimers & Chung 2016). However, the United States deals

with many of the same challenges as many others. Challenges in the United States include

teacher development, achievement gaps between rural and urban areas, and trouble fostering

higher order Bloom’s taxonomy thinking.

Comparative Analysis

One of the similarities which stand out among all these countries begins with each

country's history and its impact on its educational systems. Educational systems and policy

does not take place in a vacuum separate from contextual factors; they are created and built

with purpose and historical or current events always in the backdrop. Whether it’s Singapore

constructing a new educational system as only a recently independent country or India’s system

still finding its way as a result of European imperialism or China’s continuing to keep up with its
 7

long and proud traditions or Chile’s government changes or simply political factors in Mexico

and the United States; context matters and influences educational systems.

A second commonality each country shares lies in one of the challenges each share;

teacher development. World wide the teaching profession has struggled to attract talented

individuals to the profession and continue to struggle with their development of those who do

enter the profession. Each country and all experts in education notes this as a barrier toward

meeting 21st century competencies. Metrics and statistics all agree on the importance of

teachers and challenges in developing them, regardless of country rank or strength of

educational system. Since this is a worldwide challenge that all or most countries deal with, the

issue seems like a moot point or an implied challenge of building an educational system. Much

like each country would cite improving their economy as an implied challenge in developing a

country and the solution is to accumulate wealth. Solutions to improving educational systems

should focus on doing the best they can with what they have rather than focus on the implied

challenge of the teaching profession and their development. Solutions in meeting 21st century

competencies should remain focused on concrete actions and realistic attainable goals each

country can meet.

A key difference among this grouping of countries ties into the first commonality, context

matters. While each country deals with similar challenges such as teacher development,

implementation of standards, gaps among rural and urban areas and competing in a globalized

society; each country is dealing with them under a different context or backdrop. Each of these

countries has different goals and an individual purpose for their policies. Each country has a

different amount of resources or attention they can spend on their educational system. Each

country deals with a different amount of political stability it could rely on. Only time will tell how

each will continue to address its educational systems but each is on their own path toward

meeting 21st century competencies. Some of these countries will separate from others in a

larger context and much of it can be attributed to how each country navigates its own
 8

challenges under their own backdrops and contextual factors. For education’s sake each

country navigates their paths smoothly.

Conclusion

All nations face many common challenges in developing educational systems and

meeting 21st century competencies. While many challenges in developing and meeting

expectations are similar; how countries overcome them is not the same due to various

contextual factors. Factors that influence educational systems include: political history,

educational history, cultural norms, political stability, economic stability, stakeholder

engagement, national policy, local policy, resources available (material and non material).

These various factors must be considered and accounted for when developing a country and its

educational system. Educational systems seeking to meet 21st century competencies should

accurately assess contextual factors and use them when developing paths forward.
 9

References
Bellei, C., & Morawietz, L. (2016). Strong content, weak tools: Twenty-first century

competencies in the Chilean educational reform. In F.M. Reimer & C.K. Chung (Eds.),

Teaching six developing countries stance on 21cc education and learning for the twenty-

first century: Educational goals, policies, and curricula from six nations. Harvard

Education Press.

Cardenas, S. (2016). Curriculum reform and twenty-first-century skills in Mexico: Are

standards and teacher training materials aligned? In F. M. Reimer & C. K. Chung

(Eds.), Teaching and learning for the twenty-first-century: Educational goals,

policies, and curricula from six nations. Harvard Education Press.

Natraj, A., Jayaram, M., Contractor, J. & Agrawal (2016). Chapter 5: Twenty-first-century

competencies, the indian national curriculum framework, and the history of education in

India. In F. Reimers & C. Chung (Eds.). Teaching and learning for the twenty-first

century: Educational goals, policies, and curricula from six nations. Harvard University

Press.

Reimers, F, & Chung, C. (2016) Introduction: A comparative study of the purposes of education

in the twenty-first century. In F. Reimers & C. Chung (Eds.). Teaching and learning for

the twenty-first century: Educational goals, policies, and curricula from six nations.

Harvard University Press.

Tan, O, and Low, E. (2016). Chapter 1: Singapore's systematic approach to teaching and

Learning twenty-first century competencies. In F. Reimers & C. Chung (Eds.). Teaching

and learning for the twenty-first century: Educational goals, policies, and curricula from

six nations. Harvard University Press.

 10

Wang, Y. (2016). Chapter 2: Thinking big, acting small: Lessons from twenty-first-century

curriculum reform in China. In F. Reimers & C. Chung (Eds.). Teaching and learning for

the twenty-first century: Educational goals, policies, and curricula from six nations.

Harvard University Press.