NEW LITERACIES AND THE 21 st

CENTURY SKILLS AND THE

CURRICULUM PROCESS
“If we are to select and prepare the new
generation of teachers equipped with the
knowledge, skills, and values to help their
culturally different and socially advantaged
students to learn, to resolve conflicts peacefully,
to respect each other’s dignity and cultures, and
to become socially responsible citizens,
significant changes are needed.”
-Delor’s Report (UNESCO, 1996)
 We are in an era of borderless “flat”
world. Barriers have been broken by new
information and communication
technologies. Globalization has opened
doors that led nations to co-exist and be
interdependent. However, the common
future will still be more dependent on the
knowledge, skills, and values of its people.
 As future teachers of the 21st century, there is an urgent need to understand the new
landscape that is brought about by the changes in leaps and bounds of the century.
Furthermore, the development of the 21st century skills is a necessary tool for teachers.
Without these 21st century tools, no teacher can survive.
21 CENTURY SKILLS
st
 LIFE AND CAREER

INFORMATION,
MEDIA, AND
21st CENTURY TECHNOLOGY

SKILLS LEARNINGAND
LEARNING AND
INNOVATION
INNOVATION

EFFECTIVE
COMMUNICATION
LIFE AND CAREER SKILLS
In recent times, the life and work environments
require far more than thinking skills and content
knowledge. The ability to navigate the complex life and
work environments in the globally competitive
information age requires students to pay rigorous
attention to developing adequate life and career skills.

Life and Career Skills include:

Flexibility and Adaptability
Initiative and Self-direction
Social and Cross-cultural Skills
Productivity and Accountability
Leadership and Responsibility
 Flexibility and Adaptability
Learners adapt to various roles, responsibilities and schedules. Despite the complex condition, they are able to do
the different tasks at one time. Recognition of this potential will give a signal to the teacher to provide all learners
the opportunities to develop their individual potential of being adaptable and flexible. Rigidity runs counter to the
development of this skill.
 Initiative and Self-direction
A self-directed learner demonstrates life and
career skills. Goals are set and managed by
themselves. There is a commitment to
learning as a lifelong process. Many of the
young learners are capable of doing things
without being told. They take initiatives. They
do not need to be given detailed instructions.
They plan and work out their plans. Like the
learners, the teachers should also possess the
same skills.
 Social and cross-cultural skills
This life and career skills require learners to
respect cultural differences and work
effectively with others, to be open-minded to
different ideas in order to innovate and
improve quality of work. If one understands
the other’s culture, it will be easy to respect.
Disrespect may spring from ignorance and
bias. To be able to appreciate mores,
tradition, history of others, one needs to be
open and willing to accommodate and
compromise.
 Productivity and accountability
Individuals who possess these skills are able to
produce results. They respect teamwork and
cooperation. They manage time very well and can
do multitask. The most tangible proof that one
has done something is the product or result. It
can be an idea, or a material product. When one
is asked to do something, that person has an
accountability to produce results as evidence of a
job done. Better results are accomplished if done
together through collaboration and cooperation.
 Leadership and responsibility
Good leaders use interpersonal and problem-solving skills with integrity and ethical behavior to influence and
guide others. Leadership and responsibility are life skills that should be developed by all learners and teachers.
Leadership is not assigned, it s earned. As the saying goes: “Leaders are born but they can also be made.”
INFORMATION, MEDIA, AND
TECHNOLOGY SKILLS
These skills reflect the ability to use technology to expand learning and to improve productivity.
Information skills are the ability to access information efficiently and effectively. Using
information appropriately involves managing contents from variety of sources, and understanding
legal and ethical issues when accessing information.
Media skills require an understanding of the purposes for different types of media, how to interpret
the values and points they hold, and to recognize the influence media has on its audience. Using
media products to create tools for learning, understanding, and communicating requires
understanding how and what media creation tools will do the necessary job most effectively.
 LEARNING AND
INNOVATION SKILLS
Creativity and innovation allow the generation
of ideas and concepts, to perceive information
differently from others, and to have the ability to
approach issues from a different perspective
than others. Thinking creatively involves using
techniques such as brainstorming, collaboration,
and communicating effectively with others.
Expanding on these ideas by elaborating,
refining, analyzing and evaluating will maximize
and improve the creative effort.
The ability to think critically involves the ability to reason effectively, including the use of inductive and deductive
reasoning as it is appropriate to the situation. Problem solving skills involve the ability to effectively analyze and
evaluate evidence, alternative points of view, and to make connections between information and arguments. Critically
reflecting on personal learning and asking significant questions lead to additional information and better solutions.
 EFFECTIVE
COMMUNICATION
SKILLS
Communication skills can be defined as a set of skills
that enable a person to communicate properly.
According to Hymes, communication skills consist of
knowing “when to speak, when not, and what to talk
about, with whom, when, where, in what form”.
We interact constantly with other people and we can’t
stop expressing ourselves. Therefore, mastering these
skills is fundamental to our personal and social
development. We use them when speaking, listening,
reading, and writing.
THE 21 CENTURY
st

LITERACIES
How is Literacy defined?
In 1958, UNESCO defined literate as one who
can, with understanding, both read and write a short
simple statement on his or her daily life. However, in
1970, a functionally literate person is one who can
engage in all the activities to use reading, writing, and
calculation for the community’s development. Further
on, in 2000 literacy was defined as the ability to read
and write with understanding a simple statement
related to one’s daily life. It involves a continuum of
reading and writing skills and often includes,
numeracy.
However, the UNESCO international expert meeting in 2003, redefined literacy as the ability to identify,
understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute using printed and written materials associated with
varying contexts. Literacy involves a continuum of learning in enabling individuals to achieve their goals, to
develop their knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in their community and wider society.
 THE ARTS AND CREATIVITY
Creativity and innovation are the 21st century skills, thus in
solving problems and creating art works are part of this literacy.
 ECOLITERACY
Acquisition of knowledge about climate change, pollution, loss of natural habitats and
biodiversity. Solutions on how these environmental problems could be addressed must be
practiced.
 FINANCIAL LITERACY
Basic knowledge about the basics of economics and financial management. This is necessary
for every learner and teacher to be able to handle income, expenses and investments to be
economically secure.
 CYBERLITERACY/ DIGITAL LITERACY (INFORMATION AND ICT KNOWLEDGE)
Being in the rapid changes in the use of technology for teaching and learning, teachers and
learners need to develop and enhance the use of digital gadgets whether on-line or off-
line.
 MEDIA LITERACY
Teachers and learners must learn how to discern abut any
information which are transmitted via various forms and media.
 SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL LITERACY
Knowledge about social dimensions and social skills that are appropriate in he context of
society. Emotional intelligence must also developed to be able to effectively manage stress
due to the changing environments of the 21st century.
 GLOBALIZATION AND MULTI-CULTURAL LITERACY
If you respect multi-cultural diversity, aware of the global trends, acknowledge differences
and similarities, respect each other’s dignity, then you are multi-cultural literate.
CURRICULUM PROCESS
1. Curriculum planning
- considers the school vision, mission and goals. It also includes the philosophy or strong
education belief of the school. All of these will eventually be translated to classroom desired
learning outcomes for the learners.
2. Curriculum designing
- is the way curriculum is conceptualized to include the school and organization of content, the selection and
organization of learning experiences or activities and the selection of the assessment procedure and tools to measure
achieved learning outcomes. A curriculum design will also include the resources to be utilized and the statement of
the intended learning outcomes.
3. Curriculum implementing
- is putting into action the plan which is based on the
curriculum design in the classroom setting or the
learning environment. The teacher is the facilitator of
learning and, together with the learners, uses the
curriculum as design that guides to what will transpire
in the classroom with the end in view of achieving the
intended learning outcomes. Implementing the
curriculum is where action takes place. It involves the
activities that transpire in every teacher’s classroom
where learning becomes an active process.
4. Curriculum evaluating
- determines the extent to which the desired
outcomes have been achieved. This procedure is on-
going as in finding out the progress of learning
(formative) or the mastery of learning (summative).
Along the way, evaluation will determine the factors
that have hindered or supported the implementation.
It will also pinpoint where improvement can be made
and corrective measures, introduced. The result of
evaluation is very important for decision making of
curriculum planners, and implementors.