Teaching and assessing 21st century skills

Teaching and assessing 21st century skills

Equipping students with effective tools and strategies that help them to think critically and reason logically is essential preparation to meet the challenges of the 21st century. Many people acknowledge the benefits of so called ‘21st century skills’ (e.g. critical thinking, problem-solving, creativity, communication, collaboration, information literacy, and life skills) but are all students getting equal access to them, and are they being properly assessed and recognised?

Our debate on 28th February brought together a panel of top educational experts to evaluate what '21st century skills' today's students are being taught, and debate whether they're being properly assessed and recognised. Watch films of the event below. Alternatively, you can download podcasts.

Speakers included: Andreas Schleicher, OECD; Dr Paul Andrews, University of Cambridge; Professor Richard Kimbell, Goldsmiths University of London; Niel McLean, Futurelab Research, NFER; Daisy Christodoulou, The Curriculum Centre; Darren Northcott, NASUWT; Simon Lebus, Cambridge Assessment; Mike Nicholson, University of Oxford; Ian Mason, London Chamber of Commerce and Industry; and Tom Sidaway, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.

Also presented at the event was a paper by Dr Irenka Suto, Principal Research Officer at Cambridge Assessment which explains how the development of such skills in young people can best be supported. 

Related materials

Research Matters

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Research Matters is our free biannual publication which allows us to share our assessment research, in a range of fields, with the wider assessment community.