An Inadequate Exposition of Future Readiness (Part 2)

Future Readiness & 21st Century Competencies

MOE’s Framework for 21st Century Competencies comprises three concentric rings to represent the 3 dimensions of this framework. At the core in the innermost ring are values, which define a person’s character, shaping beliefs, attitudes and actions. The middle ring signifies social and emotional competencies needed for self-care, care and concern for others, responsible decision making, relationship building and for handling challenging situations effectively.

The outer ring represents emerging 21st century competencies necessary for the globalized world we live in. It is this ring that interests us, as we begin to situate the qualities needed for students today to thrive in the world tomorrow within the MOE framework, complete with standards and benchmarks. This enables us to see alignment between what is needed and what schools are trying to do, enabling the system as a whole to move forward in the same direction, to cultivate the desired behavior among our students, preparing them for the future.

The table above reveals that MOE’s conception of emerging 21st century competencies is very much geared toward developing our students to be future-ready. However, as highlighted (in red) in the table above, there remain qualities that do not quite fit well with the categories identified in MOE’s framework. In addition, resilience is conceived of as a core value in MOE’s conception, part of character building, and thus not reflected in the table above. That said, evident from the table above is the primacy of critical and inventive thinking for future-readiness, given that half of the future-ready qualities fall into this domain.

A closer examination of the critical and inventive thinking domain reveals a natural prioritization of the 4 components, as presented above. Curiosity and creativity is conceptualized as attitudes upon which the remaining components are premised. In a similar fashion, sound reasoning and decision making is needed before one can meaningfully process one’s thinking (metacognition); and metacognition, usually in the form of self-reflection, is necessary for one to modify one’s thinking, attitudes, behavior and/or skills to adapt to the evolving environment. This suggests therefore that sound reasoning and decision making is possibly a foundational skill for critical and inventive thinking.

Implications for Practice

For the longest time, teachers have conceived of critical (analytical) and inventive (creative) thinking as two separate entities instead of two sides of the coin. Now is perhaps the time for us to revisit such conceptualization. As illustrated in design thinking discourse, the best designs are born out of a rigorous interplay of analytical thinking and creative thinking. The implication of such a re-conceptualization would mean that all intentions to develop, for instance, sound reasoning and decision making would require a balance of analytical and creative contexts, where students are not only able to consider different viewpoints and use evidence, but to be able to do in a plethora of circumstances e.g. during brainstorming sessions and critique sessions.