Teaching and Learning for the Twenty-First Century

Educational Goals, Policies, and Curricula from Six Nations

Fernando M. Reimers, Connie K. Chung, Fernando M. Reimers, Connie K. Chung

• Publisher: Harvard Education Press
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781612509228
• eBook ISBN: 9781612509242
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Comparative Education

This book describes how different nations have defined the core competencies and skills that young people will need in order to thrive in the twenty-first-century, and how those nations have fashioned educational policies and curricula meant to promote those skills. The book examines six countries—Chile, China, India, Mexico, Singapore, and the United States—exploring how each one defines, supports, and cultivates those competencies that students will need in order to succeed in the current century.

Teaching and Learning for the Twenty-First Century appears at a time of heightened attention to comparative studies of national education systems, and to international student assessments such as those that have come out of PISA (the Program for International Student Assessment), led by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. This book’s crucial contribution to the burgeoning field of international education arises out of its special attention to first principles—and thus to first questions: As Reimers and Chung explain, “much can be gained by an explicit investigation of the intended purposes of education, in what they attempt to teach students, and in the related questions of why those purposes and how they are achieved.”

These questions are crucial to education practice and reform at a time when educators (and the students they serve) face unique, pressing challenges. The book’s detailed attention to such questions signals its indispensable value for policy makers, scholars, and education leaders today.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Introduction. A Comparative Study of the Purposes of Education in the Twenty-First Century
• One. Singapore’s Systemic Approach to Teaching and Learning Twenty-First-Century Competencies
• Two. Thinking Big, Acting Small: Lessons from Twenty-First-Century Curriculum Reform in China
• Three. Strong Content, Weak Tools: Twenty-First-Century Competencies in the Chilean Educational Reform
• Four. Curriculum Reform and Twenty-First-Century Skills in Mexico: Are Standards and Teacher Training Materials Aligned?
• Five. Twenty-First-Century Competencies, the Indian National Curriculum Framework, and the History of Education in india
• Six. Mapping the Landscape of Teaching and Learning for the Twenty-First Century in Massachusetts in the Context of US Educational Reform
• Conclusion. Theorizing Twenty-First-Century Education
• Notes
• Acknowledgments
• About the Editors
• About the Contributors
• Index