At Macarthur Girls High School we want to provide our students with the skills they need to solve problems which may not exist yet, but may exist when they enter the workforce. The ability to communicate, collaborate or work with others, creativity, critical thinking and problem solving are the skills that all students require when entering the workforce. Research shows that by teaching these skills, students will improve their performance results in school. The world's leading universities state very clearly what is needed to study their courses.
21st century learning skills include:
- Collaboration– students work in groups to share responsibility and make decisions together about what they will produce, how they will produce it, and why they have chosen these means.
- Real world problem solving– students are given a problem task which require them to learn new skills in order to solve it. Students solve problems in an authentic situation and also present and implement their solution in the real world.
- Critical thinking– students question and evaluate aspects of the world around them to make informed decisions.
- Skilled communication– students communicate through writing and other mediums using a central argument or thesis. Students make a claim and support a hypothesis with evidence in an organised and coherent way.
- Self-regulation– students plan, assess and reflect on a long-term learning task using their own initiative.
- Knowledge building– students build knowledge across all subjects by generating new ideas and understandings. This requires students to use higher order thinking skills which include: Evaluation, synthesis, analysis and interpretation.
- Using ICT – students use technology when it contributes to their building of knowledge and acquiring of skills by providing them with new learning opportunities.
- Creativity – students develop their creative skills to be innovative and develop new ideas to contribute to the world community.
These skills are required for 21st century learners to face the challenges in work and life after school.