21st century skills in 20th century classrooms

This article identifies three sets of challenges to the implementation of 21st Century skills in the classroom. The first set is definitional – the lack of understanding of what these skills are. The second set is logistical – there is a lack of resources, both human and instructional, with many of these emanating from the definitional challenges. And the third set is systemic, or cultural – education systems have been operating for decades now based on a discipline approach to curriculum, on standardization of experience (teaching and assessment), on competition, and on limiting access to the highest education to those who excel academically.