FIG. 19 21ST CENTURY SKILLS

Final report - project MOVE 2017-2018

Although the Big Picture method is educational oriented, it is also applicable on re-integration because the core of the methodology is personal and goal oriented, focusing not only on empirical, quantitative and social reasoning, but also on personal qualities and communication. It is connected with the 21 century skills and the Agora model because youngsters learn the most when they are concerned with topics that are relevant to them, in the here and now, because it concerns them or because it is a hobby or interest. A topic only becomes relevant if it is experienced directly in the real world and if projects are real and not made up by a teacher or trainer or taken from a book.

3.5 21 century skills

Arts could become more important for young people than math’s in the future, according to Andreas Schleicher16 , widely regarded as one of the world’s leading educational thinkers.

The fourth industrial revolution – the influence of technologies such as robotics and artificial intelligence on society, will most probably ask for soft skills rather than hard skills. “We talk about ‘soft skills’ often as social and emotional skills and hard skills as about science and math’s. However, it might be the opposite,” he said, suggesting that science and math’s may become ‘softer’ in future when the need for them decreases due to technology, and the ‘hard skills’ will be “curiosity, leadership, persistence and resilience”.In order to succeed in the rapid changes in our world, we must focus on 21st century skills as a set of necessary abilities that youngsters need to develop, to prepare them for the future for jobs that sometimes do not exist yet.

With the two spheres from the Agora model, we focus in the field of Art and Sport on eight “21 century skills:

Learning Skills • Critical Thinking and problem solving; • Creativity and innovation; • Collaboration; • Communication.

Life Skills 1. Flexibility; 2. Initiative; 3. Social Skills; 4. Leadership.

A helpful instrument to discover both learning and life skills is to organize teambuilding activities using a mix of artistic and sportive activities. The purpose of these activities is also to create social bonding, trust, group dynamics and efficiency within a group of people. Nevertheless, teambuilding can also be used as an effective instrument in the field of Art.

Fig. 19 21st Century Skills

16 Andreas Schleicher is Director for Education and Skills, and Special Advisor on Education Policy to the Secretary-

General at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris. 23