The Essential 21st Century Skills for the Labour Market and Education: Conceptual Overview

Abstract

21st Century skills are becoming increasingly important in education systems and labour markets around the world. Developing these skills during school years can help individuals to continue to develop them throughout their working lives. This article examines seven key skills: creativity, critical thinking, cooperation, adaptability, leadership, lifelong learning, and problem solving. They are listed in the order in which they are proposed to be cultivated. After analyzing each skill, the commonalities are identified. The ultimate goal of all of these skills is shown to be finding innovative solutions to problems. Finally, a ranking of these skills is presented in pyramid form. Moving up from the bottom to the top of the pyramid, we find the prerequisite skills for mastering the higher levels. This ranking can be taken into account when creating curricula to follow the suggested order, since skills are cultivated from infancy onwards. It is not necessary to master all the skills at once, but rather to do so gradually. The pyramid can provide guidance on which skills are recommended for cultivation at the initial level. Future research applying the theoretical framework developed in this paper to groups of students can support it.