Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century

This essay explores the key factors driving change in education and the differences between 21st-century teaching and traditional teaching. It discusses the necessary skills for success in the 21st century and the impact of globalization, social change, and economic crises on education.

Teaching and learning in the 21st century

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“Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century”
In the 21st century, learning and teaching have become a very successful feature of education for
society and children. The framework of early years learning and structure of Australian
Curriculum, which are taught in the classrooms by the educators, are very difficult and complex
and it is a complete process of learning for children. The essay will provide the knowledge about
teaching and learning in the 21st century and the key factors that are driving change in education.
21st-century teaching and learning are different from traditional teaching and learning. The world
is changing so as the education in the 21st century. Therefore to prepare students for this
changing world the way of education is changing. In the 21st century, instructors are creating a
course to help students for connecting with the world and generate an understanding of the issues
faced by the world (Quin Street. 2017). In the 21st century schools are becoming nerve centers, a
place that connects students and teachers with their surroundings and communities. In this new
scenario, teachers are becoming more of a commander and less instructors, making children
capable of turning their knowledge into wisdom. For education students in the 21st century,
managers and teachers nurture and retain the interest of the student in the subject by representing
the application of the knowledge in the real world. They are very must focus towards increasing
the curiosity of their student to make them a lifelong learner. Further, instructors are very
flexible in terms of their way of teaching and even they provide guidance outside the school.
There are various skills that are necessary for the student in the 21st century. Some of them are
Skills with critical thinking, knowledge of technology, skills of oral presentation, ability to work
in a team, skills of written communication, etc. In the classrooms of the 21st century, students

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feel good and are very much excited to go to the school with this there is no problem of
discipline because all students are ready to learn. In these type of classes, actions are linked to
the community, it can be local or global. Students from various schools and countries interact
with people with the intention to learn more about the issues that affect everyone, even the
solution of those issues for today and for future. There are many factors that are driving changes
in education such as globalization, social change, and economic crises.
The process of collaboration and combination among governments, companies, and people of
different countries, a process determined by investment and international trade and assisted by
information technology is known as Globalization (Levin, 2016). The effects of this process can
be seen on the political system and on culture. Along with this effects can be seen in the
development of economy and wealth, and on the well-being of human health in society all over
the world. In the world, Globalization is considered as necessary development that has changed
the modern history. It can be seen that there is a starting of the era and that leads to the changes
that are faced by the nation in their cultural, economic and social ways, and it is known that it
brings new concepts and values in society with different problems and perceptions for the nation
(Bruniges, 2017). Globalization and education are closely related to each other. Education plays
important role in shaping a society, therefore, globalization should be linked with education and
globalized activities have a deep effect on it. Due to globalization, the focus on subject's
internationalization has been enhanced. The opportunities for partnership is also developing due
to globalization in teaching and research with different institutions and associations across the
world (Ministry of higher education. 2015). In each area, humanity survives a rapid change.
Cultural, economic and social values are forced through new challenges. In the education field
changes are expected responsibilities of schools is to improve the appropriateness of individual

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with the globalization concept that leads to change the traditional education structure, it is the
key change in universities today and different institutions that are increasing their efforts to
provide the response to social change. They have to fulfill society's expectations (Menand,
2013).
Variations and changes in the society's social aspects like cultural, economic and political
changes are known as social change. These changes can be very slow even it may not be noticed
by people, or it can be intense and quick. It is educator’s responsibility to teach the social
changes process to children. It provides many benefits to the education today but has some
challenges. One of the key benefits of social change for the workforce industry is that it will
create many new job opportunities for the graduate students to make their successful career.
Media, technology, and communication will create a challenge in education as it divides the
society into rich and poor. According to the national survey, there is a decrease in the income of
most of the household (Patty, 2017). This results in dividing the society in two ways, where
families those are struggling to enhance their living are becoming poorer and on the other side
those families who are doing well in their living becoming richer and wealthier. In that
condition, education has become a battle for those household who are less fortunate, as they are
not capable enough to afford school, college, and university for their children. Therefore, rich
people are easily affording extra resources and tutoring education after school, which less
fortunate households are not able to afford. This impacts the education of children, learning, and
future for a successful career. Therefore, social change must be highlighted and considered with
extra efforts by those people with the high authority of maintaining high standards on 21st-
century teaching and learning.

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Economic crises are one of the major factors that lead to the changes in education. Higher
education is the center point of public debate due to the financial collapse in 2008 and the
constant economic crisis. The main criteria of this debate are for a re-justification of the higher
education role and changes in its funding from the government. It is very necessary because
higher education has changed due to economic crises at the micro and macro levels (Tsiligiris,
2012). The shorter-term impact of economic crises immediately is on the institutional micro
level. There is a decrease in the number of student in some programs that are very expensive and
those with less job opportunity has made universities managers to reduce the staff members at
different levels and justify their program portfolio. This is a common problem in higher
education. The economic crisis is considered to be the long-term argument that higher education
must be assisted same as other economy services and must be handled with higher accountability
and managerial practices. This condition has arisen when neo liberalism ruled policy-making
globally. As a result, a policy of higher education has arrived a phase of intense rationalization
with an importance on ‘cutting the excess fat’ and ‘balancing the budget’. It shows that economic
crises have generated a policy of neo-liberal and management structure in higher education that
made the financial burden shift from governments to the student and their families. Therefore, it
has been seen that governments are trying to turn public debt and direct funding into indirect
funding through loans of student and private debt.
The traditional pedagogy teaching that was taught in school are not able to be gained in real life,
such as the context of problem resolving that divides knowing and doing. Students stay without
the knowledge of the environment in which they are involved (Koplin & Hui, 2011). That results
in incapability of students in linking the actual situation with the theory. It has been said that
education has just become a drill. For the failure of student the methods of traditional teaching

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have been blamed to transfer the gained knowledge into real-life situations (Christmas, 2014).
According to some psychologist, behaviorist perception is the one that generates a condition
where the learner is an inactive receiver of knowledge. On the other side, Piaget (1974) and
Bruner (1972) propose that it is important for a learner to be proactive in learning and learner
must be keenly involved in real learning. At the time when learner starts looking the relation
between new and prior knowledge then learning becomes active. Authentic learning is the one
that makes information meaningful for students. For placing of authentic learning, teachers
should create an environment of authentic learning. It is important in the classroom to bring real
world for encouraging effective learning (Brown, Collins & Dugund, 1988). According to
Newman authentic learning achievements is an intellectual activity that is important, substantial
and expressive, like activities are taken by successful adults. The main focus should be on
teachers work and on students with this schools should engage their students in a cognitive work
of adult world (Eberbach, 2017). Newman pedagogy has been formed of four strands;
connections, intense knowledge, higher order of thinking, and practical conversation.
For meeting the demand of the student successfully it is essential to make some changes in the
education with time. For students’ success it is very important to maintain their interest in the
subjects provided to them by their teachers and help them to know how the knowledge can be
applied in the real world. Therefore, it can be recommended that teachers should make some
efforts to increase the curiosity of student. Further, they are also recommended to be flexible and
should provide materials that can help student outside the boundary of schools. There are various
skills needed in the 21st century for the success such as written presentation, oral communication,
etc. There is various intelligence and skills level available that help to achieve these skills and
allow students to use multimedia and technology. The Australian curriculum is a prospectus for

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all schools available all around the world (Australian Curriculum. 2017). It allows students to
become more creative and critical thinkers, which makes students think more deeply and broadly
with the help of those skills that are important for real life. The subjects that are arranged in this
are project based instead of textbook based. It provides students a learning through research and
by preparing different projects and books work as a resource that helps students to prepare those
projects.
Teaching and learning of 21st century should be meaningful, for this teachers and schools should
provide education which is helpful. If students want to succeed in their life as well as in their
career they should be a comfortable and productive member of the global society of 21st century
and to achieve this they need to develop their skills beyond the skills of the 20th century
(Educational origami. 2017). It is needed that traditional approaches to teaching should be
shifted to new pedagogy that can help in shifting from theoretical learning that has accumulated
useless knowledge. The authentic education provides opportunity to hear the voice of learner,
ownership is taken by the learner and responsibility for their own education. While practicing
students can make use of these tools in their professional trade. New teaching practices are
according to the realities of real life outside the school. Learning is becoming simplified by
teachers as they are offering their students to take learning responsibilities of their own.
Problems of real life can be solved with creativity, collaboration and critical thinking. To gather
information technology is the preferred choice that has the highest association for the planned
projects.
In the conclusion, it can be said that education should be useful and this is the responsibility of
schools and teachers to provide usable education to students. There must be a shift from
traditional pedagogy to progressive approaches that help the student to think critically and they

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can solve their problems. Teaching and learning in the 21st century are changing with time now
students are not just studying through books but they are applying that theoretical knowledge
into practical knowledge. In this essay, three factors have been discussed that affect education
and those factors are globalization, social change, and economic crisis.

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References
Australian Curriculum. (2017). New-look Australian Curriculum website launched. Retrieved
from: https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/news/2017/07/new-look-australian-curriculum-
website-launched/
Brown, J. S., Collins, A & Dugund, P. (1988). Situated Cognition and the Culture of Learning.
Educational Researcher, 18(1), 32-42.
Bruniges, M. (2017). What is driving curriculum reform in Australia? Curriculum and
Leadership journal, 3(40).
Christmas, D. (2014). Authentic pedagogy: implications for education. European Journal of
Research and Reflection in Educational Sciences, 2(4), 51-57.
Eberbach, L. (2017). Teaching in the 21st Century. Retrieved from:
https://lukeeberbach.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/1077260_edu60010_assessment_1_tp1_2014_
luke_eberbach_1077260.pdf
Educational origami. (2017). Comparing 20th & 21st Century Educational Paradigms. Retrieved
from: http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/Comparing+20th+%26+21st+Century+Education
Koplin, M.R & Hui, C.F. (2011). The implementation of authentic activities for learning: a case
study in finance education. E-Journal of Business Education & Scholarship of Teaching, 5(1),
59-72.
Levin, S. (2016). What is Globalization? Retrieved from: http://www.globalization101.org/what-
is-globalization/

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Menand, H. (2013). Globalization and education: 21st century instructional practices for urban
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https://search.proquest.com/openview/ecb44af8480b244a452ed16d0c24456c/1.pdf?pq-
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Ministry of higher education. (2015). The impact of globalization on education. Retrieved from:
http://dspace.univ-tlemcen.dz/bitstream/112/7865/1/snouci-abdelhadi.pdf
Patty, A. (2017). Divide between rich and poor in Australia is growing. Retrieved from:
http://www.smh.com.au/business/workplace-relations/divide-between-rich-and-poor-in-australia-
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Quin Street. (2017). The Role of Education in the 21st Century. Retrieved from:
http://www.teachercertification.org/a/role-of-education-in-the-21st-century.html
Tsiligiris, V. (2012). The impact of the economic crisis on higher education. Retrieved from:
http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20120314055536933