No One Right Approach; A Review of 21st Century Skills Pedagogy in Eswatini Curriculum
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47941/ijp.2376Keywords:
21st Century Skills, Curriculum Documents, Education PoliciesAbstract
Purpose: The 21st century skills curriculum is adjusted in different ways to meet each country’s education needs. This study is a review of how the 21st century skills curriculum is adapted in the Eswatini General Certificate of Secondary Education (EGCSE) curriculum. Its objectives were; to ascertain the vision of the 21st century skills curriculum as embraced by the EGCSE curriculum; to explore the interpretation of the 21st century skills pedagogy in the EGCSE curriculum and to examine other legal documents that embrace the notion of 21st century skills in Eswatini.
Methodology: It adopted the systematic literature review methodology. Four (N=4) documents were analysed to determine 21st century skills. These are the P21 Framework, the IGCSE Consultative Document for 2005, the National Curriculum Framework for General Education and the Eswatini Education and Training Sector Policies (EETSP) for 2011 and 2018.
Findings: The findings revealed that the 21st century curriculum philosophy is captured in the P21 framework and EGCSE curriculum in similar ways, as learner-centred and constructivist in design. The P21 Framework interprets the 21st century skills as; learning and innovation, information, media and technology skills and career skills. Contrary, EGCSE pool them together as; communication and language, numeracy, problem solving, technological awareness and applications, critical thinking, work and study, independent learning and working with others. Other legal documents that embraced the notion of 21st century skills were the Competency-based Curriculum Framework, the National Curriculum Framework for General Education and the Eswatini Education and Training Sector Policy for 2011 and 2018 within which there are two (2) sub-policies; Inclusive education, Education for All.
Unique Contribution to Theory, Policy and Practice: Though put differently, the 21st century skills in both frameworks are similar; they empower learners with ways of thinking and working, tools for working and living in the world. Also, only summative assessment is captured, a few is said on formative. It is recommended that both frameworks be revised for more speculations on formative assessment strategies. For teachers to understand the EGCSE curriculum, they need to refer to the other documents or policies.
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