May 2016

Skills for a
Changing World:
Advancing Quality Learning
for Vibrant Societies
Rebecca Winthrop and Eileen McGivney
Rebecca Winthrop is a Senior Fellow and Director
of the Center for Universal Education at Brookings

Eileen McGivney is a Research Analyst

at the Center for Universal Education at Brookings

Skills for a Changing World is a project of the Center for Universal Education at
Brookings and the LEGO Foundation that seeks to ensure all children have high
quality learning opportunities that build the breadth of skills needed to create
vibrant, healthy societies in the face of changing social, technological, and
economic demands.

Acknowledgments

We owe special thanks to Priya Shankar for her invaluable research assistance on
this paper. We would also like to thank our colleagues who generously contributed
thoughts and guidance, especially Kate Anderson, Esther Care, Kathy Hirsh-Pasek,
and Timothy P. Williams.

Support for this publication and research effort was generously provided by the
LEGO Foundation.

Brookings recognizes that the value it provides is in its absolute commitment

to quality, independence, and impact. Activities supported by its donors reflect
this commitment, and the analysis and recommendations are not determined or
influenced by any donation.

The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit organization devoted to independent

research and policy solutions. Its mission is to conduct high-quality, independent
research and, based on that research, to provide innovative, practical
recommendations for policymakers and the public. The conclusions and
recommendations of any Brookings publication are solely those of its author(s) and
do not reflect the views of the Institution, its management, or its other scholars.
 ADVANCING QUALITY LEARNING FOR VIBRANT SOCIETIES

Skills for a Changing World, a collaborative project,

seeks to identify how a new generation of skills
can best be developed and enhanced in young
children and students so they can navigate
education and work in the face of changing social,
technological, and economic demands. The focus of
Skills for a Changing World is breadth—breadth of
skills, breadth across ages, and breadth of learning
opportunities, both inside and out of school.

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 ADVANCING QUALITY LEARNING FOR VIBRANT SOCIETIES

PREPARING CHILDREN
FOR THE FUTURE
How can we best prepare children for success in their Throughout history families, employers, and com-
lives and livelihoods? From hunter-gatherer societies munities have asked what skills and competencies
to early civilizations, and into modernity, generations children need to fit into the larger society and how to
have grappled with this key question. As they do, our best cultivate those very skills. Our current world and
definition of what counts as a high quality education the changes coming in the future require education to
has evolved, as have the sites used to prepare chil- prepare children for a world of rapid change in tech-
dren for their future. nology, increasing interconnectedness, and new forms
employment. No longer is the focus on mastering
Peter Gray, an educational psychologist who has content knowledge sufficient in the age of Google.
studied hunter-gatherer education as far back as Thriving in today’s fast changing world requires
10,000 B.C. says, “Children had to learn an enormous breadth of skills rooted in academic competencies
amount to become effective adults.”1 Communities such as literacy, numeracy, and science, but also
of old taught children survival skills like crafting including such things as teamwork, critical thinking,
tools, tracking animals, distinguishing edible from communication, persistence, and creativity. These
poisonous plants, and how to negotiate with other skills are in fact interconnected. As young people are
groups and learn the social dynamics of their own. better able to manage their emotions, for example,
The ancient Greeks educated youth in part through their ability to focus helps them learn to read and
“skhole,”—the root for the English word “school.” by working on science projects together they learn
Here the intention was to develop free men into how to collaboratively solve problems. This interplay
good citizens who could apply classroom knowledge of skills is central to both the concept of breadth of
through debate and critical thinking.2 The Protestant skills as well as to the educational strategies needed
Church added an impetus for spreading education to help young people cultivate them. Ultimately, young
to the masses because they believed literacy was an people today must be agile learners, able to adapt
important tool for religion. Thus education was for a and learn new things quickly in a new fast-changing
broad group and came to promote reading along with environment.
religious and moral values.3 Until the 20th century
the Gurukula training system in India paired students In short, the world is constantly changing. It always
with gurus to live with and learn from them spiri- will be. But recognizing the nature of these changes is
tual, academic and artistic skills, where “learning key to examining the current context in which we live,
was a continuous process, and the ultimate target and the major changes to be expected in our future
was self-refinement and self-realization.” 4 With that should inform how we think of education today.
the Industrial Revolution came the need for occu- Within this context, a key concept is respect for the
pation-driven education through apprenticeships, breadth of skills. Many stakeholders have articulated
whereby youth learned trades and skills for work.5 the need for the breadth of skills approach. It is now
However, 20th century schooling focused broadly central that we explore how to align those aspirations
on preparing children in core competencies such as with delivery of education.
reading, writing, and arithmetic, something deemed
important for the changing nature of work. 6

4
© UN PHOTO/MARCO DORMINO

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 ADVANCING QUALITY LEARNING FOR VIBRANT SOCIETIES

GLOBAL CONTEXT
LIVING IN A CHANGING WORLD
Throughout time, education has been the way human Digital Revolution is transforming people’s relation-
beings pass down knowledge, values, and culture ship to cognitive or mental work much in the same
to subsequent generations. Yet, contextual factors way the Industrial Revolution transformed people’s
define what kind of change each era faces, and relationship with physical work.7 For example, even a
what tools are needed to best deal with that change. decade ago the ability of a self-driving vehicle to nav-
Currently, there are changes in at least three notable igate a car through traffic, identify other cars around
domains with major implications for education: tech- it, and maneuver amidst other drivers seemed far too
nology, work, and globalization. Within each of these complex. Yet recent advances in artificial intelligence
domains there is promise for a better future where the have put Google’s self-driving cars on the road. IBM’s
world is more connected, efficient and equal. However Watson, a computer with multiple artificial intelli-
each also has a flip side, perils that can come with gence applications, has managed not just to beat
rapid change leave large communities behind and fail a human in chess, but also win Jeopardy!, “a game
to maximize every member of society’s potential. To- that requires not only encyclopedic recall, but also
day and in the future, we will need young people who the ability to untangle convoluted and often opaque
are prepared to harness these promises and mitigate statements.”8 It is not just that technology can do
these challenges. what we previously needed humans for but also that
machines are increasingly working together without
human interaction at all. The Internet of Things (IoT)
Technology
does this by connecting objects, appliances, and
Technology from the wheel to the printing press to devices online: A car can automatically navigate to
the mobile phone has shaped human history and will your next calendar appointment; an alarm clock can
undoubtedly continue to do so. Today, computers and alert a coffee maker; and your refrigerator can order
the digital revolution are spreading across the globe, more milk when you run out. While these may seem
creating connections we have never before imagined like mundane examples, the potential to transform
and possibilities and perils only before dreamed of in our world is tremendous. IoT enables our devices and
science fiction. Whether it is called the second ma- objects to become active participants in our envi-
chine age, the Digital Revolution, or the 4th Industrial ronment “capable of recognizing events and changes
Revolution, technologists, economists, and academics in their surroundings and are acting and reacting
are all concerned with recent rapid technological ad- autonomously largely without human intervention
vances and what they imply for the future. While arti- in an appropriate way.”9 Six years ago the number of
ficial intelligence, exponential increases in computing connected “things” surpassed the number of people in
power, and expanding mobile networks hold promise the world, and it is estimated by 2020 50 billion devic-
to make our lives easier and safer, they also threaten es and objects will be on IoT.10
to leave those at the bottom even farther behind if not
evenly distributed. Many of these technological advancements have
followed and even outpaced Moore’s Law, the obser-
In their account of technological evolution, Massa- vation in 1965 by the cofounder of Intel Gordon Moore
chusetts Institute of Technology and business experts that computing power will double every two years.11
Eric Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee argue that the Since its original conception, the law has been

6
 ADVANCING QUALITY LEARNING FOR VIBRANT SOCIETIES

found to be applicable to more technologies than the had access to cellphone service than electricity, piped
original estimation for transistors, including super- water, paved roads, or sewerage.16 This has already
computer efficiency and internet speeds. It has also spurred numerous innovations from solar-powered
been applicable much longer than initial predictions, phone chargers to low energy consuming lights to
and instead is expected to describe advancements mobile banking, where countries such as Kenya are
well into the future. In the words of Brynjolfsson and the global leaders.
McAfee, this is central for how digital technology will
progress and shape our world in a different way than The increased connectivity has changed the pace
previous innovations: “While transistors and the other at which knowledge and information are dispersed,
elements of computing are constrained by the laws opening up access to people around the globe of all so-
of physics just like cars, airplanes, and swimmers, cioeconomic levels. Google’s partnership with libraries
the constraints in the digital world are much looser.”12 around the world, for example, has digitized and made
They further describe that digitization—the process available online 20 million books previously confined
turning information and media like text, video, pho- to the walls of elite institutions.17 A movement for open
tos, and sound into the code that is understood by educational resources has taken shape so course
computers—is moving much faster than Moore’s Law materials can be shared broadly at no cost, revolution-
would even predict. This combined with the expo- izing distance education and even heralded as a “social
nential increases in computing power place us at an transformer.”18 These developments are especially
inflection point in history where technology promises promising for those who traditionally have not been
to bring momentous change to our world. able to access quality higher education. For example,
recent research has shown a large share of Massive
Importantly, these advances in technology are by no Open Online Courses’ user base in developing countries
means reserved for industrialized countries. Thanks are from low- and middle-income groups, and have a
to mobile phones, experts estimate that this type of higher percentage of female users than elsewhere.19
technology can reach every person in the world. One
estimate finds that, by 2020, more people in the world The promises of these new technologies are enor-
will have smart phones than electricity.13 Already mous, for example diagnosing diseases and pre-
today, 70 percent of households in the bottom fifth of scribing treatment without human error or deploying
the population have mobile phones, providing their systemically programmed devices that can make
main source of internet access, in developing coun- our cities “smarter” and safer. Yet there are potential
tries.14 The improvements in technology have helped downsides as well. Privacy and data security issues
increase access and decrease prices, and the average are deeply debated, as are questions of automation
mobile subscriber cost decreased by 99 percent from and job loss.20
2005 to 2013.15 Developing countries have been able
to “leapfrog,” or bypass hard-wired communications
Work
technology into much cheaper digital technology.
A recent study by Afro Barometer found that in 35 The way we work is being redefined for future genera-
African countries cell phone service coverage has tions. Harvard economists have shown that automa-
spread much faster than other utilities. More citizens tion has “hollowed out” the U.S. labor market over

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 ADVANCING QUALITY LEARNING FOR VIBRANT SOCIETIES

Figure 1 Non-routine Tasks on the Rise in the U.S. Labor Market

70
Non-routine interpersonal
65
Non-routine analytic
Mean task input in percentiles of 1960

60

55

50

45 Routine manual
Non-routine manual
40
Routine cognitive

35
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2006 2009

Source: David H. Autor and Brendan M. Price. “The Changing Task Composition of the US Labor Market: an
Update of Autor, Levy and Murnane (2003)”. MIT Mimeograph, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2013.

the last 50 years. As Figure 1 shows, jobs that require mated.23 However, this may be only a matter of time
mostly routine tasks are decreasing, including routine as countries continue to increase their income levels,
“cognitive” skills like accounting as well as routine while analytical and interpersonal skills will likely
manual skills like those on an assembly line.21 This become more important. For most countries manual
means that many of the jobs that arose in the 20th skills are decreasing or staying stable and are expect-
century have been increasingly automated since ed to become less and less important over time.
1960. Jobs requiring analytical and interpersonal
skills, or “non-routine” skills, are on the rise and taking Increased automation has been accompanied with
a larger share of the labor market.22 other shifts in the workforce. The Future of Jobs report
prepared for the World Economic Forum describes
This is not a phenomenon unique to the U.S. economy. how businesses are already experiencing
Research from the World Bank has demonstrated the impact of changing business models such as
similar findings using data for 30 other countries, flexible work schedules, the sharing economy and
both low- and high-income, showing jobs requiring technological change.24 In many ways these have
non-routine skills are globally on the rise. Interesting- made employees’ and employers’ lives easier, by
ly, the cross-country comparison shows that in many allowing for remote work, increasing connectivity, and
middle-income countries routine cognitive skills helping find employees with the right skills. It has also
are still of high importance, in contrast to trends in provided choice for consumers and made use of our
high-income countries where these have been auto- resources more efficient, as Uber has done with

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 ADVANCING QUALITY LEARNING FOR VIBRANT SOCIETIES

maximizing the cars on the road and Airbnb with capabilities they need,” and massive unemployment
unused housing space. can lead to social unrest and global instability.25 Into
the future, technology will be capable of many more
However, automation and other changes to the world tasks that previously required a human element, put-
of work also can have many negative consequences. ting more and more people out of work across those
The demonstrations of taxi drivers against Uber in that we consider high- and low-skilled occupations,
cities across the world are just one indication of this including doctors, lawyers, and taxi drivers.
issue. Unemployment continues to rise as technology
disrupts labor markets and automation increases The skills mismatch and hiring talent is of great con-
globally. The Global Risks Report 2016 analyzed the cern to employers around the globe. The Manpower
largest risks the world is currently facing, and unem- Survey, the largest global survey of employers cover-
ployment and underemployment are the top risk in 31 ing 42 countries in developed and developing regions,
countries. It reported, “With a growing mismatch be- finds that they struggle to find candidates with the
tween the skills demanded by the fast-changing jobs right mix of skills even in countries where education
market and those possessed by unemployed workers, levels are high. While many employers cite lack of
businesses are struggling to recruit workers with the technical skills, such as those from science, technol-
ogy, engineering, and math fields or vocational skills,
in the latest survey 17 percent of employers find “lack
Figure 2
of workplace competencies” like communication
For 11 countries in South Asia and and teamwork, a barrier to hiring talent.26 The World
sub-Saharan Africa there is a large Bank’s Enterprise Surveys have also found that in-
skills gap projected by 2020 adequate skills are a major constraint to businesses’
productivity and development.27 The current situa-
tion points to a skills mismatch that will have serious
80 repercussions into the future.

60 The mismatch of skills is amplified by many demo-

graphic shifts. For example according to McKinsey,
40
between 2010 and 2030, 60 percent of the increase in
Number of workers, millions

the workforce will come from India, Africa and South-

20 Medium skill ern Asia, regions where school attainment are lagging
58M shortage
0
behind. Additionally, highly-educated regions like
North America and Europe will see a decline in work-
-20
Low skill
surplus
44M ing-age adults as their population ages. In sub-Sa-
haran Africa and South Asia, these demographic
-40 changes, combined with the unequal distribution of
education, are causing a surplus of low-skilled work-
-60
ers—58 million more than jobs to fill in 2020—and
a shortage of medium-skilled workers—44 million
Source: Richard Dobbs, Anu Madgavkar, Dominic Barton, Eric Labaye, fewer than needed in 2020, as Figure 2 shows.28
James Manyika, Charles Roxburgh, Susan Lund, Siddarth Madhav. The
World at Work: Jobs, Pay and Skills for 3.5 Billion People. McKinsey
Global Institute, 2012.

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 ADVANCING QUALITY LEARNING FOR VIBRANT SOCIETIES

Globalization

The current era of globalization has transformed the dination is necessary to seriously address the prob-
landscape of how goods and information flow. This not lem. The recent COP21 agreement demands greater
only helps us connect with people and places far from collective action—from governments to citizens, from
our shores and allows fresh fruit to be consumed in ministries of finance to ministries of environments,
winter, it also enables important solutions to press- from the United Nations to the G-20, from the private
ing problems. For example, in health, solutions in the sector to civil society. This is only compounded by
global north such as vaccine and drug production rapid population growth, with the world’s population
have been providing improved health in the global predicted to reach 11.2 billion by 2100,34 and doubling
south.29 Global coordination has enabled quicker and in urban areas by 2050.35
more effective responses to rising health epidem-
ics such as the Ebola virus.30 Globalization has also The environment is certainly not the only global issue
transformed trade. For example world exports grew that urgently needs cross-border solutions. The world
about twice as fast as the world’s average gross na- is also facing a migrant and refugee crisis larger than
tional product in the last 35 years of the 20th centu- any since the end of the Second World War, calling for
ry.31 These examples suggest the merits of globaliza- a globally coordinated effort. At the end of 2014, the
tion on individuals, on systems, and on markets. number of forcibly displaced populations, including
refugees, internally displaced persons, asylum-seek-
At the same time, the impact of globalization remains ers, and stateless people, rose to a staggering 59.5
uneven.32 As the boundaries of communities and na- million.36 Conflict in Syria, ongoing violence in Iraq
tions that contained our problems and solutions fade, and Afghanistan, abuses in Eritrea, and poverty in
we need new approaches to many of the most import- Kosovo are all drivers of the refugee and migration
ant issues today. We need young people who are not crisis. The global nature of the problem calls for inter-
only well-versed in their chosen discipline but also national coordination and a global solution. Christine
who are creative and collaborative and can find ways Lagarde, the managing director of the International
to cross boundaries and address global problems Monetary Fund, recently called for a “bigger, bolder,
from climate change to health epidemics to insecurity. and broader approach,” for international cooperation
to stem humanitarian and economic toll, looking be-
For one, many environmental problems do not have yond national borders.37
boundaries. The effects of climate change may be
caused on one side of the globe and felt on the other.
Small increases in the Earth’s temperature can have HOW CAN WE UNDERSTAND
a massive impact on the environment by creating EDUCATION IN THIS CONTEXT?
extreme weather patterns, altered ecosystems, and
risks to human health, food supply, and safety. A Knowing that every era of history has required ed-
warmer planet also impacts agricultural and worker ucation to fit its needs and unique context, what is
productivity, predicted to reduce global GDP more the context that brought about our current education
than 20 percent by 2100 if risks go unmitigated.33 systems? Schooling, particularly universal or mass
schooling as the main venue for education, is a rela-
Yet we have seen over the past few decades that na- tively new phenomenon. As Figure 3 shows, 200 years
tional reductions in carbon emissions have not done ago a very small portion of the world’s population
enough to curb climate change. International coor- attended school. Outside Northern Europe and its off-

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 ADVANCING QUALITY LEARNING FOR VIBRANT SOCIETIES

Figure 3 Schooling has spread rapidly in the last 200 years

Number of Students in the World

800

Primary Students
700

600

500 Secondary Students

Millions

400

300

200
University Students
100

0
1815 1835 1855 1875 1895 1915 1935 1955 1975 1995 2007
No data for WW1 and WW2

Source: Evan Schofer and John W. Meyer. “The Worldwide Expansion of Higher education in
the twentieth century” American Sociological Review 70, no. 6 (2005): 898-920.

shoots, no region had more that 10 percent of children tory model”. 42 As manual labor became automated—
enrolled in primary school in the early 1800s.38 But turning manufacturing from a highly skilled vocation
today more than 90 percent of children are in primary into mass production—the skills needed by workers
school across the globe.39 The spread of schooling changed. Turning from specialized vocational train-
is an impressive example of scaling up, spreading in ing to generalized curricula that focused on literacy,
countries democratic and autocratic, with strong and numeracy, arts, and sciences allowed workers to be
weak economies, and varying levels of corruption.40 more productive working with technology in “blue
As we have argued elsewhere, the major forces that collar” occupations as well as “white collar” ones in
drove every country to establish universal and com- services and office work.43
pulsory education through the 20th century were
the advent of the university as holder of knowledge, Education systems did not evolve overnight to re-
fostering nationalism, the human rights movement, spond to the new needs of the workforce. Andreas
and the industrial revolution’s increasing technology Schleicher from the Organisation for Economic Co-op-
in the workplace.41 eration and Development has pointed out that histor-
ically we have seen lags between the technological
The role of industrialization in creating our current progress in the Industrial Revolution and education’s
model of schooling is especially important, and many evolution, “as technological progress accelerated,
continue to call our current schooling system a “fac- education failed to keep pace, leaving vast numbers

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 ADVANCING QUALITY LEARNING FOR VIBRANT SOCIETIES

Figure 4 The Race Between Technology and Skills

Prosperity

Technology
Skills Social
Pain

Prosperity

Social Universal
Pain public
schooling

Source: Andreas Schleicher. “Skills: Global Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities.” Presentation,
Ljubljana, April 7, 2016. Inspired by Goldin and Katz, “The Race Between Education and Technology.”

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 ADVANCING QUALITY LEARNING FOR VIBRANT SOCIETIES

of people struggling to adapt to a rapidly changing content knowledge in academic subjects as well as
world and contributing to widespread suffering. It information literacy, flexibility, and problem solving.
took a century for public policy to respond with an
effort to provide universal access to schooling.”44 In the age of information, a focus on breadth of skills
Figure 4, inspired by economists Claudia Goldin and can complement technology. The new digital economy
Lawrence Katz’s work on the race between education requires individuals to be able to filter, analyze, and
and technology, shows how this progression leaves create meaning from the vast amounts of information
delays where education plays catch-up during periods available online. Skills like complex reasoning and
of social pain, eventually leading to prosperity that creative thinking can empower individuals to take full
comes from having the right combination of technolo- advantage of opportunities in the digital world. Digital
gy and skills. This echoes how technology has impact- literacy also becomes essential and as societies con-
ed industry itself, with lags between the invention of a tinue to digitize, lacking digital skills will be like not
technology and its ability to disrupt current systems knowing how to read and write. The Mozilla Founda-
of production so that it maximizes productivity.45 tion’s map of web literacy outlines what digital liter-
acy entails from navigating and exploring, to building
content or coding, and collaborating with others and
WHAT IS THE RIGHT MIX OF participating in online communities.48
SKILLS NEEDED FOR TODAY
As industries change and new jobs are created, young
AND INTO THE FUTURE?
people will have to continue to learn new skills, many
Our current world presents a specific set of challeng- of which will require interpersonal skills like collab-
es. Technological innovations, changes in the work- oration and communication as well as higher-order
force, and the global nature of many problems we face thinking and dependability.49 Employers echo la-
require a big shift in our approach to how education is bor market analysis in saying that a combination of
delivered. Information is exploding with some sug- technical skills along with skills like communication
gesting the global information base is doubling at a and work ethic is what jobs require but are lacking in
rapid pace­­—soon every 12 hours.46 As author Daniel the talent pool.50 Google, for example, currently looks
Pink and others have argued, the integration and for employees whose top skills are learning ability
navigation of information will be as important as the and leadership—with content expertise falling at the
learning of content.47 Young people will increasingly bottom of their criteria.51 Across the developing world
need to focus on making use of what they know and higher-order thinking, social skills, and self-motiva-
less on just mastering bodies of knowledge. tion are “highly valued by employers and supported
by a strong base of research evidence.”52 To meet the
In the wake of these vast changes scientists, edu- demands of the workforce and mitigate rising levels
cators, and policymakers have suggested a growing of unemployment, skills that bring value to employers
number of skill sets thought to prepare today’s chil- are crucial.
dren for tomorrow’s challenges. The new demands of
our societies require cultivating the breadth of skills. The global nature of our communications and the
Breadth of skills refers to a range of important skills problems we face also requires young people to in-
that include the basics that many education systems teract with diverse communities and be aware of how
currently focus on, such as literacy, numeracy, and their actions impact others. In 2012, the U.N. Sec-

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 ADVANCING QUALITY LEARNING FOR VIBRANT SOCIETIES

retary-General Ban Ki-moon in his global education expert John Dewey wrote that he saw an unproductive
initiative put forward a vision for global citizenship divide between what he called two “sects:” those who
education that would “shape a sustainable future and saw education’s purpose to focus on subject matter,
better world… promote peace, mutual respect, and and those who aimed for personality and character
environmental care.”53 Global citizenship prioritizes education to be the priority. Dewey instead argued for
the cultivation of citizens who actively care about the an approach encompassing both.57 Even the inven-
world, who work together to solve problems, who are tors of standardized testing, which focused on what’s
proactive contributors to more inclusive and peaceful known as the “cognitive” skills of literacy, numera-
societies.54 As former U.S. President Bill Clinton put it, cy, and science, intended for assessments to move
“creative networks of collaboration” 55 are key for mo- toward including broader sets of skills and compe-
bilizing leaders, organizations, and resources across tencies rather than continue to assess such a narrow
various sectors. Without a shared consciousness, the snapshot.58 In their recent book, Kathy Hirsh-Pasek
interconnected challenges of the 21st century will only and Roberta Golinkoff describe how breadth of skills
continue to escalate. interact and build off each other, synthesizing evi-
dence on child development. Content is not learnable
if communication skills are not in place, and critical
Breadth of Skills
thinking operates on content, not in a vacuum. In this
Knowing how to read and write is absolutely essential way, the skills build on and reinforce one another. And
to interacting with the world, and research has shown any skill set proposed as a model of breadth must do
that math and science skills are significant driv- the same.59
ers of productivity. Recent work by economists Eric
Hanushek and Ludgar Woessmann finds that if all To accomplish this we also need to expand our
countries possessed the skill level in these domains conception of where and when learning happens.
of Finland, often a top scorer on international exams, As education evolved from many different models in
global economic growth could be 8.5-13.8 percent past generations into the current model of schooling,
higher. 56 But importantly the breadth of skills nec- many assume that learning, education, and school
essary to be successful today and in the future also are one in the same. But children are learning all the
encompasses a host of other skills and competencies, time, and it is imperative that we broaden education
such as teamwork, collaboration, critical thinking, to include home and community environments rather
perseverance, communication, and so on. than merely formal school environments. This natu-
rally opens up a vision of education that can encom-
A focus on breadth of skills means educating for a pass life-long learning, starting from early childhood
mastery of a wide range of competencies that will through adulthood.
help mitigate the challenges posed by our changing
world context. While many presume that there is a
tension between teaching subject-specific content THINKING DIFFERENTLY TO
and teaching other skills like self-regulation, informa- CULTIVATE BREADTH OF SKILLS
tion literacy or problem solving, they are intrinsically
interconnected. Learning and cultivating breadth of skills requires us
to rethink how we educate young people. For more
Many educationalists have supported broad aims than a century, the dominant form of education has
for education. More than 100 years ago pedagogy been mass schooling, employing a teacher-centered,

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 ADVANCING QUALITY LEARNING FOR VIBRANT SOCIETIES

“knowledge transmission” model.60 This is what will skills is centrally important for learners,65 there is
likely sound familiar to most as a definition of school. also longstanding and widespread political agree-
Teachers are responsible for imparting knowledge ment across ministries of education on this vision.
to students, generally placing them at the front of a For example, one study of Organization for Economic
classroom, with a chalkboard and rows of students Cooperation and Development countries surveyed
facing them. This makes the role of the teacher a 36 countries and found that all of their national
content expert and lecturer, the social and collabora- educational objectives and curriculum frameworks
tive nature of learning is often ignored and learning is included social and emotional skills like working with
supposed to be an individual, “in-the-head” endeav- others and managing emotions among their academic
or.61 ambitions.66 Similarly a recent book by Harvard ed-
ucational researchers Fernando Reimers and Connie
Yet we know from education and learning experts K. Chung finds that in the six countries studied each
that in order to reach a deeper level of understanding included in their mission, curriculum, and standards
takes practice. It requires being able to demonstrate elements of cognitive, interpersonal, and intraper-
that knowledge learned in one setting can be trans- sonal skills as goals for their education systems.67 A
ferred and applied in other contexts.62 Active learning global study comparing curricula throughout the 20th
strategies that place the child at the center and allow century from around the world showed that in addi-
them to guide and practice their own learning through tion to math and language, the overwhelming majority
projects, collaboration, and inquiry are effective ways of countries also include arts, some kind of moral or
for teaching content knowledge as well as developing religious education, health and physical education,
a range of other competencies. Because skills build and technical training as well.68
off one another, effective teaching and learning prac-
tices will teach children how to be good communica- Given the priority that so many national education
tors and critical thinkers through literacy and numer- systems give to breadth of skills, it should come as
acy education, what Nobel laureate James Heckman no surprise that this is reflected at the global level.
argues, “Skill begets skill…learning begets learning.”63 For example, across multiple global agreements from
So while many make distinctions between teaching human rights law to global development goals, there
content versus character, or “hard” skills versus “soft” are many examples of political leaders articulating an
skills, this is a false dichotomy.64 In order to improve education vision that places an emphasis on breadth.
in science, literacy, and numeracy we need to effec- For example, the 1948 Universal Declaration of Hu-
tively foster the full breadth of skills. But doing so will man Rights laid out education as a human right, but
take a big shift in our educational environments, both did not limit the purpose of education to academic
inside classrooms between teachers and students as skills, and rather declared it “shall be directed to the
well as outside the classroom. full development of the human personality.”69 Subse-
quent human rights instruments from the 1966 Inter-
national Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural
POLITICAL ASPIRATIONS FOR Rights and the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the
EDUCATION THAT PROMOTES Child expand on this vision.70 The world’s education
ministers have also articulated on multiple occasions
BREADTH OF SKILLS
an education vision that prioritizes a holistic educa-
In addition to educationalists and child develop- tion. In 1990 the World Declaration on Education for
ment experts who argue that cultivating breadth of All affirmed that the focus of basic education must be

15
 ADVANCING QUALITY LEARNING FOR VIBRANT SOCIETIES

on learning to reach one’s fullest potential and on true and existing global frameworks, the task force articu-
learning acquisition. This vision was reaffirmed in 2000 lated a vision of learning they felt was relevant globally.
with the Dakar Framework for Action.71 They identified several domains of learning around
which young people, no matter where they lived, should
In this light, the global Millennium Development Goals have the opportunity to cultivate skills. These include
(MDGs) appear to be an exception to the articulated literacy, numeracy, and science, but importantly also
aspiration for the breadth of skills. These goals were cover breadth of skills including social and emotional
established in 2000 to unify global efforts toward solv- learning, communication, critical thinking, and creativi-
ing eight world problems from poverty to HIV/AIDs to ty (see Annex 1).76
child mortality.72 Education was also included and the
focus was on expanding access to school and ensuring Today, the MDGs have been replaced by the Sustain-
all girls and boys enroll in and complete primary school, able Development Goals, which were adopted by 193
channeling the world’s attention to one important countries in September 2015. This new set of global
piece of the broader Education for All agenda. Indeed, goals is much broader than the MDGs and covers a
much progress was made toward this goal with over wide range of issues from health to women’s empower-
50 million more children entering primary school from ment to climate change. The education goal is focused
1999 to 2015.73 But while children had more access to on both access to education as well as the quality of
school, many were not learning. Increasingly data on learning and at its core emphasizes lifelong learning.
the poor reading ability of many children who spent The goals specifically mention literacy, numeracy,
years in school began to paint a worrisome picture.74 and breadth of other skills and competencies such
This issue was surfaced globally thanks to efforts as those related to early childhood development and
on the ground from multiple actors, including those those needed for education for sustainable develop-
engaged in citizen assessments and those working to ment, global citizenship, and entrepreneurship.77 The
develop and adapt the Early Grade Reading Assess- Sustainable Development Goals present an important
ment tool that was open source and available to all to political opportunity to make the big shift our current
use. Ultimately, UNESCO’s Global Monitoring Report global context is calling for, namely improving the
estimated that 250 million children around the world relevance of our education systems across breadth of
are not learning the basics of literacy and numeracy, skills.
over half of whom have spent four years in school.75

In 2011, the UNESCO Institute of Statistics and the ALIGNING ASPIRATIONS FOR
Center for Universal Education at the Brookings In- BREADTH OF SKILLS WITH
stitution jointly convened the Learning Metrics Task
EDUCATION DELIVERY
Force with the expressed goal of promoting access plus
learning as the frame for the global education agen- Perhaps the most important question for us all now is
da. The task force sought to reintroduce the focus on how to help young people around the world cultivate
learning into whatever global framework followed the breadth of skills. What types of teaching and learning
MDGs by engaging in robust debates with many actors experiences will build the competencies that young
from policymakers to academics to teachers to stu- people need? How should we seek to accelerate prog-
dents. Ultimately, after examining academic literature, ress to deliver on the world’s aspirations, and global
inputs from diverse consultations across the globe, commitments, to doing just that?

16
 ADVANCING QUALITY LEARNING FOR VIBRANT SOCIETIES

The Center for Universal Education is embarking on

a new project, Skills for a Changing World, to explore
these questions. A central focus will be on how and
where can children’s learning take place to culti-
vate breadth of skills and what new models can help
leapfrog progress and scale this to all young people,
especially the most marginalized.

In formal learning contexts we focus on how the com-

ponents of the education system can work together
across curriculum, assessment, and pedagogy to con-
ceptualize and implement learning attuned to today’s
needs. Formal education systems are just one element
in a bigger ecosystem of learning. Informal learning
environments are routinely present in the life of a child.
These are provided at home by parents and caregivers
and within communities in public spaces and learning
institutions such as museums and libraries. Just as
different areas of formal education systems must co-
ordinate, society at large needs to work together across
many areas of policy and public awareness.

Positive impact on society is possible only with equita-

ble learning opportunities to develop breadth of skills.
Every child needs the full range of skills to proactively
adapt to changing demands in life, learning, and work.
Marginalized groups such as poor girls and youth
affected by violent conflict especially need breadth of
skills to support them in life transitions and to break
cycles of injustice they face.

We are also aware that existing models of education

might not be enough to enable widespread transfor-
mation in an ecosystem that currently is not system-
atically helping all children and youth develop breadth
of skills. As so many other industries have responded
to the advancements made in technology and infor-
mation, we seek to innovate education by exploring
new models that more quickly accelerate the pace of
change and effectively provide the quality learning that
all children will require to lead fulfilling and healthy
lives to contribute to vibrant societies.

17
 ADVANCING QUALITY LEARNING FOR VIBRANT SOCIETIES

ENDNOTES

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33 Burke, Marshall. “The global economic costs from climate change may be worse than expected.” Brookings Institution (blog), December 9, 2015. http://www.brookings.
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35 World Economic Forum. The Future of Jobs: Employment, Skills and Workforce Strategy for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Geneva: World Economic Forum, 2016.

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37 International Monetary Fund. “Conflicts and the Refugee Crisis: An International Call for Action.” IMF Seminars Event Video. Washington, D.C.: International Monetary
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38 Dorius, Shawn F. “The Rise and Fall of Worldwide Education Inequality from 1870 to 2010 Measurement and Trends.” Sociology of Education 86, no. 2: (2013): 158-173.

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40 Pritchett, Lant. The Rebirth of Education: Schooling Ain’t Learning. Washington, D.C.: Center for Global Development, 2013.

41 Winthrop, Rebecca and Eileen McGivney. Why Wait 100 Years? Bridging the Gap in Global Education. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 2015.

42 Khan, Salman. The One World Schoolhouse: Education Reimagined. New York: Twelve, 2012.

43 Goldin, C.D. and L.F. Katz. The Race Between Education and Technology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007.

44 Schleicher, Andreas. “How can we equip the future workforce for technological change?” World Economic Forum Agenda (blog), December 17, 2015, https://www.wefo-
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49 Lippman, Laura et al. Key ’Soft Skills’ that Foster Youth Workforce Success: Toward a Consensus. Washington, D.C.: Child Trends, 2015.

50 ManpowerGroup. 2015 Talent Shortage Survey. Milwaukee, WI: Manpower Group, 2015. http://www.manpowergroup.com/wps/wcm/connect/db23c560-08b6-485f-
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53 UNESCO. “Global Citizenship Education: An Initiative of the Secretary-General.” Accessed May 16, 2016. http://www.unesco.org/new/en/gefi/about/an-initiative-of-
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55 Clinton, Bill. Clinton Foundation 2012 Annual Report., New York: Clinton Foundation, 2013.

56 Hanushek, Eric A., and Ludger Woessmann. The Knowledge Capital of Nations: Education and the Economics of Growth. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2015.

57 Dewey, John. The Child and the Curriculum. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1902.

58 Kamenetz, Anya. The Test: Why Our Schools are Obsessed with Standardized Testing But You Don’t Have to Be. New York: Public Affairs, 2015.

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62 Vosniadou, Stella. How Children Learn, Education Practices Series-7. Washington D.C.: International Bureau of Education, 2001.

63 Heckman, James. The Economics of Investing in Children. Dublin: UCD Geary Institute, 2006. http://www.ucd.ie/geary/static/publications/policybriefings/geary_re-
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64 Grob-Zakhary, Randa. “Challenging the Myth of Content vs. Character Education in the Age of Common Core.” Brookings Institution (blog), January 13, 2015. http://
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65 See, for example: Zull, James Ellwood. The art of changing the brain: Enriching teaching by exploring the biology of learning. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing, LLC., 2002.;
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E. Cameron, Carol McDonald Connor, Carrie L. Farris, Abigail M. Jewkes, and Frederick J. Morrison. “Links between behavioral regulation and preschoolers’ literacy,
vocabulary, and math skills.” Developmental psychology 43, no. 4 (2007): 947.; Vosniadou, Stella. How Children Learn. Education Practices Series-7. Washington D.C.:
International Bureau of Education, 2001.

66 OECD. Skills for Social Progress: The Power of Social and Emotional Skills, OECD Skills Studies. Paris: OECD Publishing, 2015.

67 Reimers, Fernando M. and Connie K. Chung. Teaching and Learning for the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press, 2016.

68 Benavot, Aaron, Yun-Kyung Cha, David Kamens, John W. Meyer, and Suk-Ying Wong. “Knowledge for the masses: World models and national curricula, 1920-
1986.” American Sociological Review (1991): 85-100.

69 UN General Assembly, Resolution 217A, “Universal Declaration of Human Rights,”. 1948 http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/.

70 UN. General Assembly, Resolution 2200A (XXI), “International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,”, December 16, 1966. Human Rights Office of the High
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71 UNESCO. World Declaration on Education For All and Framework for Action to Meet Basic Learning Needs. Paris: UNESCO, 1990. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/imag-
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72 United Nations. Millennium Development Goals Report 2015. New York: United Nations, 2015. http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/.

73 UNESCO. Education for All 2000-2015 Achievements and Challenges. Education for All Global Monitoring Report. Paris: UNESCO, 2015. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/
images/0023/002322/232205e.pdf.

74 Gove, Amber, and Peter Cvelich. Early reading: Igniting Education for All, A report by the Early Grade Learning Community of Practice. Research Triangle Park, NC:
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75 UNESCO. Teaching and Learning: Achieving Quality for All. Education For All Global Monitoring Report. Paris: UNESCO, 2014. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/imag-
es/0022/002256/225660e.pdf.

76 LMTF. Toward Universal Learning: Recommendations from the Learning Metrics Task Force. Montreal and Washington: UNESCO Institute of Statistics and Center for
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77 The Global Goals for Sustainable Development. “Goal 4: Quality Education.” Accessed April 13, 2016. http://www.globalgoals.org/global-goals/quality-education/.

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 ADVANCING QUALITY LEARNING FOR VIBRANT SOCIETIES

Annex 1: Learning Metrics Task Force Global Framework of Learning Domains

Note: This framework is intended for the purpose of the Learning Metrics Task Force to identify areas in which to
measure learning outcomes. It is not intended to be used as a framework for policymaking, curriculum, or instruction.

Physical Well-Being Social and Emotional Culture and the Arts

Development

Postprimary • HEALTH AND HYGIENE • SOCIAL AWARENESS • CREATIVE ARTS

• SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE • LEADERSHIP • CULTURAL STUDIES

Level HEALTH • CIVIC ENGAGEMENT

• ILLNESS AND DISEASE • POSITIVE VIEW OF SELF AND

PREVENTION OTHERS

• RESILIENCE/”GRIT”

• MORAL AND ETHICAL VALUES

• SOCIAL SCIENCES

Primary
• PHYSICAL HEALTH AND • SOCIAL AND COMMUNITY • CREATIVE ARTS

HYGIENE VALUES • CULTURAL KNOWLEDGE

Level • FOOD AND NUTRITION • CIVIC VALUES

• PHYSICAL ACTIVITY • MENTAL HEALTH AND WELL-

• SEXUAL HEALTH BEING

Early • PHYSICAL HEALTH AND

NUTRITION
• SELF-REGULATION

• EMOTIONAL AWARENESS
• CREATIVE ARTS

• SELF- AND COMMUNITY-

Childhood • HEALTH KNOWLEDGE AND • SELF-CONCEPT AND SELF- IDENTITY

Level PRACTICE

• SAFETY KNOWLEDGE AND

EFFICACY

• EMPATHY
• AWARENESS OF AND RESPECT

FOR DIVERSITY

PRACTICE • SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS AND

• GROSS, FINE, AND BEHAVIORS

PERCEPTUAL MOTOR • CONFLICT RESOLUTION

• MORAL VALUES

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 ADVANCING QUALITY LEARNING FOR VIBRANT SOCIETIES

Literacy and Learning Approaches Numeracy and Science and

Communication and Cognition Mathematics Technology

• SPEAKING AND LISTENING • COLLABORATION • EVERYDAY CALCULATIONS • SCIENTIFIC APPROACHES

• WRITING • SELF-DIRECTION • PERSONAL FINANCE • ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS

• READING • LEARNING ORIENTATION • INFORMED CONSUMER • DIGITAL LEARNING

• PERSISTENCE • DATA AND STATISTICS

• PROBLEM SOLVING

• CRITICAL DECISION-MAKING

• FLEXIBILITY

• CREATIVITY

• ORAL FLUENCY • PERSISTENCE AND ATTENTION • NUMBER CONCEPTS AND • SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY

• ORAL COMPREHENSION • COOPERATION OPERATIONS • LIFE SCIENCE

• READING FLUENCY • AUTONOMY • GEOMETRY AND PATTERNS • PHYSICAL SCIENCE

• READING COMPREHENSION • KNOWLEDGE • MATHEMATICS APPLICATION • EARTH SCIENCE

• RECEPTIVE VOCABULARY • COMPREHENSION • AWARENESS AND USE OF

• EXPRESSIVE VOCABULARY • APPLICATION DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY

• WRITTEN EXPRESSION/ • CRITICAL THINKING

COMPOSITION

• RECEPTIVE LANGUAGE • CURIOSITY AND ENGAGEMENT • NUMBER SENSE AND • INQUIRY SKILLS

• EXPRESSIVE LANGUAGE • PERSISTENCE AND ATTENTION OPERATIONS • AWARENESS OF THE NATURAL

• VOCABULARY • AUTONOMY AND INITIATIVE • SPATIAL SENSE AND AND PHYSICAL WORLD

• PRINT AWARENESS • COOPERATION GEOMETRY • TECHNOLOGY AWARENESS

• CREATIVITY • PATTERNS AND

• REASONING AND PROBLEM CLASSIFICATION

SOLVING • MEASUREMENT AND

• EARLY CRITICAL THINKING COMPARISON

SKILLS

• SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATION

22