A Critical Examination on 21st-Century Skills and Deeper Learning: From a Political Economic Perspective

• In Event: 14.045 - Roundtable Session 2
  In Roundtable Session: 14.045-6 - Markets and Accountability: Critical Examinations of Business Principles in Success Measures in Educational Policy and Practice

Abstract

This paper examines “deeper learning”-- and its intended outcome “21st century skills”--as the new educational model for supplying a future workforce that will bring prosperity in the age of globalization. By using theories from political economy, namely varieties of capitalism and new political economy, this paper argues how recent endeavor on 21st century skills assumes “the more you learn the more you earn” logic derived from human capital theory that does not accurately represent the process of high skills formation. Moreover, the paper asserts that the current focus on strengthening only the supply side, i.e. how to better implement and teach DL, may hamper this potentially powerful educational model from realizing its economic as well as social justice promises.

Author

• Hui Xie, University of California - Los Angeles