TEACHING COMPETENCIES FOR THE 21ST CENTURY RRL

TEACHING COMPETENCIES FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
In one way or another, the competencies that teachers must achieve will
be related to the tasks they must perform, which make it necessary to identify
and comprehend them.
Buling 2022, groups these tasks into three large categories, which are
interdependent. The teacher concerning the community, the teacher about the
school as an institution, and the teacher with the student and the class group.
The first classification requires the teacher to have a deep knowledge of the
community where he or she works to incorporate the community’s cultural
values and traditions into his practice. This knowledge of the environment is
directly linked to decision-making to design curricular projects, since all these
elements of the environment must be present in the curriculum, dispensing
with unique manuals that say what to teach in any circumstance.
The second category refers to the knowledge that the teacher must
possess about the educational system so that he or she can integrate and
adapt it to achieve full development. The following are a series of
characteristics or possible competencies one can extract from Buling (2022)
postulates: cultural preparation, critical analysis, reflective ability, technical
knowledge, adaptability, teamwork and cooperation, organizational capacity
and administrative competence. These characteristics are all highly desirable in
any teacher, and they provide the first sights about the new teaching-
associated competencies.
The third area, teacher-student relationship and class group, is,

according to Buling (2022), the most important one. The better the teacher
knows his or her students, the better he or she can adapt the pedagogical
interventions to the degree of maturity, needs and interests of the students.
The author suggests that the teacher should tend to find the best way to
evaluate the students’ learning process and also to evaluate himself.
Continuing with the new demands and what is asked of the teachers
today, the OECD and UNESCO (2001) point out that expectations are higher
every day. In the opinion of these institutions, there is a growing demand for
higher academic qualifications and they show the need for continuous
updating, both in the didactic expertise and in the knowledge of the teachers.
For the OECD and UNESCO, this is essential because to provide tomorrow’s
world with the knowledge and skills on which economic and social progress so
critically depend, educational institutions and teachers need to respond by
developing and delivering appropriate educational content. They add that it is
necessary to complement the teachers’ disciplinary command with pedagogical
competence to facilitate the development of high-level competencies in their
students. Within these competencies, motivation to learn, creativity, and
cooperation seem to be crucial.

For the OECD and UNESCO (2001), technology applied to vocational

education has become a new feature of TVET. This fact forces the teacher to
understand the pedagogical potential f this tool and to be able to integrate it
efficiently into the teaching-learning process. Besides, these international
organizations consider teaching should become a group or cooperative process
within the scope of schools as learning organizations. Under this conception,
teachers must enrich their knowledge and pedagogical management with the
experiences of others, base their decisions on the characteristics of the
environment where they work, and take a more leading role in the management
of the school system.
Another interesting contribution to the subject of competencies for the

knowledge society is made by Rychen (2002). The author explains that key
competencies have an individual basis and are important both at a personal
and societal level, and they are applied transversely in the different areas of
knowledge In Rychen’s opinion, new competencies must help to face the
growing challenges and problems of today’s society. The author identifies the
following: rapid social and technological changes, economic and cultural
globalization (standardization and a trend toward uniformity), growing
individual and social diversity, competition, liberalization, large-scale value
changes, instability of norms, and substantial global inequality of
opportunities, conflicts of poverty in all its forms, HIV / AIDS, and ecological
destabilization.
These problems manifest themselves in different contexts and at different

levels so essential skills become insufficient. Thus, the development of higher-
order mental skills becomes essential, constituting a crucial element in the
process of identifying key competencies. Based on some of his studies and the
existing literature on the subject under discussion, Rychen (2002) proposes
three categories of essential competencies: acting autonomously, interactive
use of tools, and functioning in socially heterogeneous groups. The first
category is related to relative autonomy and identity, the second to the
interaction of the individual with the world using physical and sociocultural
tools, and the third to the ability to interact with people. Each category is
related to a series of relevant competencies such as the capacity to defend
oneself and make rights count, the capacity to develop and conduct life
projects and personal plans, the skills to perform within a broad context, the
skills to use language, symbols, and texts interactively, skills to use knowledge
and information interactively, capacity to use new technology interactively,
skills to relate well with others, to cooperate, and capacity to solve conflicts.
These competencies are interrelated and, therefore, are more influential as a
group than individually.

More information about the skills required for the knowledge society is
provided by the OECD (2001). This international organization seeks to answer
the question of the competencies required to participate successfully in today’s
society. Before delivering the results of several studies, the OECD warns us
that there is no agreement on the definition and measurement of these skills
and competencies, nor their specific impact on the knowledge economy.
Consequently, this paper focuses mainly on the competencies that are most
frequently cited in the studies of the OECD.
From the market perspective, these competencies would be the ability to

use information, the ability to use communication technology, the ability to
solve problems, the capacity for teamwork, the ability to supervise and lead,
and the ability to undertake continuous learning
Regarding personal skills or competencies, these are communicational

and intra-personal skills, the ability to learn, problem-solving, teamwork, self-
regulation, initiative and motivation
The need for individuals capable of developing these competencies leads

to the notion of knowledge workers. According to the OECD (2001), they will be
the ones who will access the best jobs in today’s society. These knowledge
workers will distinguish themselves by being highly enlightened and educated,
combining formal knowledge with training and work experience, combining
technological skills with business, managerial and administrative skills. They
will be able to operate in changing environments, to handle non-routine and
abstract work processes, to make decisions or assume responsibilities, to work
and interact as a team, and they will achieve a broad and systemic
understanding.
The Seven Core 21st Century Teacher Competencies
According to Sam Kary, Founder and CEO of New EdTech Classroom, there
are seven core 21st-century teacher competencies namely magnifying meaning,
elevate experience, amplify agency, curate curriculum, bust barriers, teach
technology and revamp role
The first competency, magnify meaning, refers to an educator’s ability to

help students understand why what they are learning is important. Effectively
communicating “the why”, while also guiding students to find their own sense of
purpose, is a foundational skill upon which the other competencies are built.
The next competency, elevate experience, pertains to creating active

learning experiences where mistakes are embraced as a crucial part of the learning
process..
Project-based learning is one of the most effective ways to Elevate Experience,
particularly when students are tasked with creating artifacts that engage with
meaningful learning.
Amplify Agency pertains to fostering student voice and choice with the
goal of increasing students’ sense of autonomy and ownership over their
learning. Cultivating internal motivation is central to two UDL guidelines:
“Provide options for self-regulation” and “Provide options for executive functions.”
Choice-based learning is also at the heart of Universal Design for Learning
because the simple act of making a choice is inherently an act that asserts
agency.
Designing lessons that fulfill the UDL guideline to offer multiple means of

representation while providing access to relevant, up-to-date information
requires educators to learn how to Curate Curriculum.
To truly leverage the power of technology, today’s teacher must learn how
to Bust Barriers by proactively eliminate the obstacles that often stand in the
way of learning. Designing lessons with the stated intention of reducing
barriers to learning is also the single most definitive characteristic of Universal
Design for Learning. A straightforward, yet highly impactful way to Bust
Barriers is by teaching all of your students how to use the different
accessibility tools that are available to them. Chromebooks, for example, have
a wide array of built-in accessibility features, as do Microsoft apps. Even
commonly used programs like Google Docs have numerous built-in
accessibility features ranging from voice typing to pre-created templates.
Another way to Bust Barriers is through the use of embedded tools that enable
support comprehension such as word translations and definitions. An app
like Actively Learn incorporates these features while also allowing teachers to
chunk text into smaller sections by adding check-for-understanding questions.
The competency Teach Technology refers to learning how to choose and

use technology tools for your classroom while also creating opportunities for
students to do the same. We intentionally dropped “with” from “Teach with
Technology” to emphasize the importance of teaching students how to use
technology in addition to using it as an instructional tool. On a practical level,
teaching students how to use technology is one way to anticipate potential
barriers to learning. Every teacher who experiments with technology has
undoubtably experienced the deflating feeling of witnessing a lesson go off the
rails due to unforeseen problems cropping up. Plus, teaching students
foundational technology skills has clear real-world value that transcends far
beyond an individual classroom.
The final competency, Revamp Your Role, is about understanding the
ways in which the Internet has fundamentally altered our relationship to
information and adapting accordingly. Knowledge is no longer something
locked away behind the gates of educational institutions. Anything a person
wants to learn can be found online: often delivered in a more interesting and
engaging format than a single teacher ever could.

TEACHING COMPETENCIES FOR THE 21ST CENTURY RRL

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TEACHING COMPETENCIES FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

The third area, teacher-student relationship and class group, is,

For the OECD and UNESCO (2001), technology applied to vocational

Another interesting contribution to the subject of competencies for the

These problems manifest themselves in different contexts and at different

From the market perspective, these competencies would be the ability to

Regarding personal skills or competencies, these are communicational

The need for individuals capable of developing these competencies leads

The Seven Core 21st Century Teacher Competencies

The first competency, magnify meaning, refers to an educator’s ability to

The next competency, elevate experience, pertains to creating active

Designing lessons that fulfill the UDL guideline to offer multiple means of

The competency Teach Technology refers to learning how to choose and

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