ISSN 2963-7511

Journal of Engineering Researcher and Lecturer, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 1-6, 2022

21st-century competences and learning that technical and

vocational training
Sai Kham Le1, Su Nandar Hlaing2 and Kyaw Zay Ya3*

1 Mechanical Engineering Department, King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang,

THAILAND
2 Mechanical Engineering Department, Yangon Technological University, MYANMAR
3 Institute of International Management and Business Administration, National Cheng Kung
University, TAIWAN

Abstract: The 21st century is characterized by rapid developments in information technology and
automation. Many routine and repetitive jobs are being replaced by machines, including those in
production and computers. The technical and vocational education curriculum of this century is full of
challenges. Technical and vocational education must create learning that enables students to have the
competencies required by the 21st-century workforce. Technological developments are causing
changes in economic, social, cultural, and educational aspects. This article aims to examine the
competencies necessary for success in the 21st century and the effectiveness of learning strategies for
this century. The research used a literature review method. In today's complex work environment,
technical and vocational education graduates must possess learning skills, literacy skills, and life skills.
Competencies taught to students should focus on a particular area since each worker will perform only
one type of work in the workplace. The project-based learning model is recommended for technical and
vocational education. Several research studies have shown that this model develops the skills required
in the 21st century.

Keywords: Technical and vocational education, 21st century, competences, 4C skills

*Corresponding Author: [email protected]

Received 26th August 2022; Revised: 14th September 2022; Accepted: 05th October 2022
https://doi.org/10.58712/jerel.v1i1.4
Copyright © Sai Kham Le, Su Nandar Hlaing and Kyaw Zay Ya. Published by Researcher and Lecturer
Society. This is an open access article under the: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Le, S. K., Hlaing, S. N., & Ya, K. Z. (2022). 21st-
century competences and learning that Technical and vocational training. Journal of Engineering
Researcher and Lecturer, 1(1), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.58712/jerel.v1i1.4

1. Introduction

In the 21st century, economic competition has resulted in a shift towards capital-intensive and
labor-intensive production based on technology and science. To prepare for this era of
globalization, technical and vocational education must urgently be improved through various
methods and efforts. VET systems and practices need to rapidly accelerate and change
educational patterns that adhere to the following principles: (4) Accreditation of acquired skills,
(5) Integrated management of education and training. The characteristic of technical and
vocational education is to prepare students to become effective workers, meet the needs of
the workforce in the business and industrial world, and enable them to create jobs for
themselves and others.
The world of work is now globalized, and individuals can work in any country, resulting in an
increase in job opportunities. However, this also means that the job market is becoming more
competitive, and countries are racing to develop effective education systems to meet the
challenges of the 21st-century job market. Globalization is also occurring in the world of
education, and anyone can study in any country. This demonstrates that a better life is not
solely the responsibility of one country, but of humanity as a whole. Technical and vocational
education should continue to focus on entry-level prospects, but jobs should be developed
into specialists in specific fields of work. Therefore, the prepared strategy should differ from

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the current one.

The organizers of technical and vocational education must take into account the changing era
when formulating policies for learning that will be implemented. The phenomenon of the 21st-
century workforce should be the basis for curriculum development and the implementation of
learning in vocational education. This article aims to examine the competencies required in
the 21st century and how effective 21st-century learning can be. It is expected that this article
will serve as a reference for policy makers, curriculum developers, technical and vocational
education providers, and education professionals worldwide.

2. Methods

The literature review conducted in this study utilized the narrative review method (Machi,
2016), where references were gathered from articles that discuss the competencies required
in the 21st century and how effective 21st century learning can be. The study explores the
how, why, and what related to the topic under discussion.

3. Results and Discussion

3.1 The 21st century skills to technical and vocational student

There have been many articles describing the skills needed in the 21st century (Bybee &
Fuchs, 2006). Every teacher must prepare students to have this competence (Haryani et al.,
2021). Students need to understand how to learn and use what they have learned efficiently
and innovatively in their lives (Kivunja, 2014; Yu et al., 2019). Every technical and vocational
education graduate in all types of expertise must have one competency that is his expertise
and must also have the competencies needed in this 21st century (figure 1). There are three
categories of competence in the 21st century, including learning skills, literacy skills and life
skills (P21 Framework for 21st century learning, 2007). This must be the basis for every policy
maker and educator in conducting technical and vocational education.

Figure 1: 21st century competence

3.1.1 Core Competence

In accordance with the characteristics of technical and vocational education, that this
education prepares students to have competence in certain areas of expertise. There are
many technical and vocational education providers who develop a curriculum with many
subjects that must be studied. This makes student learning unfocused so that many students
do not have special skills. The technical and vocational education curriculum must be
designed in such a way that students have special skills and are experts in these skills. In the
world of work, every worker does not do all types of work but focuses on the field of work given
by the employer. In one field of work there will be many problems and obstacles that will be

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faced by every worker, because it is not possible in the learning period, they are given many
competencies to be learned. Ideally, students as prospective workers are given lessons that
focus on certain fields with many possible cases that will occur when working in the world of
work later.

3.1.2 Learning skills

These learning skills are very popularly known as 4C skills. These skills are needed to be able
to adapt to an increasingly complex work environment in the 21st century. These 4C skills
consist of creative thinking, critical thinking and problem solving, communication, and
collaboration (P21 Framework for 21st century learning, 2007). Learning carried out in
technical and vocational education must provide opportunities for students to have these skills.

Creativity is needed to find new innovations. Technology that is increasingly developing

requires people who have creativity to find new technologies that can facilitate human work.
Creativity is one of the vital skills withinside the technological era (Henriksen et al., 2016).
Creativity is not only about the products that are manufactured, but also about the work
processes that are carried out. Considering that innovation relies upon at the incidence of
creativity, carried out to a selected domain, there may be the want to recognize those
phenomena, and to decide if they may be independent, associated or complementary (Nakano
& Wechsler, 2018).

Critical thinking skills can help to solve a problem and find a solution. Critical-thinking skills is
a higher order of thinking of Bloom's taxonomy (Anderson et al., 2000). Critical thinking
consists of six dimensions. They are interpretation, analysis, evaluation, reasoning,
explanation, and self-regulation. When repairing electric vehicles, this stage is used to analyze
the damage that has occurred and why (Lai et al., 2011). Students who can think logically and
thoroughly, analyze the information they receive, find solutions to problems, and understand
how their world and things have changed are critical thinkers (Lu & Singh, 2017).

This era of globalization demands that everyone must have good communication skills,
ranging from the ability to master international languages and how to communicate effectively
both orally and in writing. Communication skills are the basic skills that everyone needs to get
their job done (Biryanto et al., 2018). Communication skills are common skills that need to be
developed to successfully enter the VET labor market (Wahyuni et al., 2018). Communication
is technically defined as the process of encapsulating information in packets and sending them
over a medium from the sender to the receiver (Yuniarti, 2016). There are several
communication skills that technical and vocational students must master. (2) questioning skills;
(3) open communication skills; (4) Maintain decency/courtesy. (5) skills of apology when
feeling guilty; (6) responsiveness and sense of responsibility; (7) Care and Consideration. (8)
Empathy. (9) Listening comprehension (Wahyuni et al., 2018). The globalization of this
workforce requires that every workforce must be able to work together with other workers who
have different backgrounds, cultures, countries, religions and behaviors. Many of the roles are
a sequence of interrelated tasks that should be finished collaboratively (Setiawan et al., 2021).
Collaboration commonly refers to an “inter-organizational effort, to deal with issues which
might be too complicated and too protracted to be resolved with the aid of using unilateral
organizational action”, thru which businesses attempt to address turbulence and complexity
of their environment (Naziz, 2019).

3.1.3 Literacy Skills

Literacy skills consciousness on how you could distinguish facts, decide the supply of
information and be capable of push back fake information. These skills are indispensable in
the rapidly growing information age. There is a lot of information flooding the internet, therefore
it takes skill to sort and check whether the information is true or not. The three literacy skills of

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the 21st century are:

1. Information literacy: know-how facts, figures, statistics, and data

2. Media Literacy: Understanding how information is published and the channels
3. Technological literacy: information the machines that create information

3.1.4 Life skills

Life Skills focuses on survival skills and achieving quality in your personal and professional
life. Skills included in life skills include:
1. Flexibility: the ability to adapt easily and the skills to adapt when plans don't go
according to plan.
2. Leadership: the ability to lead is important in motivating the team to achieve goals.
3. Initiative: Starting own projects, strategies and plans
4. Productivity: the ability to maintain efficiency in a busy work environment
5. Social skills: the ability to socialize and network with others for mutual benefit

3.2 21st century learning for technical and vocational education

In order for students to have the competencies needed in the 21st century, an appropriate
learning model is needed that is applied by the educator. Learning in technical and vocational
education is more practical, learning by doing (Jalinus et al., 2019). In Indonesia, learning in
vocational high schools and higher education is directed to using a project-based learning
model (PjBL) in each subject. This is because this model provides opportunities for students
to learn from doing. During learning students will create a project from the real world.

Various research results reveal that students' 4C skills will increase through learning activities
with the implementation of PjBL. PjBL implemented improves creative skills (Fadhil et al.,
2021; Nasution et al., 2021; Yamin et al., 2020), critical thinking skills (Desiana et al., 2022;
Eldiva & Azizah, 2019; Wibowo et al., 2018), communication skills (Magleby & Furse, 2007;
Nova et al., 2019; Putri & Hidayat, 2019; Sagala et al., 2019) and collaboration skills (Hairida
et al., 2021; Kurniawati et al., 2019; Rasyid & Khoirunnisa, 2021; Yabansu et al., 2019). One
of the PjBL models developed for technical and vocational education is the PjBL model with
seven learning stages (Jalinus et al., 2017).

4. Conclusions

Graduates of technical and vocational education must possess competencies that are not only
related to skill competencies but also must have the skills required in the 21st century. These
skills include learning skills, literacy skills, and life skills. The project-based learning model has
been proven to improve the skills required in the 21st century.

Acknowledgements

We would like to express our gratitude to our friends who are members of the Researcher and
Lecturer Society. To the team who assisted in finding references and discussing in writing this
article.

Declarations

Author contribution

Sai Kham Le handled the writing of the original draft and provided review and editing, while
Su Nandar Hlaing contributed to the conceptualization, visualization, investigation, and

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supervision. Kyaw Zay Ya was responsible for formal analysis, investigation, supervision, and
English editing.

Funding statement

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public,
commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Conflict of interests

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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