Teaching 21st-century skills in rural secondary schools: From theory to practice

The concept of “21st-century skills” has become increasingly pervasive in the global educational discourse, and there has been a marked increase in research on how these skills can be integrated into education policy, curriculum, and assessment. Nevertheless, there has been a dearth of research on integrating and implementing 21st-century skills into classroom practices, particularly in peripheral societies. Adopting a mixed-method approach, this study investigates the integration and implementation of 21st-century skills in rural schools in Bangladesh, where many teachers are untrained and under-resourced. Data were obtained from primary and secondary sources through document analysis (n = 3), lesson observations (n = 15), and in-depth interviews with practising teachers (n = 18). Samples were selected purposefully to achieve the study objectives. Likewise, a convenient sampling technique was also followed by the researchers in terms of getting access to the participants. The qualitative content analysis, descriptive statistics, and thematic analysis of data demonstrate that while 21st-century skills are explicitly highlighted in policy documents, including the curriculum, many teachers are uninformed about these skills. Specifically, teachers have a limited pedagogical understanding of how to incorporate these skills into classroom instruction. As a result, both trained and untrained teachers rarely implement 21st-century skills in their classrooms, which results in their deviation from the instructional practices recommended by the curriculum.