There is broad consensus that in the highly connected, diverse knowledge society of the twenty-first century, competencies are needed that differ from those that have previously been taught in schools. Numerous sets of skills have been promoted in attempts to define what kind of competencies these should be. While the aims of these skill sets vary to some degree, they have many similarities and all of them are built upon acknowledgement of the importance of foundational knowledge, here meaning basic literacy and numeracy, and on the necessity of glocal contextualization.

The curriculum, a vehicle for steering learning towards desired competencies, has also undergone changes in recent years. Global citizenship education has finally been acknowledged as necessary. Sustainability science is helping to bring learning into direct relationship with the goals of Agenda 2030, and emphasis on values education is growing. In order to integrate these elements into the curriculum, holist approaches such as systems thinking and interdisciplinary techniques are being employed.

But the most essential component of quality education is the teacher who can guide and motivate the learner and collaborate with other teachers. Efforts are being made around the globe to increase the numbers of trained teachers and improve their ability to motivate learners.

Updated competencies

Often referred to as “life skills”, “soft skills”, “transversal skills”, “critical skills”, “entrepreneurial skills” and/ or “digital skills”, twenty-first-century skills have varied according to the main concerns of those who advocate them (Joynes et al. 2019). Some focus on personal, professional and practical competencies that will facilitate functioning in the modern economy. Others emphasize skills for personal and global progress in order to promote sustainable development. All of them are dependent upon basic literacy and numeracy proficiency, something that in many countries has been found lacking even in students who attend school. Such so-called learning poverty is now being targeted in order to improve the base upon which more advanced learning can take place.