(Illustration: Vecteezy) 
We live in an increasingly interconnected world. Bookshops in Nairobi stock the same novels you’ll find in London, and the fashion that teens wear in Seoul influences young people around the world. It is more important than ever for pupils to develop skills that will prepare them for this rapidly changing world, and the 21st century demands a new approach to teaching and learning.
Global education expert Andreas Schleicher puts it this way: “In a world where the kind of things that are easy to teach and test have also become easy to digitise and automate, it will be our imagination, our awareness and our sense of responsibility that will enable us to harness the opportunities of the 21st century to shape the world for the better.
“Tomorrow’s schools will need to help students think for themselves and join others, with empathy, in work and citizenship. They will need to help students develop a strong sense of right and wrong, and sensitivity to claims others make.” This means teachers have to be knowledgeable about 21st-century learning.
The core of this idea goes beyond simply delivering facts and content knowledge. Pupils should learn how to apply knowledge in real-world situations and use their learning to make a difference in their communities. This involves moving away from lecture-based teaching and focusing more on pupil engagement.
It is widely agreed that 21st-century teaching emphasises developing essential skills such as critical thinking, communication, collaboration, creativity, active learning, problem-solving, educational technology and global awareness. Teachers must equip pupils with these skills, increase their engagement and promote a deeper understanding of the content.
The gist of the argument is that there is an explosion of knowledge, which is too much for children to absorb. Experts like Schleicher argue that it is more important for pupils to adapt to a changing world and develop key skills to succeed in life.
How can schools do this?
Embracing 21st-century teaching skills is easier to proclaim than it is to make happen. Teachers are trapped in a static curriculum with little room for flexibility. They must cover large amounts of material spelt out in curriculum documents and don’t see the possibility of veering off the tracks.
Changes demand that teachers reorient themselves and even develop new skills. They must realise they are more than just knowledge providers — they have to be facilitators, innovators and mentors in a rapidly evolving world. They have to blend digital fluency with critical thinking and be able to integrate technology into lessons while teaching pupils to analyse, collaborate and solve real-world problems.
Classrooms must be inclusive and pupil-centred and foster creativity, emotional intelligence and global awareness. Teachers must assess progress through data insights while nurturing communication, leadership and resilience. They are required to be more adaptable as they learn new tools and methods to engage diverse groups.
The demand is that move beyond just preparing pupils for exams, but for life.
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Sustainability
Let’s look at a lesson that encourages pupils to explore recycling by finding household items made from recycled materials, such as cereal boxes or water bottles, and checking labels for terms such as “Made from recycled materials” or “Eco-friendly”.
Pupils examine the product to identify which parts were recycled (cardboard from old paper or plastic from reused bottles) and consider its environmental benefits, including saving trees and reducing landfill waste.
Finally, they bring items (or photos of them) to school to share what they’ve learned: what the product is, how it was recycled and why this process helps the planet. The activity aims to teach sustainability and connect classroom learning to real-world habits, with guidance from parents.
This lesson on identifying recycled products at home may seem simple, but in many poor communities, it faces significant hurdles. Unlike in wealthier suburbs, where eco-friendly packaging is common, families often struggle to find, or afford, products labelled “recycled”. Many households rely on informal waste pickers or reuse items creatively rather than depending on formal recycling systems.
Poverty plays a major role. Parents may prioritise cheap, single-use goods over sustainable options, and pupils might not have access to smartphones to take photos of items for class. Even if they find a recycled product, labels may be in a foreign language, making them hard to understand.
Read more: From classrooms to climate action: SA’s new eco champions lead the way
Some communities have no proper waste collection, and rubbish ends up in open dumps or is burned. People often repurpose items, turning old bottles into storage, rather than buying new “recycled” products.
This means the lesson needs reframing to focus on local contexts, such as upcycling or community-led waste collection, rather than textbook definitions of recycling.
To make the lesson work, teachers could adapt by using examples from pupils’ lives, like handmade toys from scrap materials or reused containers, and discuss how these products save resources.
Technology
Digital literacy and online research skills are probably the most challenging 21st-century competencies to implement effectively in many poorer schools. Pupils in technologically advanced schools routinely navigate digital information, but pupils in resource-constrained environments face multiple barriers.
Limited internet infrastructure, particularly in rural areas, combined with inadequate access to computers or smartphones, creates a fundamental obstacle to developing these essential skills. Power outages further disrupt digital learning initiatives.
Even when technology is available, many teachers lack proper training in teaching digital literacy competencies like source evaluation, online verification and responsible information use.
In some countries, there are attempts to work around through offline digital resources or community technology centres, but these partial solutions don’t fully bridge the digital divide that persists across much of the developing world.
How do we make it work?
Several practical solutions can be used to overcome the challenges of limited technology (lack of computers, internet, or smart devices), inadequate infrastructure (overcrowded classrooms, poor lighting, insufficient furniture), teacher training gaps and restricted budgets for books and materials.
From a macro point of view, we need to opt for low-tech or no-tech strategies. Project-based learning is a useful starting point because it uses real-world problems (eg, local environmental issues) to encourage problem-solving.
Hands-on activities using recycled materials for science experiments, art projects, or engineering challenges are another example. Collaboration through discussion circles, debates, and role-playing is another solution.
Teachers must try to move towards more pupil-centred activities and shift towards inquiry-based learning instead of rote memorisation, and encourage pupils to ask questions and do research.
It is important to change the way assessments are done, and portfolios that show pupils their best work (written, drawn or oral presentations) should be used. Peer assessment and self-assessment can also develop critical thinking and foster forms of reflection. Where written exams are difficult to test certain skills, teachers can use oral exams and demonstrations.
Professional development in resource-poor settings can be enhanced through peer learning networks, where teachers collaborate and share best practices. Free online courses from platforms like TeacherX provide accessible training on modern teaching methods.
Micro-teaching and peer observation allow teachers to refine their skills by observing and learning from one another in real classroom settings. These cost-effective strategies can help bridge training gaps despite limited resources.
The way forward
The core of critical, creative, collaborative learning can be nurtured even without high-tech tools. The secret is adapting strategies to the local context and maximising available resources.
But unless there is a structural change in the way we train teachers and allow for more flexibility, 21st-century learning will elude most schools. DM
Dr Mark Potterton is the primary school principal of Sacred Heart College and the director of the Three2Six Refugee Children’s Education Project; Julie Dawjee is a senior school change specialist at the Catholic Institute of Education.