Margarita Pavlova

John Chi-Kin Lee

Kerry J Kennedy

To help researchers, educators and policy makers understand and support the development of 21st-century skills in schools, this edited volume explores the various iterations of "soft" skills with a particular focus on their implications for values and evaluates ways in which "soft skills" and "hard" values can be integrated. Discourse throughout the 21st century has focused on the changing nature of work, the need for new skill sets and the disruptive effects of new technologies. This has been a neo-liberal discourse that subordinated personal and individual needs to the needs of a productive workforce delivering more and more efficiencies linked to higher and higher profits. The solution is often seen to be in the development of a school curriculum that focuses on work-ready skills for an increasingly complex work environment and its demands. Agencies such as OECD and UNESCO highlight the need to link the skills agenda with complementary values. Yet this process is at a very early stage. The proponents of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) for example highlight the impact of new technologies, not just on work but also on the social world. Yet they neglect to explore the values that would be needed in these new disruptive environments. This book takes up that issue and lays out the multiple value systems that are available for this new 21st century world. It is an important resource for policy makers, academics and teachers with responsibility for a new generation.

Meeting Education's 21st Century Challenges

Soft Skills and Hard Values

Madhu Singh

This open access book looks into the roles and practices of small and micro-enterprises in formal and informal economies across seven countries and one territory in terms of how they contribute to environmental and sustainable development and green skills promotion. By taking into account the perspectives in these four sectors, catering, automotive, waste management and polyvinyl chloride production, this book maps environmental green practices in the region, identifying mechanisms used to assess existing skills (i.e. knowledge, skills and competencies), and evaluating the potential for green skills inclusion in recognition, validation and accreditation.

A Comparative Study in Asia

Recognizing Green Skills Through Non-formal Learning

Rupert Maclean

This book addresses growing reservations about the relevance of educational systems to the economic and social needs of individuals by examining different aspects of transitions from school to work or further studies within formal and informal settings in Asia. Highlighting important issues such as selectiveness and inclusiveness, integration of transversal competencies, vocationalisation of secondary schooling, approaches to career guidance and emerging models of student support, it is of particular interest to educators, policymakers and other stakeholders who are concerned about the effectiveness of system-wide and institutional-based approaches. The first part of the book explores different models, mechanisms and approaches to policy and practice in the context of Asia, while the second part examines Hong Kong students’ transitions to post-school life and provides an account of issues and challenges the government and individual schools experience in terms of structural support for both mainstream and special-needs students.

Margarita Pavlova

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