Durham MPP Supports 21st Century Skills For Ontario Students

Durham MPP Supports 21st Century Skills

For Ontario Students

December 9, 2011

NEWS

QUEEN’S PARK – This week, Durham MPP John O’Toole, re-introduced his private member’s bill entitled the Twenty-First Century Skills Award Act. The act proposes a new provincial award that recognizes students for outstanding work habits and learning skills.

These are the skills that students need to succeed in the 21st century workplace. Students who master these skills demonstrate exceptional initiative, leadership, and problem solving. Educators and businesses alike agree that these traits are essential for not only being successful in the classroom but also in the workplace.

“With the internet providing us information only a click away, it is no longer enough simply to know the facts. We need to know what do with the information and how to use it. It’s time we recognized the students who are achieving and the teachers who are leaders in making this happen,” said MPP O’Toole.

The 21st Century Skills Award emphasizes qualities such as individual initiative, personal responsibility and collaboration with others, as described in the Ontario school curriculum.

QUOTES

  • “The 21st Century Skills Award is fundamental to ensuring we recognize and value the skills sets that we want students to demonstrate. 21st Century Skills are about thinking, inquiring, and collaborating and not just about demonstrating the ability to demonstrate knowledge.” Kelli Cote, Principal, Edward T. Crowle Public School
  • “This sounds like a great idea and an excellent way to promote 21st Century skills in all students.” Wilf Gray, Principal, Clarington Central Secondary School
  • “These are the skills you need to enter, stay in, and progress in the world of work – whether you work on your own or as part of a team.” The Conference Board of Canada, Employability Skills

QUICK FACTS

  • The learning skills and work habits recognized in the 21st Century Skills Award are: Responsibility, Organization, Independent Work, Collaboration, Initiative and Self-regulation.
  • The Ontario Curriculum includes the development of learning skills and work habits. The OECD calls them key competencies. The Conference Board of Canada calls them employability skills and US researchers have called them habits of the mind.

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For further information please contact:

John O’Toole, MPP – Durham (905) 697-1501 / 1-800-661-2433