Updating Canada’s Education System for the 21st Century

For most of the 20^th century, education systems played a significant role in moving forward critical advances in society. Public education, in particular, created opportunities for millions of young people to learn and innovate about their world while also helping to reduce glaring inequality and disparities. Public education systems also contributed to trust in democratic institutions. In the past 30 years, Canada’s 20th-century education systems have struggled to match the complexity of the ever-changing and evolving world we now live in. This has resulted in students starting to miss out on the critical skills they need to thrive in the 21^st century, as well as more glaringly, an erosion of trust in our democratic institutions. 

What are the Opportunities for a 21st-Century Education System?

First, what’s missing? Increasing numbers of youth and students lack key 21st-century skills. The pandemic has only exacerbated this challenge. I’d like to focus particularly on initiative, critical thinking, and interpersonal relationships. The fragmentation of our information ecosystem has made it particularly challenging for students to think critically about the information they receive. The misinformation and disinformation that permeate our information ecosystems are also greatly contributing to an erosion of trust in our democratic institutions and increasing polarization that is being fed by manipulations of negative emotions rather than thoughts.

Second, this lack of focus on the development of critical thinking skills has resulted in a greater apprehension and lack of skills in our society to engage in healthy conflict around ideas and feelings. Too often, we focus only on the misalignment of belief or idea systems, not the emotions fueling them. Interpersonal skills need to be paired with critical thinking for conflict resolution. Increasing polarization in our society is occurring as a result of “information” and emotional ecosystems that reinforce our existing belief systems. The emergence of AI and algorithms has added a new layer to the critical thinking approach. Rapid shifts in technology and our relationship with AI will only accelerate polarizations and it is critical that our education systems increase their complexity to the level of the environment rather than try to simplify and rationalize their structures.

Solutions for Canada’s Education System

The Students Commission of Canada (SCC) is a national inter-generational charitable organization that purposely works with others to ensure that young people’s voices are heard and valued so that they can put ideas for improving themselves, their peers, and their communities into action. The SCC has been working with the education system and other youth-serving organizations to re-frame gaps in critical thinking and interpersonal skills as opportunities to shift and improve outcomes for students. Creating interfaces of critical thinking, interpersonal skills, and complexity provides environments for the development of 21st-century skills.

Below is a summary of some of the approaches we’ve been taking to foster the conditions that support critical thinking among youth and students:

1. Partnerships Between the Generations

We focus on meaningful and sustained inter-generational partnerships. Youth and adults are working with one another as partners to tackle and solve complex societal challenges. Youth can provide innovation, novelty, and new energy while adults from different generations can share the critical thinking skills they developed in a less misinformative information age. This relationship is different than the traditional teacher-student relationship as youth and adults work together as partners rather than through formal hierarchical structures. 

2. A Focus on Positive Legacies

We have also developed a focus on generativity and leaving a positive legacy for future generations, integrating the research work of Dr. Heather L. Lawford, Co-Director of SCC’s Centre of Excellence for Youth Engagement and the Canada Research Chair for Youth Development. She is researching the natural inclination of young people to want to improve and build a better world. The SCC creates spaces to meet students’ need to know and understand how their contributions are going to leave an impact. Our education systems need to more explicitly link their curricula to opportunities for their students to contribute to experiential opportunities for the betterment of society. 

3. Looking at Experiential Opportunities

At the SCC, we leverage the youth-serving sector to fill in critical thinking skills or gaps for youth. The education system is one of many systems that influence youth. The youth-serving sector can and does provide these experiential opportunities to work through complex challenges, providing a complementary approach to the education system. The sector can also step in to work with students to address critical gaps they may be experiencing. Extensive research has documented that integrating community, school, and family efforts can create multiple pathways for ongoing critical thinking and learning, improving outcomes for youth.

Embracing a Holistic Approach to Canada’s Education System

SCC provides clear frameworks for conflict resolution and critical thinking within a values-based approach. The pandemic has eroded social norms and ways in which we interact and engage with one another. It is important that adults work in partnership with youth to re-learn how to engage with one another about new ideas. We’ve recently launched the T.R.U.S.T. Framework:

1. Take Initiative and Be Curious
2. Reinforce a Sense of Community
3. Uncover Community Boundaries
4. Support Healthy Conflict Management
5. Thrive in the Pursuit of Excellence

We advocate for embracing complexity and systems thinking in the education system. Systems thinking is understanding how different parts of a system connect and affect each other. It’s about looking beyond individual pieces to grasp how they all work together as a whole. We need to work with youth to see patterns, make connections between how interdependent both different types of people and our systems are, and support their learning as they become active agents in solving the problems of the 21^st century. The stress of these issues affects them now, which manifests itself in many ways. Taking action reduces some of that stress and improves learning outcomes.

Altogether, these approaches outline how the education system can work in partnership with other systems to support youth and students in building a healthier and more democratic society. By equipping students with the tools and skills to thrive and contribute to a rapidly changing world, we can build a healthier and less polarized society and tackle the complex challenges that we face.