Session Information
15 SES 02 A, Practice Issues and Partnerships
Paper Session
Contribution
This paper presentation takes a closer look at the barriers faced and the particular needs raised by Nepalese university teachers in integrating and applying generic 21st century skills underpinned by digital pedagogy into their teaching. It highlights some initial results of a baseline study conducted in collaboration with Finnish and Nepalese researchers.
In global educational discussions, teacher professionalism and teacher quality have been recognised as some of the key factors in improving the quality of education. This phenomenon can be seen in a global context, for example in publications produced by OECD on definitions and a breakdown of the policies that promote teacher quality (Schleicher, 2015). Thus, we can postulate that teachers can be real changemakers in the process of improving students’ skills, knowledge, attitudes and values needed to tackle the changes in their environment or daily lives and help them to shape the future they want.
In recent decades, discussions in education and the world of work have emphasised the importance of acquiring generic skills (also known as e.g., key skills, core competences, 21st century skills) in order, for example, to be able to increase one’s employability. (Fadel, C., M. Bialik, & B. Trilling, 2015; Forbes, 2013). These skills that OECD calls as transformative competences entailing knowledge, skills, attitudes and values are also needed, not only by students, but teachers alike, to meet unknown challenges of the 21st century, transform society and shape the future for better lives (OECD 2018 -OECD Learning compass 2030).
As different terminology and frameworks of generic skills exist, in the purpose of this study, we will use the term 21st century skills. In general, different frameworks have highlighted, for example, skills such as collaboration, communication, ICT literacy, cultural skills, citizenship, creativity, problem solving and learning to learn as integral skills for a 21st century citizen (Voogt & Roblin, 2012). The role of ICT in the 21st century classroom is increasing in prevalence and importance as educators understand its value and adjust to its influence.
In the teaching profession, it is fundamental that teachers not only acquire these skills but apply them in their teaching in order to support the skills development of their learners. Thus, their teaching skills must correspond to 21st century skills (Kim et al.,2019). There is sufficient research evidence indicating that generic skills develop when certain kinds of pedagogical approaches, such as active learning methods and group activities, are used (e.g. Ballantine & McCourt Larres, 2007; Kember, 2009). In the current digital era, these pedagogical methods should be applied in online contexts. Subsequently, this entails teachers continuously updating their pedagogical understanding and skills. Teaching is seen as a profession which develops throughout their career; hence a teacher’s professional development can be considered to be a lifelong effort. Owen, et al., (2018) state that in developing countries the current focus of teachers’ professional development is on integrating ICT into learning and teaching as well as teachers' adaption of 21st teaching skills. Consequently, our work and research in the Developing Pedagogy for 21st Century Skills in Nepal-project aims to improve the quality of learning by enhancing teacher educators’ and teachers’ capabilities to support the skills development among their students. Thus, at the onset of this process our study focused on prevailing the current practices in integration of 21st century skills. In order to explore these issues, the following research questions were formulated:
- What elements do Nepalese university teachers perceive as barriers in integrating 21st CS in their teaching?
- What do they need the meet the challenges and facilitate 21st century skills integration?
Method
This paper builds on the baseline study conducted with Finnish and Nepalese researchers in a project Developing Pedagogy for 21st Century Skills in Nepal funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland. The research followed a mixed research methodology, allowing the integration of data collection and analysis procedures of quantitative and qualitative methods (Creswell, 2014). The methodology offered the researchers possibilities for multiple ways of seeing, hearing and making sense of the social world (Greeney, 2007) of the study context in Nepal. The data were collected among Nepalese university teachers by utilising online questionnaire and conducting semi-structured interviews in November 2020 to early January 2021. The questionnaire contained multiple-choice statements and three open-ended questions. The statements mapped the participants’ digital pedagogical skills and practices as well as the application of 21st century skills in their teaching by applying a 5-point Likert-scale. The open-ended questions pertained barriers and needs in integrating digital pedagogy and 21st century skills. The baseline study data were quantitatively and qualitatively analysed by the researchers in January 2021. The questionnaire was sent to full-time employed university teachers in two main universities in Nepal, resulting (n= 339) replies. Additional interviews were conducted with (n=23) teachers. The total number of the participants (n=361) represented university teachers from all provinces across the county and different disciplines taught in Nepal. Vast majority of the participants were male teachers 72 %, only 26% were female. Majority of the participants were experienced educators having a long, over 15 years, experience in university teaching. This paper focuses on the results achieved by an additional qualitative analysis process on the open-ended questions of the questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The interviews were recoded and transcribed verbatim. The qualitative data were analysed employing content analysis method (Krippendorff, 2004) and utilising Atlas.ti-software. The data were read and segmented, that is, all relevant items regarding either needs or barriers were marked. An expression conveying an opinion related to needs or barrier was counted as a segment. The segments were allocated under emerging categories which were discussed and refined with the other researchers. The initial analysis conveyed four categories pertinent barriers in integrating 21st century skills in teaching, likewise the categories regarding teachers’ needs were four. The results of the qualitative content analysis utilised quantification of the qualitatively generated categories in which the frequencies of each categories were calculated (Krippendorff, 2004).
Expected Outcomes
The initial analysis indicates that four types of barriers can be identified in integrating 21st skills in Nepalese higher education teaching: infrastructure barriers, external barriers, teacher related barriers, and student related barriers. Besides, it is notable, that according to the qualitative data the majority of teachers admitted not having a comprehensive understanding of the notion of 21st century skills. The fundamental barrier is caused by the infrastructure; unstable Internet and electricity create serious obstacles for integrating 21st skills in teaching. In addition, teachers’ insufficient skills or knowledge contribute negatively. Similarly, lack of institutional resources in terms of providing teachers devices, wifi, training, learning management systems and access to e-library hamper integrating 21st pedagogy. In addition, the teachers regarded student related issues hindering integration of 21st skills into learning activities. The students’ insufficient competences, lack of devices, negative attitude towards digitalisation as well as students’ diverse backgrounds in terms of financial resources. As for teachers’ needs for facilitating 21st skills integration in teaching, from the data evoked four categories; the necessity of curriculum and assessment reform, initial and continuous teacher training in digital pedagogy, the need for stabile net connection and modern digital devices as well as support for students. The data imply that initial and continuous training is the most significant need the teachers identify. They acknowledge their incompetence in utilising various applications and devices in a pedagogical sound manner. Further, the teachers require a transformation in curriculum and assesses methods; they need to be adjusted to match the 21st century pedagogy. It also became apparent that stable Internet connection and electricity are prerequisite for digital pedagogy, particularly in remote areas unstable connection is an essential issue. The last need concerns financial support and digital learning support for the students, as particularly students from remote cannot access to Internet.
References
•Ballantine, J., and P. McCourt Larres. 2007. “Cooperative Learning: A Pedagogy to Improve Students’ Generic Skills?” Education + Training 49 (2): 126–137. •Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods Approaches (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage •Greene, J. (2007): Mixed methods in social inquiry. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass •Fadel, C., M. Bialik, and B. Trilling. 2015. Four-dimensional Education: The Competencies Learners Need to Succeed. Boston: Center for Curriculum Redesign. •Kember, D. 2009. “Nurturing Generic Capabilities Through a Teaching and Learning Environments Which Provides Practise in Their Use.” Higher Education 57 (1): 37–55. •Kim S, Raza M, Seidman E. (2019). Improving 21st-century teaching skills: The key to effective 21st-century learners. Research in Comparative and International Education. 14(1):99-117. doi:10.1177/1745499919829214 •Krippendorff, K. (2004) Content analysis: An introduction to its methodology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. •Owen, S., Palekahelu, D., Sumakul, T., Sekiyono, E. & White, G. (2018) Systematic educational change and teacher skill-building in developed and developing countries: the importance of teacher peer learning groups, Teacher development, 22:4, 447-463, DOI: 10.1080/13664530.2017.1403370 •OECD (2018), The Future of Education and Skills: Education 2030. Position paper, Accessed on 28 January 2021 from https://www.oecd.org/education/2030/E2030%20Position%20Paper%20(05.04.2018).pdf •Schleicher, A. (2015), Schools for 21st-Century Learners: Strong Leaders, Confident Teachers, Innovative Approaches, international Summit on the teaching profession, OECD Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264231191-en •Van Laar, E., van Deursen, A.J.A.M., van Dijk , J.A.G.M., de Haan, J. 2017. The relation between 21st-century skills and digital skills: A systematic literature review. Computers in Human Behaviour, 72, 577-588. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.03.010
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