African Educational Research Journal - Full Length Research Paper - A Scale Development Study for One of the 21st Century Skills: Collaboration at Secondary Schools

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by McQueen

Collaboration is identified as a key 21st-century skill for both education and work life, requiring educators to understand students’ preferences and readiness. This study develops a scale for secondary school students to self-evaluate collaboration skills. A 33-item draft was produced from the literature and reviewed by experts, then tested on 402 students in Aksaray, Turkey (2019–2020). Data were analyzed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, supporting a 29-item scale across three sub-dimensions.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages7

Reading Time18 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

21st-century skills and the 4Cs framework

Collaboration in education and group learning

Rationale for collaboration-focused self-evaluation

African Educational Research Journal Vol. 9(4), pp. 907-913, November 2021 DOI: 10.30918/AERJ.94.21.129 ISSN: 2354-2160 Full Length Research Paper A scale development study for one of the 21 st century skills: Collaboration at secondary schools Serkan Boyraz School of Foreign Languages, Aksaray University, Aksaray, Turkey. Accepted 22 November, 2021 | ABSTRACT
Collaboration skill has become one of the key skills in the 21st century both in education and work life. That is why educators need to learn about their students’ preferences and readiness in collaboration in the classroom . This study aims to develop a scale that lets secondary school students self-evaluate their collaboration skills. To follow this aim, a general survey methodology was used. A draft scale consisting of 33 items was developed through the relevant literature and was examined by experts. Then, the draft version was applied to a total of 402 secondary school students at a state secondary school in Aksaray city in Turkey in the 2019-2020 academic year. The data was subjected to first explanatory then confirmatory factor analysis. The explanatory factor analysis and first and second stage confirmatory factor analysis results indicate that the Scale for Self-Evaluation of Collaboration Skills (SSCS) with 29 items under three sub-dimensions-namely affective considerations, collaboration process, and roles and responsibilities- is a
valid and reliable tool to examine collaboration skills of secondary school students. Keywords: 21st century skills, 4Cs in education, collaboration, scale development. | | --- | | E-mail: [serkan.boyraz@gmail.com](serkan.boyraz@gmail.com). | INTRODUCTION In the 21st century, it is not enough for students to only be competent in basic subjects such as reading, writing, science, and mathematics as some basic social and life skills such as taking care of themselves, interacting well with others, being interdependent and constantly improving over time and staying up to date to be independent are critical (Barkley et al. , 2014) . For example, as communication and collaboration skills provide students a chance to explain their ideas, exchange their thoughts, and help each other, they have been identified as mediating factors in supporting learning (Kafai, 2002) . Besides, in today's global economy, together with the shift from a documentoriented working style to a people-oriented one, teamwork, together with communication skills, has become an important factor in the selection of managers. Therefore, in the 21st century economy, it is necessary to communicate in an effective way and work collaboratively with different groups of people. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21) was founded in the USA in 2002 by a coalition of the US Department of Education and business and education leaders to identify the needs to better prepare students for 21st century careers and life developed a framework for 21st century learning. Since then, the coalition's vision has evolved to include and focus on critical thinking and problem-solving skills, communication and collaboration, and technology-related skills. In addition, for higher education and professional careers in the 21st century dominated by the digital economy, students must go beyond the basic criteria and 21st century skills -namely “creativity, communication, critical thinking and collaboration”- which are called“Century Super Skills” or “4Cs”, should be embedded in the curriculum (Choirunnisa, Prabowo and Suryanti, 2018; Lippl, 2013; SBAC, 2015) . Hovious (2015: 14-15) explains that the 21st century learning model is a response to the demands of technology on work and life skills of the current age, but it still represents similar ideas in most educational research like Bloom (1956), Dewey (1910), Piaget (1928) and Vygotsky (1978) . While many different frameworks have been created to define and categorize “21st century Afr Educ Res J 908 skills”, a

FAQs

What is the main purpose of the study?

To develop a scale that enables secondary school students to self-evaluate their collaboration skills.

How was the scale developed and validated?

A 33-item draft was created from relevant literature, reviewed by experts, administered to 402 secondary students, and analyzed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis.

What is the final structure of the scale?

The final Scale for Self-Evaluation of Collaboration Skills (SSCS) consists of 29 items across three sub-dimensions: affective considerations, collaboration process, and roles and responsibilities.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by McQueen