Exploring the Concept of 21st Century Skills: A Review of the Literature

Oct 20, 2026

The report reviews the concept of 21st century skills and examines how they are defined, taught, and assessed in educational settings. It synthesizes six frequently cited and UK-specific frameworks, identifying collaboration, communication, creativity, critical thinking, digital literacy, and problem solving as the most common skills. It highlights classroom teaching styles and assessment approaches, often including performance-based elements. The discussion addresses policy relevance, the contested idea of transferable skills, and the challenges of separating skills for effective instruction and measurement.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages35

Reading Time1 h 28 min

AccessFree to download

Executive summary

Introduction

Employer engagement in skills policy and qualification design

Exploring the concept of 21st century skills: a review of the literature Research and Innovation Sheradan Miller and Yaw Bimpeh Executive summary A move towards a knowledge economy has led to a shift in the skills needed in today’s workforce. As AQA explores vocational qualifications and prepares for specification reform, it is an opportune time to think about how we integrate skills-based learning into our assessments. In this report, we explore the concept of 21st century skills. There have been many attempts to define and systemise the 21st century skill set into frameworks. We focused upon six frameworks that were either most commonly cited in the literature or were UK specific in their design and implementation. We found from comparing and analysing these frameworks that the six most-cited 21st century skills were collaboration, communication, creativity, critical thinking, digital literacy and problem solving (see Table 9) . Having identified the skills, we considered them from three perspectives: how each is defined in the literature; how each is taught in the classroom; and how each is assessed. As we explored the research, we found specific teaching styles and examples of assessments for each of these skills , most of which included a performance-based element. Twenty-first century skills continue to be a lively point of discussion in education and policy. How we choose to teach and assess each of these skills brings its own challenges and considerations, with each skill requiring its own definition and assessment instrument. A key theme that emerged from the literature is the complexity of separating these skills for teaching and assessment. Introduction We have moved into an age of automation, where the ability to apply and critique knowledge has become vital to the workplace (van Laar et al. , 2017) . This means developing a skill set that allows an individual to adapt to and engage with many roles. However, the notion of a ‘transferable’ skillset is contested in the research literature, as it assumes that skills learnt in one context are automatically relevant to another (Fettes et al. , 2020) , which may not be the case. The term ‘21st century skills’ came into use in the late 20th century, although there is no universally accepted definition (Tight, 2021) . Salas-Pilco (2013) describes these skills as ‘those capabilities that empower young learners and enable them to cope with the demands of the present century’ (p. 11) . The Department for Education published a paper in 2003 titled 21st Century Skills: Realising our Potential (Department for Education, 2003), which aimed to establish a national strategy to ensure individuals had the right skills to ‘be both employable and personally fulfilled’ (p. 11); skills that go beyond core subject knowledge, such as English or maths. Terms such as transferable skills, key skills, employability skills, or ‘soft’ skills have been used over the years to describe a similar skill set. Fettes et al. (2020) highlight work by the Confederation of British Industry in 1990 , which emphasised the importance of developing employability skills for young people. Looking back even further, to the 1970s, the Further Education Unit developed the idea of a core skills curriculum for vocational students (Further Education Unit, 1979 , as cited in Fettes et al. , 2020) . It is clear, therefore, that 21st century skills are not a new concept and that policy discussions around skills in education have a long history. What makes 21st century skills unique is the incorporation of digital skills, reflecting the growth and reliance on these skills in everyday life. The concept of 21st century skills was developed as ICT was becoming accessible to the general public and playing an increasing role in the modern workplace. We now live in a world where ICT is ‘pervasive in the workplace and there is a high demand for ICT-proficient employees’ (van Laar et al. , 2020 , p. 1) . W

FAQs

What skills does the report identify as most-cited in the literature?

The report finds the most-cited skills are collaboration, communication, creativity, critical thinking, digital literacy, and problem solving.

How does the report describe teaching and assessment of these skills?

It considers each skill through definitions in the literature, classroom teaching approaches, and assessment methods, with many examples including performance-based elements.

Why does the report question the idea of a transferable skillset?

It notes that the notion of transferable skills is contested, because skills learned in one context may not automatically be relevant in another.

Oct 20, 2026

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