Such individuals often excel in creativity as well as excel in comprehension, logic, and mathematical abilities. We must develop these important skills from a young age, and socio-economic status and the school system also have a great influence on their development.
PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) is an international survey conducted by the OECD and designed to assess the knowledge and skills of 15-year-old students around the world. PISA analyzes how well students understand and use mathematical concepts in different situations, assesses students' ability to read and understand texts, and examines students' knowledge of natural science topics (sciences) such as biology, chemistry, and physics.
The 2022 report also assessed creativity for the first time (Volumen III, published in June 2024), so how well students generate and improve original and diverse ideas. In 2022, the survey covered nearly 690,000 students from 81 countries.
How creative are Slovenian students?
In the field of creative thinking, Slovenian students performed worse than the OECD average. In tasks that required creativity, Slovenian students showed relatively low performance. If the OECD average is 33 points, Slovenia scored 30 points below the average.
Croatia and Iceland also scored the same number of points. Slovenia was preceded by Hungary, Italy, the Czech Republic and Poland. However, Singapore, Korea, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Estonia and Finland reign at the top of the ranking.
The Slovenian education system undoubtedly needs targeted measures to improve creative thinking among students. Although Slovenian students show solid results in reading, mathematics and logic, which unfortunately fall (more on this below), more attention needs to be paid to developing their creative and innovative skills, which are crucial for success in the 21st century.
Creativity, a key skill of the 21st century
Creativity is one of the key skills of the 21st century, because essential for innovation, which is the driving force for progress in today's societies. The ability to think creatively enables individuals to adapt to new ways of thinking and acting, which is essential to solving new challenges and taking advantage of the opportunities presented by a rapidly changing world.
In addition to creativity, important skills among students include:
- critical thinkingwhich allows the analysis, evaluation and formulation of rational
Conclusions, and - digital literacywhich is necessary for the effective use of technology in the personal and
professional life.
We are very pleased that in the final proposal National Education Programme 2023-2033gives creativity and creative culture, as well as critical thinking and digital literacy much more important than in the past period.
All these and many other skills are also essential for entrepreneurship, for innovation and for the development of new, breakthrough ideas. These skills are learned and acquired every day — at home, at school and in everyday life. This is the path that leads us to the development of personnel and the recognition of talents for the future.
You can read more about this topic in our Manifesto: https://www.tehnoloski-forum.si/nas-program/razvoj-kadrov-za-prihodnost
Soon more...
The topic of the importance of diverse literacy and skills in relation to the education system for the 21st century will be continued shortly.
for Slovenian Technology Forum, GIZ
Barbara Krajnc and Blaž Kos
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