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and learning”. Notably, the first phase of the ACOT study identified six design
principles for the twenty-first-century high school, including the reorientation of
curriculum and content, assessment and the social/emotional environment of skills
around the notion of ‘twenty-first-century skills and outcomes’. Similar agendas
were subsequently pursued through Microsoft’s Innovative Teaching and Learning
global research programme with its focus on ‘twenty-first-century learning outcomes’
and ‘innovative teaching practices’ characterised by student-centred pedagogy,
knowledge building, problem-solving and innovation, skilled communication,
collaboration, self-regulation, and use of technology for learning.
While each of these initiatives was significant in their own right, the influence of
these efforts should be understood as occurring in a cumulative and iterative
manner. Take, for example, the ways in which the internationally-articulated
notion of ‘twenty-first-century skills’ has been operationalised in a country such as
the US through the efforts of other intermediary organisations to promote, advocate
and lobby these ideas and values in policy and practitioner circles. In the US, a
major presence in this respect has been the ‘Partnership for twenty-first-century
skills’– a nationwide advocacy organisation that in its own words works to “help
inform other major education conversations”. The Partnership for twenty-first-
century skills was formed in 2002 under the guidance of Ken Kay (CEO and
co-founder of e-Luminate education consulting firm) and Diny Golder-Dardis on
behalf of JES & Co (a publicly funded educational R&D programme in the US
responsible for online learning systems and online content management). Through
the initial support of the US Department of Education, commercial partners
such as AOL Time Warner, Apple, Cisco, Dell and Microsoft, as well as public
organisations such as the National Education Association, the partnership has
established itself as a powerful self-styled ‘advocacy organisation’ for promoting the
concept of ‘twenty-first-century knowledge and skills’. Much of the partnership’s
public profile has been built around popularising the notion of ‘the four Cs’:
i.e. critical thinking and problem solving; communication; collaboration; and
creativity and innovation.
Of immediate interest here is the involvement of many of the international
organisations highlighted throughout this chapter. In effect, Microsoft, Apple and
other organisations are underwriting local support for agendas that they themselves
were implicit in initiating at a global level. As such the ‘Partnership for twenty-first-
century skills’ represents a powerful consortium of international interests: covering
hardware companies (Microsoft, Apple, Intel, Dell, Cisco, HP); software companies
(Adobe, Blackboard); educational publishers (Pearson, McGraw-Hill); edutainment
producers (Lego, Disney); and various public and private groups (such as American
Association of School Librarians, National Academy Foundation). More esoteric
partners include Cable in the Classroom – a group promoting the interests of the
cable television industry in providing educational content to schools; Knowledge-
Works – a foundation dedicated to transforming US school education along learner-
centred lines; and Education Networks of America – a private company providing