Page 26 - 21st Century Competencies: Foundation Document for Discussion

SECTION THREE
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The Ontario Context
Ontario is actively engaged at many levels and through a variety of initiatives in the emerging policy field of 21st century learning – also referred to by some as “technology-enabled learning” and/or “deep learning”. Key examples of these initiatives follow.
Ontario is working with provinces across Canada to identify pan-Canadian 21st century/global competencies.
Ontario has been working with the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC) and the Advisory Committee of Assistant Deputy Ministers of Education (ACDME) to explore pan-Canadian 21st century/global competencies and provincial approaches to the adoption of frameworks.
(A draft document that was developed to support these discussions is included in Appendix C.)
At the provincial level, Ontario’s renewed vision for education and the 2014 Mandate Letter: Education (Wynne, 2014) emphasize the need to “define and develop measures for higher-order skills” (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2014, p. 7).
The Ontario curriculum articulates expectations for student learning in the province. Currently, there are opportunities across the curriculum and within the education experience for teaching and learning much of the knowledge and many of the skills and attitudes that are commonly linked to 21st century competencies, particularly in the cognitive domain. In the Grade 10 Civics and Citizenship course, students are given opportunities to learn about what it means to be a responsible, active citizen in the various communities to which they belong. As well, the curriculum renewal process makes it possible