Teacher Readiness in Promoting 21st Century Skills in Teaching English as a Foreign Language at Primary Schools

Abstract

Twenty-first-century skills have been long known and used to accelerate teachers' quality and education in Indonesia. The skills that include life and career skills, learning and innovation skills, media, technology, and information skills must be inserted into classroom practices to improve students' learning competencies and learning outcomes. Despite its importance and having been long introduced, there is still limited research conducted on the investigation of primary teachers' readiness to promote classroom skills. Therefore, this study aims to analyse the primary school teachers' readiness to promote 21st-century skills. The readiness was analysed in two dimensions: readiness in terms of 21st-century skills concepts as indicated by self-perception about 21st-century learning and indicated by their readiness in the actual implementation. Six primary school teachers from several schools in Bali were involved. The study used a mixed-method design, and the data were collected using questionnaires, interviews, and direct observation. The data were analysed using descriptive quantitative analysis and supported with qualitative description. The results show that the teachers perceived themselves as ready to implement the skills; however, direct observations show different findings. Some of the skills are not implemented. This finding implies that teachers need to improve their understanding and develop competencies in implementing 21st-century skills.

Keywords

• 21st century skills
• teachers’ readiness
• teachers’ perception