Citizen-Learners: A 21st Century Curriculum and Professional Development Framework

In 2020, Centro Educacional de Campos (CEC), a K-12 school network and teacher development center in Brazil, funded the 21st Century Excellence (21CE) project at the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Project Zero (PZ). The project’s goals were to create an educational framework that would enable students to thrive in today’s complex world and guide curriculum and professional development for educators in Brazil and elsewhere. 

 

The results of the initial year of the 21CE project were two white papers: Citizen-learners: A Framework for 21st Century Excellence in Education and Teaching Citizen-learners: A Professional Development Framework for 21st Century Excellence (see resources below). The first white paper puts forth a Citizen-learners Framework, identifying key questions, capacities, and competences necessary for students to participate meaningfully, ethically, and effectively in contemporary society. It also includes classroom examples of what the capacities and competences look like in practice, and developmental performance expectations across primary, middle, and secondary school levels. The second white paper provides a professional development framework for supporting teachers who want to use the Citizen-learners approach, including key design principles for effective professional development programs and a description of the core components of collaborative inquiry as a pathway for furthering adult learning.

 

PZ and CEC intend to build on these frameworks to inform and inspire change across k-12 schools in Brazil and other countries in the years to come.