The Future of Education

Prospects of 21^st Century Skills for Omani Students

Every teacher’s ultimate aim is to support students by fostering their thinking, problem solving and collaboration skills, as well as promoting independent learning to be prepared for their future personal and professional lives.  The concerning question, regarding social and economic changes, is whether there will be any jobs available for our students in the 21st century? Is there any guarantee that students will be able to access the abundance of jobs in the future? In order to succeed in today’s world, students are required to meet the challenges of new methods of learning, such as problem solving, creativity, critical thinking, technology skills, communication and collaboration.

This study was conducted at Arab Open University in Muscat, Oman. For this study, 50 BA (at senior level) and 50 MA students, from different programs, were selected to fill out the questionnaire. The questionnaire was designed to investigate whether their university education instructs and equips them with the required 21st century skills. The achieved results revealed that both BA (in senior level) and MA students are more reliant on old methods of learning. The findings also revealed that Omani students’ pace of acquiring 21st century skills is slower but steadier, with the prospect of progressing in the future.