In May 2018, the Council of the European Union introduced a recommendation to redefine the key competences needed to meet the challenges of the 21st century, both in learning and professional contexts. The aim was to foster personal development, social inclusion and active citizenship by strengthening key individual capabilities. 21st century skills include digital literacy, foreign language skills, critical thinking, scientific and technological skills and an attitude to lifelong learning, including entrepreneurial skills and open-mindedness to innovation. Let’s look at them in detail.
21st Century Skills: The 4 Cs
The term “4 Cs” summarises four skills that employers and educators consider essential for success in the 21st century:
Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
In a rapidly changing world, children need to be able to analyse complex situations, identify problems and find innovative solutions. Critical thinking enables you to evaluate information, make informed decisions, and develop an analytical mind that can adapt to changing contexts.
Creativity and Innovation
The ability to think outside the box and generate new ideas is essential to addressing new problems and finding effective solutions. Creativity is not limited to the arts, but extends to all disciplines, promoting an innovative approach to work and learning.
Communication
Effective communication, both written and oral, is essential to express ideas clearly, collaborate with others, and build relationships. In a globalized world, communication skills must also include the ability to interact with people from different cultures and with different backgrounds.
Collaboration
The ability to work well in a team is crucial in many contexts, both at school and at work. Collaboration allows you to combine different skills to achieve common goals, also developing empathy, patience, and the ability to listen.
Other essential skills
The 4Cs describe the core skills of the worker of the future. However, these must be combined with four other equally essential skills:
Linguistic competence: knowledge of one or more foreign languages is an essential requirement. The ability to express oneself correctly in English, the lingua franca, opens doors to the world. This should be integrated with a third language such as Spanish, the second most spoken language. Or Chinese, which together with English are the most spoken languages in the world.
Digital competence: includes the ability to use technological devices and tools, but also to understand and critically evaluate online information. This is combined with the ability to navigate the digital world safely and efficiently.
Entrepreneurial competence: the 21st century requires an entrepreneurial mindset, capable of facing challenges and transforming them into opportunities. The ability to take calculated risks, to design and implement innovative projects is increasingly important.
Global citizenship: Globalization requires greater awareness of the world around us. Civic and social skills are crucial for living and working in different societies, promoting sustainable development and active citizenship.

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The New Role of School
In the context of 21st century skills, school takes on a central and transformative role. It can no longer limit itself to transmitting notional content, but must become an environment in which students develop practical, cognitive, emotional and social skills that allow them to face an ever-changing world. In addition to traditional knowledge, school must prepare students to think critically, work in groups, solve complex problems and be global citizens.
Education today must be personalized, allowing each student to develop their own inclinations and talents, in an environment that encourages critical thinking, innovation and collaboration.
This is why choosing a school that supports this innovative approach becomes crucial. A concrete example is the Kinder International School of Bologna, which with its educational proposal is able to touch and train each of the 21st century skills required. Since 1967, the Kinder School Bologna has been a multilingual and international school and as such is designed to offer students knowledge that is useful throughout the world. For this reason, the reference language together with Italian is English, and it is taught by native speaking teachers from the very first days.
The school has also decided to adopt a cutting-edge educational program through the International Baccalaureate (IB). The IB Programme places particular emphasis on independent learning, encouraging students to take initiative in their own educational journey and to develop a strong sense of civic and entrepreneurial responsibility. Furthermore, the interdisciplinary approach allows for the connection of different subjects, promoting a deeper and more applicable understanding in real life. This is combined with the many interdisciplinary activities planned throughout the year for all students.
A concrete example
Every year, Kinder International School Bologna organizes days where students can practice the 4 Cs. These are meetings organized with classes from foreign countries, where the students are given a topic to discuss.
The most recent meeting was with the Rukmini Devi Public School, (Pitampura, New Delhi), an Indian school, where the students discussed the environment, and in particular the famous 3 Rs (Reuse, Reduce, Recycle), which have now become 6, with the addition of Repair, Refuse and Rethink or Reimagine.
The meeting was prepared by the kids with great care and attention to details, with the awareness of having a welcoming audience in front of them, but also potentially different from our usual communication standards. There were exchanges of videos made by the kids, examples of artifacts made by them with recycled materials, and many questions and curiosities.