Including 21st C. Skills in the Activities of “My Language” Curriculum for the 3rd Grade of Early Childhood in the KSA

Abstract

This research aims to identify the extent to which twenty-first century skills are included in the Arabic language curriculum (My Language) in the third grade of early childhood, considering curriculum components in National Framework of General Curriculum standards for Education in KSA. Research population was language curricula for the lower grades, while the sample was Arabic Language curriculum (My Language) for the third grade. The research employs descriptive approach (content analysis) to identify to what extent twenty- first century skills are included in the curriculum. The researcher develops a coding scheme to collect data.

The results show that the curriculum of the second term of Arabic Language (My Language) of the third grade comes first in including activities with a percentage of (39.30%) of the total repetitions of activities in the three terms curricula. It is followed by the third term curriculum (37.33%) and finally comes the first term curriculum with a percentage of (23.37%) of the total repetitions of activities in the three terms curricula. The highest percentage of skills included in the curriculum is for the creative thinking, whereas the lowest percentage is for the skill of technology use. That means all the twenty-first century skills mentioned in the National Framework of General Curriculum Standards for Education in KSA have been included in the curriculum activities with various percentages across the three terms. It can be inferred that these skills are included with no balance and right sequence. The researcher attributes this to the absence of plans to include these skills in the curriculum of the three semesters in a balanced way. It is recommended that a matrix of the sub-skills of the National Framework of General Curriculum Standards should be developed along with indicators of the main skills to work as a reference for the researchers and specialists in the education sector.