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Contents 1 2008 APEC Education Reform Symposium in Xi'an, China 1.1 Symposium Theme 1.2 Symposium Priority Areas 1.3 Symposium Agenda 1.4 Lessons Learned 1.5 Results of the Symposium

2008 APEC Education Reform Symposium in Xi'an, China

Centuries ago, Xi’an, China was the eastern terminus of the Silk Road, a series of ancient trade routes linking East and West Asia. Traders, nomads, pilgrims and monks from far and wide would come to Xi’an to exchange goods, services and, perhaps most importantly, new ideas. In January 2008, the city of Xi’an served once again as a marketplace of ideas, playing host to 18 Member Economies from the Asia-Pacific Economic Region (APEC) for the 2008 APEC Education Reform Symposium.

Symposium Theme

Co-sponsored by the Chinese and Peruvian ministries of education and the U.S. Department of Education, the conference theme was Education to Achieve 21st Century Competencies and Skills for All: Respecting the Past to Move toward the Future. For five days, researchers, government officials and private sector employers from 18 APEC Member Economies met to share research, best practices and innovative ideas to ensure the competitiveness of the next generation in the 21st century workforce. Their dialogue informed the agenda for the 4th APEC Education Ministerial Meeting (AEMM) held in Lima, Peru in June 2008. 

Symposium Priority Areas

Conference co-sponsors designed the Xi’an symposium to build off of the first APEC Summit on Education Reform held in Beijing, China in 2004. While in Beijing, Eastern and Western Member Economies learned from one another’s strengths: Eastern countries shared effective practices for teaching content knowledge while Western countries provided insight into promoting creativity and critical thinking skills. Like the 2004 symposium, the 2008 APEC Symposium on Education Reform affirmed the importance of both content knowledge mastery and practical skills while acknowledging that because of the global economy, what 21st century workers need to know and be able to do is different than ever before.

The knowledge, skills and attitudes so important to the 21st century workforce are known as 21st Century Competencies. These 21st Century Competencies have been distilled by APEC leaders into four priority areas:

1. Learning each other’s languages
2. Stimulating learning in math and science
3. Career and technical education (CTE) and
4. Information communications technology (ICT) and Systemic Reform

Symposium Agenda

The agenda for the week was centered around generating recommendations for future activity in the four priority areas.

• Monday, January 14, 2008: Participants attended an evening welcome reception.
• Tuesday, January 15, 2008: Participants attended an all-day plenary session chaired by Mr. Cen Jianjun, the Chinese Deputy-Director General of the Department for International Cooperation and Exchanges. Dr. Alan Ginsburg, the Lead Shepherd of the Human Resources Development Workgroup, outlined priorities and Dr. YoungHwan Kim, APEC EDNET Coordinator, reviewed the symposium agenda and discussed expected outcomes. The day also included a overview of policy analysis and research related to 21st Century Competencies facilitated by Peru and reviews of ICT, systemic reform and language learning. That evening guests attended a welcome banquet sponsored by China.
• Wednesday, January 16, 2008: The third day of the symposium included a morning plenary session and afternoon break-out groups. During the morning session, two additional priority areas, math and science and career and technical education, were reviewed. Afternoon break-out sessions were designed to give subgroups the chance to develop future projects and policy ideas. A second banquet was held that night.
• Thursday, January 17, 2008: Each subgroup reported its recommendations to the symposium attendees. Their presentations culminated in a discussion of recommendations for the APEC Education Ministers regarding 21st Century Competencies. 
• Friday, January 18, 2008: Some participants chose to take advantage of the opportunity to explore Xi'an and surrounding cities.
• Saturday, January 19, 2008: Co-sponsors (China, Peru and the United States) participated in a post-symposium de-briefing.
  

Lessons Learned

Symposium papers and presentations, surveys, presentation abstracts and presenter biographies are all available online. During the symposium, subgroups discussed how 21st Century Competencies are currently being integrated into the four priority areas in their respective education systems.

1. Learning each others’ languages. The ability to communicate across language barriers is essential to international trade and to building mutual understanding among interconnected global economies.  In many APEC Member Economies, second or third language learning has historically occupied an important place in the school curriculum. Because of the primacy of English in diplomacy and trade today, many APEC members from Eastern economies have further stressed English language education, extended this to the early elementary grades, and raised their expectations for proficiency. English speaking economies, on the other hand, find it hard to motivate their students to take a second language in high school and to find teachers qualified to teach a language other than English. Chinese Taipei and Chile have been the leaders in APEC EDNET’s work in the learning of each other’s languages since 2004, focusing on standards and assessment and establishing a strong evidence base for future work.
2. Stimulating learning in mathematics and science. Prior to the symposium, content standards and assessments in mathematics and science across Member Economies were reviewed, revealing best practices used by countries that tend to perform well on international assessments. APEC Economies agreed that more research is needed in this area. In addition, symposium participants identified the need to look for best practices across the APEC Economies related to pre- and in-service training for math and science teachers, ICT delivery modes for effective teacher professional development and programs that encourage peer critique among math and science teachers. 
   

   
3. Career and Technical Education (CTE). Career and technical education programs (sometimes referred to as vocational education) in the 21st Century must recognize the importance of meeting demand driven private sector workplace requirements. Today's workplace requires a higher level of content, technical skills, and mastery of 21st Century competencies and skills from all its employees. CTE programs of study integrate academic and technical skills to meet 21st century, industry-based occupational standards. Symposium participants recognized the need to 1) establish a common understanding for the different definitions of the terms CTE; 2) understand the different challenges related to Economies' CTE systems; 3) compile, analyze, and share information about each Economy’s CTE system and 4) integrate industry in defining key workplace competencies and developing curriculum and assessments.
4. Information communication technologies (ICT) and systemic reform. Effective implementation of ICT and systemic reform are necessary for ensuring a 21st century education. Technology must be integrated into classroom instruction, performance measurement, and accountability systems just as it has been integrated into every other facet of modern life. Systemic reforms must be adopted as well; these reforms may include using technology for high quality professional development, disaggregating assessment data,  rigorously evalutating education programs and developing strategies to attract and retain sufficient, high-quality teachers.
   

Results of the Symposium

At the end of the symposium, Ambassador Juan Carlos Capuñay, Executive Director of APEC, charged Member Economies to develop strategic action plans in each priority area that can be used as a resource for the Education Ministers’ meeting in June 2008. The result is a set of recommendations in each priority area developed by symposium participants and deemed to be feasible given time, financial, structural and other constraints. These recommendations focus on providing students in the APEC region with the competencies--knowledge, skills and attitudes--necessary to function in a 21st Century global economy.

APEC Economies were encouraged to develop their strategic plans within each priority area using the following framework.

Standards and Assessments	Standards should identify what students ought to know in core content areas and ensure that students are demonstrating the development of 21st Century competencies over time. Open-ended assessment items that measure content mastery and the application of knowledge learned to real world contexts through problem solving should be incorporated.
Teachers and Instruction	Teacher recruitment, preparation, certification and ongoing professional development should include instruction on how to embed opportunities for students to develop 21st Century Competencies in the core curriculum. Teachers should also be trained to implement and capitalize on ICT solutions that will, in the long term, facilitate systemic reform.
Policies and Research	Research on the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values most highly correlated with student success in the 21st Century economy should inform Member Economies’ domestic policies related to standards, assessment, teacher quality and instruction, and inform the direction of EDNET projects.
Resources and Tools	ICT, in particular, provides the opportunity for teachers and students to gain access to expanded knowledge, personalized instruction, and learn by “doing” through on-line simulations. Virtual and on-line exchanges are also useful for building learning communities and sharing best practices.

The strategic action plans for each priority area that were initiated in discussions at the symposium were eventually adopted as recommendations at the fourth APEC Education Ministers Meeting.  These recommendations can be found in Annex A of the minister's joint statement.