Exploring the four Cs: Using future skills to unlock young learners’ potential

Annie Altamirano
Students sat together in a classroom working together
Reading time: 5 minutes

What do we mean by future skills?

The skills students will need in their future studies and careers are dramatically different from those required previously. Times are changing rapidly and educational institutions and teachers have a critical role to play in developing those skills in our young learners so that they are able to fulfill their potential and have bright futures ahead of them.

These skills are referred to as future skills. There is no common consensus on how to define these skills but, broadly speaking, they can be grouped into four categories:

1. Ways of thinking

Skills in this category include critical thinking, creativity, innovation, problem solving, metacognition and learning skills.

2. Ways of working

Here, we’re talking about the skills of communication and collaboration.

3. Tools for working

Information literacy is an important 21st-century skill, as well as ICT literacy and citizenship, both global and local.

4. Life skills

The final category covers life and career skills, and is all about personal and social responsibility.

One way you can encourage young learners to build these skills is through STEAM subjects (that’s science, technology, engineering, arts and math), which will equip them with functional skills such as organizing, planning, cognitive flexibility and self-regulation.

The four Cs

The four Cs refer to four important skills for young learners to master: communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity. These are essential, not just in an educational context, but in everyday life.

Falling into the first two categories of future skills (ways of thinking and ways of working), these can help children build confidence and self-esteem. They also encourage healthy emotional development.

So let’s take a closer look at the theory behind them.

1. Communication

We usually think of communication as speaking and listening, but it’s actually much broader than that. Communication encapsulates telling stories, reading, sharing ideas and experiences, body language, facial expression, eye contact and tone. Children learn to decipher the world around them by learning and practicing these skills.

Strong communication skills, developed early, are directly related to their literacy success. These skills allow children to articulate their thoughts and ideas effectively, and listen to decode meaning. Students then begin to use communication for a range of purposes, and communicate effectively in diverse environments. Furthermore, developing strong patterns of verbal and non-verbal communication also fosters self-esteem and social skills.

2. Collaboration

Collaboration is how young children begin to build friendships with others. At first, young children will watch what others do and say, before moving on to playing together. As they get older, they become aware of other children’s feelings and ideas. Friendships become motivating and they learn how to make compromises and respect each other’s perspectives and skills.

Collaboration is enhanced through group work and project-based activities, sharing time with peers. Children thrive when they feel valued by the people around them, not just adults but their peers too.

3. Creativity

Creativity is a complex concept. Many people think that creativity is being good at painting or drawing, but actually, creativity can manifest itself in a multitude of ways. Some of the key attributes of creative thinking include divergent thinking, imagination, flexibility, and the ability to tolerate ambiguity.

Children who can express themselves creatively show less frustration and develop a joy of learning. And this expression can take many forms: writing, drama, scientific exploration, and dance and other movement – to name just a few.

Part of creativity is learning to innovate. Innovation is how children test their thinking and how they interact with their world. Creative children are able to create content from their own ideas or other resources. They can use that newly created content to solve problems and participate in creative activities.

4. Critical thinking

Critical thinking refers to the higher levels of thinking that learners need to enable them to think rationally and effectively about their needs, the best way to do things, identifying links between ideas, analyzing points of view, evaluating arguments, and supporting evidence and reasoning. It’s about thinking in a non-linear, open-ended way, allowing for multiple responses and unspecified answers, and considering issues from various perspectives, challenging assumptions and exploring possible alternatives.

Critical thinking is not a natural function like sleeping or eating. Children benefit significantly from teaching methods that take the development of their thinking skills seriously. And when children start applying critical thinking skills, they’ll begin to enjoy more challenging tasks.

Five steps to the four Cs

So how can teachers plan their lessons to develop these four skills in their young learners? There are five steps that provide a framework that challenges and stimulates students:

1. Determine learning objectives and define behaviors that learners should exhibit

Think about the purpose of your lesson. What new concept or information do you want your students to absorb? And what learning behaviors do you want to elicit from them? Clarifying these aims before your lesson will help you to measure its success afterwards.

2. Model a new concept and encourage students to think critically and creatively through questioning

It’s important for the teacher to plan significant questions and give students time to respond. Follow up on those responses by asking probing questions and periodically summarizing key points of the discussion. There are various types of questions you can use in class:

  • Clarification questions, for example, What do you mean? Can you explain that more? Could you put that in another way?
  • Assumption questions, for example,Why do you think so? Would you make this assumption?
  • Evidence questions, for example,Can you give me an example? Do you think this is true?
  • Origin or source questions, for example, Where did you get that idea? Is this your own idea or did you hear it from someone else?
  • Consequence questions, for example, What effect would that have? What would the implications be? What alternatives could there be?
  • Viewpoint questions, for example, How are these ideas different? How would different groups of people respond?

It’s important to include as many students as possible in the discussion. In this way, they are more likely to communicate with each other and discover knowledge on their own.

3. Choose activities that promote active learning

One activity that typically receives a positive response is the KWL approach. Create a table with three columns:

  • K = what students know
  • W = what they want to know
  • L = what they have learned

Once the class has completed the first two columns, you can put the table aside until the end of the lesson or the topic. Then complete the final column as a way of reviewing everything that has been covered in the lesson.

Also, try think-pair-share activities. Assign students short tasks to complete individually. Just make sure that they prompt learners to come up with creative responses. Once students have had an opportunity to think critically and creatively about the concept, they can share their ideas with a partner before sharing with the whole class.

4. Prompt communication and collaboration, and give students an opportunity to review and refine their ideas

Moving into larger groups, learners can share their work, accept different perspectives and defend their own point of view. Presenting to one another and answering questions will prompt them to review and refine their ideas before the final step in the process.

5. Learners present their work, getting feedback and creating an opportunity for self-assessment

Depending on the type of work you’re doing, presenting could be as simple as sharing answers to questions or giving a project presentation with a group spokesperson. Encourage the other members of the class to ask questions and provide feedback, as well as giving your own feedback. Then, encourage learners to reflect on their participation in the lesson.

Read our blog posts 'Activities to nurture creativity in the classroom' and '21st-century skills and the English language classroom'.

Learn about our courses

More blogs from ɫèAV

  • Business people stood together around a laptop in a office

    Learning English and employability

    By Tas Viglatzis
    Reading time: 4 minutes

    English not only opens up career opportunities beyond national borders; it is a key requirement for many jobs. It’s also no longer a case of just learning English for employability, but mastering English for business – and that means an on-going commitment to learn.

    My experience is consistent with this trend. If I had to estimate the value that being fluent in English has had on my career, I'd say it was my entire life’s earnings. Learning English has offered me educational options beyond the borders of my own country and enabled me to develop the skills to work for global companies that operate across national boundaries. I have been privileged to work in different countries in roles that have spanned functions, geographies and markets – and my ability to learn and evolve my English skills has been an underlying factor throughout.

  • A teacher showing her students a globe, with her students looking at the globe, one with a magnifying glass in hand.

    What’s it like to teach English in Turkey?

    By Steffanie Zazulak
    Reading time: 3 minutes

    Alice Pilkington qualified as a CELTA (Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) certified teacher in October 2009. She started working in Rome before moving to Istanbul, where she’s spent the past three and a half years teaching English to “everyone from 8-year-olds to company executives; students to bored housewives”. Having taught in two very different countries to a diverse range of English learners, Alice shares with us the five lessons she’s learned:

    1. Don't take things personally when you're teaching English

    "I am probably not emotionally suited for this job. I take everything very personally and if a lesson goes wrong or an activity I have taken time and energy to plan doesn’t work, I feel like a complete failure. It’s a trial and error experience but when things go wrong, they can go very wrong, and it really makes you doubt your abilities as a teacher.

    Having said that, the lessons that do go well can make up for these negative feelings. I shouldn’t take things personally; the majority of my colleagues don’t and it saves them a lot of sleepless nights"

    2. Teaching English is incredibly rewarding

    "There are very few feelings that I’ve experienced that compare to seeing a student use a word that you have taught them – it makes you feel like a proud parent. Equally, seeing a student improve over a series of months is so joyful.I have been teaching English university preparation students for the past year.

    In September, they could barely say what their name was and what they did over the weekend. Nine months on and they’re capable of reading academic texts and speaking at length about marketing strategies and environmental problems. It’s a wonderful thing to observe"

    3. Teach more than just English

    "Turkish students love hearing about how you appreciate their food and cultural traditions. Equally, they are genuinely interested in understanding how things operate in the UK and enjoy hearing personal anecdotes.I tend to be very open with my students – even about my personal life.I think it is partly because I have striven from the very beginning of my career to be seen as their equal.

    Turkish students are used to having a huge respect for teachers, and there is a hierarchical system in schools here, which I can never go along with. In my first lesson with most students, I tell them that they must call me by my first name (usually you refer to teachers here as ‘hocam’ which means ‘my teacher’ and shows respect) and this can take a long while for them to get used to."

    4. Failure to prepare is to prepare for failure... or is it?

    "Lessons that you spend hours preparing for generally don’t go as well as you had hoped. There were several times when I’d spend hours cutting and sticking things on pieces of card and placing pictures all over the classroom, hoping it would get some vocabulary action going, only to start the class and receive no response from the students.

    Conversely, lessons where you don’t feel very motivated or have no idea what you are going to do until you get into the classroom (which I call the ‘flying by the seat of your pants’ lessons) can turn out to be the best ones. I once had a lesson in which I was, admittedly, rather hungover. On the way to the lesson, I grabbed a book called ‘Taboos and Issues’, full of discussion topics, which I used as a basis for a rather impromptu lesson on addictions, which was very successful indeed."

    5. Teaching English isn't easy

    "Teaching English is a love/hate profession. There are weeks when you absolutely loathe it and want to quit, but then within the space of a lesson or two, you get inspired by something completely unexpected, rediscover your joy for it and love it again."

  • Children sat next to their teacher in a classroom, smiling at eachother

    Tailoring language learning for diverse needs with the GSE

    By Heba Morsey
    Reading time: 5 minutes

    Why inclusive language teaching matters more than ever

    You’ve probably heard the word “inclusive” more and more in recent years, though I first encountered it over 20 years ago. (I say 20 because that’s when I graduated, and we had a course on diverse learners called “individual differences.” But back then, actually meeting their needs wasn’t nearly as comprehensive as it is today.)

    Today, learners come with a wide range of proficiency levels, cognitive styles, educational background, and personal goals. That’s why — it’s essential. In simple terms, inclusive teaching means making sure all learners feel they belong and can succeed.

    It calls for differentiated instruction, flexible assessment and learning materials that respect individual needs. That’s where the Global Scale of English (GSE) comes in.