The 21st Century Skills of Junior High School Learners and Their Relationship to Their Academic Performance: Demands of Modern Global Society
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20582152Keywords:
21st century skills, academic performance, junior high school learners, communication skills, collaboration skills, metacognitionAbstract
This study assessed the 21st century skills of junior high school learners and examined their relationship with academic performance at Carlos F. Gonzales National High School, San Rafael West District, Schools Division of Bulacan. A quantitative descriptive-correlational design was employed among 168 randomly selected Grade 7 to Grade 10 learners during School Year 2024-2025. Simple random sampling through an electronic raffle was used. Data were gathered using a modified 21st century skills questionnaire-checklist and were analyzed using frequency, percentage, weighted mean, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient, and analysis of variance. The respondents demonstrated a Very Good level of 21st century skills across nine dimensions. Based on the recalculated average of the reported domain means, the overall weighted mean was 3.48. Socio-cultural skills obtained the highest mean (M = 3.62), followed by learning and metacognition skills (M = 3.57) and decision-making and problem-solving skills (M = 3.51). Creativity and innovation skills obtained the lowest mean (M = 3.37), although still interpreted as Very Good. The source manuscript reported low positive relationships between academic performance and eight skill dimensions, with coefficients ranging from r = .31 to r = .38. Communication skills were reported as having no correlation with academic performance (r = .10). No significant differences in the learners' 21st century skills were reported when grouped according to age, gender, grade level, and academic-performance category. The findings support sustained integration of communication, English-language proficiency, collaborative learning, innovation-oriented tasks, and metacognitive activities in junior high school instruction.
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