The demands of the 21st century require educators to adapt and empower themselves with essential traits and skills to cope with the changes and bridge the gap, as they play a significant role in shaping the lives and careers of their students. This descriptive-correlational study aimed to determine the 21st century learning skills of maritime faculty in the Province of Antique, Philippines. The data gathering instrument used was a researcher-constructed questionnaire on 21st century skills, adapted from the study of Kelly et al. (2019), which was revised, contextualized to the local setting, and duly validated by a jury composed of five members. The statistical tools were mean, frequency, and percentage for descriptive analysis; the Mann-Whitney U test; and the Kruskal-Wallis H test for inferential analysis. The alpha level was set at 0.05. The study found that, generally, maritime faculty had a high level of 21st century learning skills. A significant difference existed in the maritime faculty’s level of skills in 21st century learning in terms of communication and media fluency when classified as to the length of service as a seafarer. No significant difference existed in the maritime faculty’s level of skills in 21st century learning in terms of collaboration, teamwork, and leadership skills; critical thinking and problem-solving skills; or creativity and innovation skills when grouped according to age, civil status, length of service as faculty, length of service as a seafarer, and educational attainment. Further, in terms of the communication and media skills of maritime faculty, no significant difference was found to exist when they were grouped according to age, civil status, length of service as faculty, and length of service as a seafarer. Highlights 21st-century skills are essential in the modern classroom By participating in capacity-building workshops, maritime faculty can enhance their 21st century skills Young maritime faculty with short seafaring experience must gain more seafaring experience to integrate those experiences into teaching strategies essential to the 21st century classroom To benefit digital natives, old and experienced maritime faculty must embrace change by using modern teaching methods and strategies Lifelong learning must be encouraged among maritime faculty, which is an essential tool for the development of their 21st century skills
Read full abstract