How to reimagine education for the 21st century

Across the globe, education systems are facing a critical reckoning. Employers report that too many graduates enter the workforce lacking the skills needed to thrive, such as communication, collaboration, and critical thinking. This disparity between the skills students have and the ones employers need can be partially attributed to the traditional “factory model” of education. In this system, teachers deliver content to large groups of passive students, and success is defined by scores on tests that heavily rely on rote memorization. To meet the needs of the 21st century workforce, educational success must be redefined.

Organizations like the OECD and UNESCO are leading the way in this endeavor. The OECD’s Future of Education and Skills 2030 project promotes student agency, socioemotional development, and interdisciplinary learning, while UNESCO’s Happy Schools initiative encourages inclusive, joyful environments that foster curiosity, empathy, and lifelong learning. Importantly, these programs are evidence-based and grounded in the science of learning, an interdisciplinary field that seeks to improve students’ outcomes within and outside traditional learning environments. Moreover, these programs adopt a breadth of skills approach that highlights the importance not only of traditional academic outcomes, but also skills such as self-regulation, curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking. Still, while these frameworks reflect well-established findings, the shift from policy ideals to everyday classroom realities has been slow and inconsistent.

Empirical research demonstrates that several instructional principles are associated with supporting these 21st century skills. Although we have long known that these principles foster deeper learning, they remain underutilized in many traditional classrooms—in part because traditional academic testing does not capture many of the broader skills these principles support. As a result, stakeholders like parents, school boards, and policymakers may undervalue these approaches, focusing instead on more easily measured outcomes like standardized test scores. However, the science of learning demonstrates that students learn best through experiences that are active rather than passive, engaging without being distracting, and meaningful by connecting to prior knowledge or real-world contexts. Learning is also deepened when it is socially interactive, encouraging collaboration with peers and teachers; iterative, allowing space for experimentation and revision; and joyful, fostering a positive emotional connection to learning. All of these principles are evident in guided play, which encourages child agency while an adult provides support towards a learning goal.

Several existing long-standing educational approaches, such as Montessori, Waldorf, and project-based learning embody these principles and demonstrate promising results in improving skills and learning outcomes. The Active Playful Learning (APL) project is one pedagogical model rooted in guided play and built around the principles, or pillars, of active, engaged, meaningful, socially interactive, iterative, and joyful learning. Through these pillars, APL seeks to promote child and teacher agency and support a suite of skills known as the 6Cs: collaboration, communication, content mastery, critical thinking, creative innovation, and confidence. APL is a teacher-centered approach that offers personalized coaching and practical strategies that can be integrated into any curriculum. Another core element of APL is grounding lessons in students’ lived experiences, empowering them to take ownership of their learning and develop as confident, capable learners. APL was developed to help bring the science of learning into everyday classrooms by providing educators with concrete, research-based strategies that can impact teacher practices. In doing so, it aims to bridge the persistent gap between the research and what is typically practiced in schools.

APL was tested for feasibility in kindergarten classrooms in the U.S. state of New Hampshire through examinations of teacher perspectives and changes in classroom practices. A recent pilot study expanded the project to 43 kindergarten and first-grade classrooms in 4 additional states. Preliminary findings are detailed in a new Brookings working paper, Teaching in the way human brains learn: First results from Active Playful Learning.

Observations that took place before APL implementation in the new cohort of 43 classrooms revealed a heavy reliance on passive learning. Students spent over 50% of their time in teacher-led instruction, with only 5% of the day involving collaboration with peers. Even more concerning, 16% of the time, students were completely unoccupied. These findings align with another classroom observation study and highlight a broader lack of student agency, which contributes to disengagement and chronic absenteeism.

After receiving APL coaching, teachers observed an increase in student agency, with students more likely to freely choose tasks on their own and contribute to large group discussions. Coaches observed that teachers more frequently implemented playful learning practices that support students’ agency, such as small groups and hands-on learning. Coaches also rated student engagement 16% higher compared to the beginning of APL. We are currently analyzing independent classroom observations and hope to see more indices of teachers supporting student agency. For example, in these observations, we rated teachers’ responsiveness to students’ questions and whether they connected the lesson to students’ lives and interests. It is also crucial that teachers experience the value of the APL approach firsthand. In our sample, over 90% of teachers reported that APL strengthened their relationships with students and supported key student outcomes, including critical thinking and confidence.

Active Playful Learning provides a science-based educational framework centered on pedagogy rather than prescribing a new curriculum. This approach empowers educators to apply principles from the science of learning within the context of their existing local curricula and classroom environments. At its core, APL aims to foster a more positive and engaging learning experience for both teachers and students—something that is urgently needed in today’s educational landscape, where teacher attrition and student absenteeism are reaching crisis levels. While the findings described here are preliminary, they offer a meaningful path forward—one that better reflects the needs of today’s learners and the world they’re preparing to enter.