1. Chile 

Chile’s educational system was structured along the lines of the 19th-century France and Germany models, and it was regarded highly in Latin American countries. It is divided into eight years of education, which is free and compulsory for all citizens. After that, there are also four years of secondary education, which are optional. It is worth knowing that almost 90% of the country’s 15 or above citizens are considered educated or literate. Chile is one of those countries that offer their poor students 50%–100% scholarships, due to which most of the youngsters, if not all, have direct access to the best education that the country can provide.There is a high and noticeable presence of 21CC in different subjects as well as CFOs. In the Chilean curriculum, the terms used for cognitive process and strategies are critical thinking, problem-solving, analysis, reasoning, and arguing. Similarly, for knowledge, the terms used are information literacy, active listening, oral and written communication, etc. And for creativity, the terms that are used are creativity as well as innovation. If one analyzes in detail, it can be easily seen that the Chilean curriculum matches Hilton and Pellegrino’s framework. The ones that are favored are the cognitive skills, while on the other hand, intrapersonal competencies, as well as the interpersonal competencies, are postponed. 

2. India 

India is one of the most populous countries in the world. Due to the high number of its citizens, towering over a billion people, its educational system has to be different and a lot easier to manage and practical at the same time. For 21st century learning, India applied the National Curriculum Framework in 2005, also known as the NCF 2005. This particular framework aims at education throughout the country, which is aspirational and can easily be applied on a larger scale. There is also the inclusion of pedagogies that are used for its implementation. Further down the road, these are broken down in India’s textbook for the learning goals and grading system. 

There is a high recognition of the teacher’s potentials and the textbook’s capacities in general when one considers the NCF 2005. This framework can easily be applied in the different regions of India with other languages. But one can argue that by using this system, there is a visible problem in implementing the skills required for regressive impact when it comes to hierarchal thinking and those related to it.

3. Singapore 

Due to the technological advancements of the 21st century, all countries, especially the developed and developing countries, have to create various new tactics to provide the best education for their students that modern life has to offer. It is now much different than what the students would have expected to learn a couple of decades prior. Due to increased knowledge and data, Singapore, like many other countries, is doing its best to keep up with the latest technology when it comes to education. 

There are various policies and initiatives that Singapore has put in place to keep up with the latest trends. These include the detailed review of the related literature, which aims to remove any non-necessary and outdated information from the courses. It is a framework that is developed by the Ministry of Education. There is also a teacher’s educational model specifically developed and designed by the National Institute of Education. There are also countless web materials and many government reports and official documents that aid tremendously in the betterment of this particular sector within Singapore.  

4. USA 

The United States of America is the No. 1 superpower of the world. It is arguably also the world’s most developed country. Generally, one would expect that its educational system would be the best in the world or at least one of the best. Understandably, this is American citizens’ expectations, especially considering that the US’s education is notcheap by a long shot. Each of the 50 states has its system of education. For this particular case, the state of Massachusetts is selected. 

Massachusetts has a high performance in many of the fields within the educational sectors. It has been regarded as the state with the best academic record throughout the US’s history, but recent times have demanded many changes be brought about. And Massachusetts has responded by making changes. In 1993 the state passed MERA, the Massachusetts Educational Reform Act. This introduced many curriculum changes over seven years, which still play an essential role in the Massachusetts educational sector’s critical aspects. Other measures included RTTT (Race To The Top) as well as MCAS (Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System). 

5. Mexico 

Unlike most countries on this list, the Mexican education system is not a good one and moves forward at a sluggish pace. This is not just the opinion of outsiders but is sadly acknowledged by the Mexican citizens themselves. Many criticize the National Union for Education Workers (SNTE) as the driving factor for this particular failure. Things have gone so badly that a Constitutional Amendment had to be passed as a matter of urgency in 2013. As of now, there is a strong influence of the 21CC all across the country, but the poor education record in the country is bedeviled by despair brought about by the vicious circle of criminal activity, which is pervasive and only too evident in the form of gangs and cartels throughout the country.

6. China 

China is the most populous as well as one of the strongest countries in the world. Education has a vital role to play in its success. China has an educational heritage stretching back over a thousand years. Today many aspects have developed and changed, but many basics remain the same. Because of this, the people today are well educated, and it’s no exaggeration to say that the Chinese economy is booming.  

It is no secret that China is a despotic regime. Any form of dissent – much less the ridiculing of the President-for-life by television presenters and comedians, for example, something we in the US take for granted – would be unheard of. The citizens are only too aware that being sent to harsh concentration camps is only a knock on the door away. The Chinese have always had an earnest work ethic throughout society and the workforce. This is also evident in a tangible sense of purpose among the students, where ill-discipline, disobedience, or laziness in schools is practically unheard of. The emphasis on successful grades is paramount, sometimes excessively so, with some students who get low grades being ashamed to the point of taking their own lives. They attach quite an importance to teacher/student relations. It is just one of three themes in the China educational system.  

Another noticeable feature is the 2006 Amendment of Compulsory Education, which rules that nine years of education are mandatory for every Chinese citizen and free of charge. That means that it was on the taxpayer, i.e., the government, both central and provincial, to bear its citizens’ educational expenses. Thanks to their assiduous application of every laudable aspect of education, today, China is one of the world’s leaders in almost every field imaginable.

 2. What are common themes among the cases? 

The study was a cross-national one and was explicitly aimed at the educational sector in six different countries. It was clearly found that in all the countries under the spotlight, the purposes which were outlined under the national curricular frameworks have been considerably expanded in the last two to three decades and now include the development of competencies of a substantially broader range. There is also a more comprehensive range when it comes to intrapersonal, social as well as cognitive skills.  

The educational sector’s goals in all of the six countries have also been broadened to some extent because an understanding of the competencies has expanded when it comes to the empowerment of the people for the sole goal of living a good life. It is also seen visibly that most of the previously or even currently in place are failing because there is an increasingly high demand for performance from both the administration and the teaching staff in almost all of the six countries.  

This has eventually led to a rather bizarre paradox, the likes of which have never been seen before. According to this paradox, people are expecting higher education and demanding more and more from the educational sector in current times. The traditional ways in this field have been useful for hundreds and, in some cases, even thousands of years, are now dwindling like never before. One of the most significant reasons for this in this new era, mostly because of the latest technology, students now have instant access to information that prior generations did not have. They are now becoming more and more aware of what is happening on the other side of the world and the secrets to the success of the other countries. The students are very aware that if they keep on using traditional learning methods, they will not learn what they should to competewith the rest of the world. They might be successful to some extent on a smaller scale, but their chances of success are slim on a larger scale by using only traditional methods.  

It can be seen in general that all countries are doing something to make their educational systems better. But depending on the country, there is a massive difference between taking the initiative or passing a bill in the parliament and seeing it eventually achieve the intended goal. All of the countries face problems that are different from each other and are putting out solutions accordingly. However, it is almost certain that these solutions are just not enough to make the education system ideal. A lot of effort is still needed to provide the student with the best education that the twenty-first century offers. 

3. What are areas of distinction among the case? 

Every country in this study has implemented strategies that are specifically suited to it. Because of the differences in population and the fact that the approach towards the betterment of the educational sector varies in every country, their strategies and the implementations will differ in every country that is focused on here. 

1. Singapore 

There can be an effective partnership between the National Institute of Education, Ministry of Education, and 360 schools within a nation in Singapore. This has led to the establishment of unique combination synergistic mechanisms, a combination of goal alignment and expectations related to systematic coherence. Together these aids tremendously in the implementation of various strategies that are set by the relevant ministries. The Ministry of Education, in particular, went on to develop a conceptual framework in accordance with the twenty-first-century competency, which was spelled out as “Desired Outcomes of Education” and was broadly communicated to all actors within the system. 

2. China 

In China, the curriculum framework implementation is highly dependent on the structure of governance, which aids in balancing decentralization and centralization, which is reflected in a three-level curriculum structure that includes school bases, national and local curricula. When it comes to the national curriculum, it accounts for approximately 80% of the entire curriculum, while the local and the school-based curricula account for the remaining 20%. The national curriculum framework is developed by the Ministry of Education, whereas the local authorities are responsible for schools’ curricula within their administrations. 

3. Chile 

When it comes to Chile, the curriculum reforms that it has are part of various educational policies, including computers, guides, textbooks, etc. All of these are in direct support of the school teaching as well as the full school day adoption. There are many programs related to school improvements aimed directly at collaboration amongst teachers. As well as that, a substantial professional development has been offered to the teachers as well. But noticeably, it is not at all aligned to the new or improved curriculum. 

4. Mexico

As mentioned earlier, Mexico is arguably the least developed country in this list, specifically its educational programs. There are various reasons for that, and the fault goes throughout the national hierarchy up to the governmental level. New technology programs, textbooks, redesigning of the educational materials, and the wide publication of the national curriculum were few of the instruments or tools that were adopted for the implementation of the new and supposedly improved curriculum. There has also been a considerable investment in various teacher programs throughout the country, but these programs are not in accordance with the new curriculum. 

5. India 

In India, the tactics and strategies used for the implementation of the National Curriculum Framework or NCF 2005 included the translation of the required textbooks into the languages that were suited to a particular region, new syllabi, and new books and teachers, along with the parent preparations. In the last decades, efforts have also been made to develop textbooks on the national level that is in accordance with NCF 2005. But as shown by this study, little progress has been made in each field because there is a lack of capacity on the teachers’ side to properly implement the curriculum. 

6. USA 

The various approaches that the United States of America has adopted in support of twenty-first-century learning include gradually aligning the standards of teachers with the new curriculum, multiple policies that aid in the stimulation of partnerships with numerous businesses as well as the nonprofit organizations, and aligning of theassessment with the competencies of the highest order in various languages, which include science, mathematics as well as the arts.