Education in OECD K12: Examining Universal Core Values and Digital Skills within Integrated Competencies

This study aims to develop 21st century skills by addressing the integration of universal values and digital competencies based on the OECD K12 skills framework and evaluates high school students in the context of integrated competencies. The aim of the study is to assess high school students' values education, OECD K12 integrated skills and cross-cutting skills, which are common skills such as collaboration, critical thinking, empathy and cultural awareness, communication skills, problem solving and creativity, responsibility and ethical awareness, digital literacy, self-management and discipline skills. The study was conducted in accordance with the general screening model, one of the quantitative research designs, with 741 high school students enrolled in private and public institutions affiliated with the Ministry of National Education throughout the province of Erzurum. In this context, the 22-item “OECD K12-Based Integrated Student Competency Scale (ISCS)” was developed, reviewed by experts, and then administered to 250 high school students as a pilot study and to 741 high school students as the main study. The scale was administered to students after obtaining research permits, and validity and reliability studies were conducted. In this context, the scale's content validity index was .94; the KMO and Bartlett's Test results were .96, and it was found to consist of a single factor. Additionally, Cronbach's Alpha and split-half test results were determined to be .96 and .90, respectively, and the scale was found to be valid and reliable. In conclusion, it was found that the arithmetic mean of high school students' responses to the OECD K12 integrated competencies, cross-curricular skills, and values education common skills was high; there were no significant differences in terms of gender, school type, institution type, and father's education level, while there were significant differences in terms of grade level and mother's education level.