Skillflation und curriculare Perturbation: Implikationen der hochschulischen Resonanz auf KI- und Future Skills

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 09:00:00 +0200

Invited Keynote "Upskilling, deskilling and skillflation. A critical reflection on the AI skills discourse and the implications for (VET) education"

Wed, 01 Oct 2025 00:18:04 +0200

Slides from AIPioneers Conference 22. September 2025, Bremen, Germany

Kompetenzorientierung

Tue, 09 Sep 2025 01:33:18 +0200

Kalz, M. (2025). Kompetenzorientierung. In K., Pasternack, P., Reinmann, G., Schneijderberg, C. (Eds). Handbuch Hochschulforschung. Forschung über Hochschule und Wissenschaft. (pp.275-284) Baden-Baden, Nomos Verlag.

Zukunftskompetenzen und die so genannte Erneuerung der Hochschulen

Thu, 02 Jan 2025 00:18:04 +0200

Erneuerung der Hochschule von Außen nach Innen oder umgekehrt? Kritische Diskussion und Alternativen zur Future Skills-Bewegung

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 01:33:18 +0200

Kalz, M. & Reinmann, G. (2024). Erneuerung der Hochschule von Außen nach Innen oder umgekehrt? Kritische Diskussion und Alternativen zur Future Skills-Bewegung. Impact Free, 57, 1–10.

1. AK Mediendidaktik

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:18:04 +0200

Die Gesellschaft der Medienpädagogik. Praktiken, Theorien und kreative Konzepte für menschliches Medienhandeln.

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:18:04 +0200

Panel "Zur Bedeutung von Künstlicher Intelligenz für die Lerninhalte an Hochschulen"

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:18:04 +0200

Brauchen wir KI-Kompetenzen? Implikationen von Künstlicher Intelligenz für das Lernen und Lehren an Hochschulen

Sat, 24 Feb 2024 00:18:04 +0200

Zukunft revisited. Alternative Konzepte zur Zukunftsorientierung in der Hochschullehre

Mon, 29 Jan 2024 00:18:04 +0200

What are Universities for? Ein kritischer Überblick zur Integration der Förderung überfachlicher Kompetenzen in Hochschulcurricula

Fri, 19 Jan 2024 00:18:04 +0200

Recording

Future-proof teaching in higher education: Broadening the discourse from future skills to transfer-oriented teaching and problem-solving

Tue, 12 Dec 2023 00:18:04 +0200

Zurück in die Zukunft? Eine literaturbasierte Kritik der Zukunftskompetenzen

Sun, 19 Nov 2023 01:33:18 +0200

Kalz, M. (2023). Zurück in die Zukunft? Eine literaturbasierte Kritik der Zukunftskompetenzen. MedienPädagogik: Zeitschrift für Theorie Und Praxis Der Medienbildung, 2023 (Occasional Papers), 332–352.

Don´t believe thy hype. 9 problems with the concept of future skills and 21st century skills

Wed, 05 Jul 2023 09:36:59 +0000

I have written at the end of the last semester a critical review of the concept of future-skills in German (preprint available , still in review) In Germany, there is a plethora of activism around this concept and many higher education institutions feel the need to react to the hype around these skills. This hype even got stronger when ChatGPT got published and now a similar notion under the umbrella of “AI skills” is pushed into the public discourse. I find it really problematic if we start to assume that with every new methodology, technology or important content-area new models or categories of skills are required and I have summarized 9 problems based on earlier published sythesis of evidence of future skills and 21st-century skills:

Lack of integration and relation between concepts

There are many similar concepts like 21st century skills, transversal skills, future skills and alike and the differences and similarities of these concepts have not been referenced. Furthermore, the differences between knowledge, skills and competences are neglected in many publications leading to a lack of integrative power of these concepts (Halász & Michel, 2011).
Lack of model for specific future skills

The specificity and relation between what is called a future skill is unclear and a never-ending list of these skills has been produced. In a recent scoping review Kotsiou, Fajardo-Tovar, Cowhitt, Major and Wegerif (2022) have identified 99 future skill frameworks with 341 skills in total.
Lack of evidence regarding impact on adult outcomes

According to Pellegrino and Hilton (2012) and Lamb, Maire and Doecke (2017) there is not sufficient evidence that what is coined as a future skill or 21st centurity skills has a positive effect on what authors call “adult outcomes”, namely educational success, job success, job satisfaction or civic engagement.
Lack of measurement approaches for future skills

Without more complex approaches of measurement, future skills can harly be measured. Geisinger (2016) and Greiff & Kyllonen (2016) recommend the measurement via open and unstructured problems and triangulated data.
(Implicit) Downgrading of knowledge

By stressing methods like design-thinking and introducing new skill requirements from external sources, the role of knowledge in higher education curricula is downgraded and future skills are often positioned as a second agenda besides the domain-related knowledge building. This can be harmful since there is so much evidence that transfer of knowlegde happens based on the domain expertise of learners. Furthermore, there is research evidence that the downgrading of knowledge is harmful for curricula (Rata, 2012; Young, 2013; Priestley und Sinnema, 2014).
Unclear relation to transfer of learning

Due to the downgrading of domain knowledge there is an unclear relation to initiatives related to near and far transfer of knowledge (Barnett & Ceci, 2002).
Didactical implications

In the discourse it is not clear if initiatives for future skills are related to setting new learning objectives, new learning activities or new didactucal approaches. This differentiation is important for the development of new teaching approaches.
Missing prioritization of skills

The lack of order in existing lists of skills leads to an unclear empirical research basis. Pellegrino & Hilton (2012) argue that research should build on evidence and predictors.
Lack of attention to learning contexts and learning environments The discourse often neglects the role of (real-world) learning contexts and new learning environments to work on these complex problems.

For the higher education context, the discourse often neglects that academic education is per se directed at the future since the goal is to educate people to contribute to the creation of knowledge. In the article I further argue that it is harmful for higher education institutions if they act in a “vicious circle” in which new skill models for the future are defined without clear evidence that these skills have an impact on adult outcomes. Furthermore I argue that a focus on learning transfer is a much more promisig and evidence-based course of action.

References

Barnett, S. M., & Ceci, S. J. (2002). When and where do we apply what we learn?: A taxonomy for far transfer. Psychological bulletin, 128(4), 612.

Geisinger, K. F. (2016). 21st century skills: What are they and how do we assess them?. Applied measurement in education, 29(4), 245-249.

Greiff, S., & Kyllonen, P. (2016). Contemporary assessment challenges: The measurement of 21st century skills. Applied Measurement in Education, 29(4), 243-244.

Halász, G., & Michel, A. (2011). Key Competences in Europe: interpretation, policy formulation and implementation. European journal of education, 46(3), 289-306.

Kotsiou, A., Fajardo-Tovar, D. D., Cowhitt, T., Major, L., & Wegerif, R. (2022). A scoping review of Future Skills frameworks. Irish Educational Studies, 41(1), 171-186.

Lamb, S., Maire, Q., & Doecke, E. (2017). Key skills for the 21st century: An evidence-based review. Sydney, New South Wales: NSW Department of Education.

Pelegrino, J. W., & Hilton, M. L. (Eds.) (2012). Education for life and work: Developing transferable knowledge and skills in the 21st century. National Academies Press.

Priestley, M., & Sinnema, C. (2014). Downgraded curriculum? An analysis of knowledge in new curricula in Scotland and New Zealand. Curriculum Journal, 25(1), 50-75.

Rata, E. (2012). The politics of knowledge in education. British Educational Research Journal, 38(1), 103-124.

Young, M. (2013). Overcoming the crisis in curriculum theory: A knowledge-based approach. Journal of curriculum studies, 45(2), 101-118.

Zukunftskompetenzen und KI-Kompetenz – alter Wein in neuen Schläuchen? Eine kritische Analyse

Wed, 28 Jun 2023 00:18:04 +0200

Recording

Slides des Vortrags vom 19.09.2023

Future Skills |

Skillflation und curriculare Perturbation: Implikationen der hochschulischen Resonanz auf KI- und Future Skills

Invited Keynote "Upskilling, deskilling and skillflation. A critical reflection on the AI skills discourse and the implications for (VET) education"

Kompetenzorientierung

Zukunftskompetenzen und die so genannte Erneuerung der Hochschulen

Erneuerung der Hochschule von Außen nach Innen oder umgekehrt? Kritische Diskussion und Alternativen zur Future Skills-Bewegung

1. AK Mediendidaktik

Die Gesellschaft der Medienpädagogik. Praktiken, Theorien und kreative Konzepte für menschliches Medienhandeln.

Panel "Zur Bedeutung von Künstlicher Intelligenz für die Lerninhalte an Hochschulen"

Brauchen wir KI-Kompetenzen? Implikationen von Künstlicher Intelligenz für das Lernen und Lehren an Hochschulen

Zukunft revisited. Alternative Konzepte zur Zukunftsorientierung in der Hochschullehre

What are Universities for? Ein kritischer Überblick zur Integration der Förderung überfachlicher Kompetenzen in Hochschulcurricula

Recording

Future-proof teaching in higher education: Broadening the discourse from future skills to transfer-oriented teaching and problem-solving

Zurück in die Zukunft? Eine literaturbasierte Kritik der Zukunftskompetenzen

Don´t believe thy hype. 9 problems with the concept of future skills and 21st century skills

References

Zukunftskompetenzen und KI-Kompetenz – alter Wein in neuen Schläuchen? Eine kritische Analyse

Recording