21st Century Global Citizenship

What is a 21st century global citizen and why does it matter?

Since we launched Makematic we've always tended towards certain kinds of projects.

Projects that had the potential to make an impact in the world. Change the way people think. Fill gaps. Help prepare young people for an uncertain future.

Whether that be by showcasing the hard work being done around the world to address the UN Sustainable Development Goals or simply helping teachers get to grips with technology.

But it's only recently that we've started trying to understand what kinds of projects we should be doing; and what really excites us as a company.

The 21st Century Global Citizen

When we really start to boil it down, what gets us out of bed in the morning is the idea of helping young people prepare for a fast-changing, technology-driven, uncertain future.

Of course, trying to define that future might be something of a Fools' Errand (sidebar: also the name of my favourite text-based video game from the 1980's) but we can start to think about the kind of skills and traits that will be useful.

We're narrowed it down to our six core themes:

#1 Digital Technology
21st Century Global Citizens will be digitally savvy. They'll understand how technology works, how it impacts the world and how to make it work for them.

#2 Global Mindedness
They'll also be globally aware. Aware of different cultures. Open to engaging. And ready to tackle global challenges.

#3 Civic Engagement
As well as engaging with the world at large, they'll be active participants in their own communities and civic discourse.

#4 Problem Solving
They'll need to have strong creative problem solving and critical thinking skills.

#5 Strong Personal Traits
Necessarily, we believe they'll need strong social-emotional skills like empathy, resilience and perseverance

#6 Career Preparedness
And of course the world of work will be very, very different.

This kind of list is never going to be exhaustive, but we think these six overlapping themes speak to the heart of some of our biggest challenges; both in education and in society at large.

As a company, we see our role as working with the brands, publishers and non-profits who share our aims to bring these topic areas to life through engaging content.

We want to make them accessible to educators, parents and young people wherever they are in the world.