The Extent of Incorporating 21st-Century Skills in the Omani Encyclopedia for Youth and Their Educational Utilization in the Curricula of the Third Cycle of Post-Elementary Education in the Sultanate of Oman

Abstract

The study aimed to examine the extent to which twenty-first-century skills are integrated into the Omani Encyclopedia for Youth and their educational application in the third cycle curricula of basic education in the Sultanate of Oman during the 2023/2024 academic year. The researcher employed the descriptive-analytical method. The study sample consisted of six volumes of the Omani Encyclopedia for Youth. The research tool involved constructing a framework of twenty-first-century skills across three main domains, comprising eleven core skills and thirty-five performance indicators: fifteen indicators for the domain of learning and innovation, eleven indicators for information and media literacy, and nine indicators for life and work skills. A content analysis card was developed to measure the level of skill integration within the encyclopedia. The findings revealed that the overall mean score for the inclusion of twenty-first-century skills in the Omani Encyclopedia for Youth was 3.70 out of 5. The most frequently represented domain was life and work skills, ranked first with a mean of 3.85, followed by learning and innovation skills with a mean of 3.72, and finally information, media, and technology literacy with a mean of 3.44. Based on these results, the study recommended establishing a communication channel between the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Youth and curriculum developers in Oman to ensure the integration of the knowledge contained in the encyclopedia into school curricula. The study further emphasized the importance of promoting the culture of the Omani Encyclopedia for Youth among school students through innovative methods, providing an electronic version of the encyclopedia, and preparing a practical guide collaboratively developed by educational experts and teachers. This guide would outline the twenty-first-century skills embedded in the encyclopedia and propose mechanisms for their effective use in teaching various school subjects.