Abstract:

Introduction:
21st century skills are considered essential to successfully transition to higher education. However, student perception of the importance of these skills have seen limited attention in the literature. According to the Self Determination Theory valuing something as important fosters internally regulated behaviours, which relate to higher academic achievement. The objective of this study was to analyse the relation between perceived importance of 21st century skills and academic achievement among students at a public research university in the Netherlands.

Methods:
A cross-sectional study was conducted with 279 Psychology bachelor students from the Erasmus University Rotterdam. Through a survey in Qualtrics, they rated the importance of 42 skills derived from a skills framework for high school and higher education students. The skills were rated using a 5-point Likert scale ranging from not important at all (1) to very important (5). The 42 skills were dispersed into three domains: personal; social; and study skills. The academic outcomes were obtained from the Erasmus Educational Research database and averaged as indicator of academic achievement using a ten-point-system. Mean scores for personal, social, study skills and academic achievement were reported. A two-step hierarchical regression analysis was conducted controlling for study year. Year was added in the first model, personal social and study skills were added in the second model.

Results:
The sample was largely women (82%), with 3% identifying as other than man or woman. They were on average 20.6 years old (SD = 2.3). One third (36%) of the participants were in their second university year or higher. Participants perceived personal skills as most important, M = 4.3, SD = 0.4, followed by study skills, M = 4.1, SD = 0.3, and then social skills, M = 4.0, SD = 0.4. Participants had mostly good academic achievement, M = 7.1, SD = 0.7. The first model explained 2.5% of the variance in academic achievement F (1, 276) = 7.04, p = .008. The findings indicated that year was positively related to academic achievement, β = .16, t (277) = 2.65 p = .008. In the second model, year, personal, social, and study skills explained 2.9% of the variance in the academic achievement though not significant, F (4, 273) = 2.07, p = .085. More variance was explained in the second model, but did not reach significance, ΔR2 = 0.005, p = .735. Year remained positively related to academic achievement, β = .15, t (277) = 2.46 p = .014. Personal, social and study skills did not significantly relate to academic achievement. For personal skills, β = -.04, t (277) = -0.46 p = .649, 95% CI [-0.4, 0.2]. For social skills, β = -.06, t (277) = 0.73 p = .465 95% CI [-0.3, 0.1]. For Study skills, β = .02, t (277) = 0.29 p = .771 95% CI [-0.3, 0.4].

Conclusion:
The present study found no association between the perceived importance of 21st century skills and academic achievement. This relation could be more complex and involve additional variables and/or only be present in certain subgroups of students. It is important that future research takes these factors into account.

Keywords:

21st century skills, academic achievement, educational transition, grades, higher education.