Abstract:

More and more adolescents are making the transition from secondary education to higher education. This transition to higher education is a critical period for any student and requires adolescents to adjust to a new learning environment and taking responsibility for one's own learning. For this reason, the first year is seen as crucial for student retention and success in their further years of study. However, the majority of students do not have the basic knowledge, habits and skills to be successful in the first year of higher education. Yet, it is an open question what collection of skills are important for a smooth transition into higher education. Therefore, this review focused on the following research question: what is the influence of 21st century skills on the transition to higher education? The aim was to perform a systematic literature review in order to provide insight into the importance of several 21st century skills for the transition to higher education. The 21st century skills examined in this literature review are: communication skills, information skills, critical thinking and problem-solving skills, information skills, technological skills and self-regulated learning skills. The results show that all these skills have a positive influence on the transition to higher education. In addition, the literature shows that self-regulated learning and communication skills have the most prominent influence on the transition to higher education. This is followed by critical thinking and problem-solving skills, and information skills. Collaboration skills and technology skills have the least prominent influence. As a limitation to these results, it is noted that most studies in the sample used questionnaires or interviews and had relatively small sample sizes. Future research could use larger samples sizes and different instruments to investigate the role of 21st century skills in the transition into higher education. Moreover, the role of collaboration skills and technological skills could be explored more extensively.

Keywords:

21st Century Skills, Higher Education, Transition, Self-regulated Learning.