The challenge for the 21st century for educators, families and community members is
seeking to raise and educate children who are knowledgeable, responsible caring and socially
competent. A key challenge for schools involves serving culturally diverse students with
varied abilities and motivations for learning. (Learning First Alliance, 2001). A school for
this purpose should educate students for life and not prepare them for tests only. It will be a
school that offers a diverse and comprehensive curriculum covering the fields of knowledge
and know-how, including not only the traditional curriculum areas of reading, writing, and
mathematics but also music, arts, and physical education (Candeias, 2013; Candeias et al.,
2011; Sternberg, 2008). If we focus on education rather than test preparation, we may find
that students improve in reading, writing, and math, but also in reasoning, resilience, and
responsibility. We can not focus only on students with levels of income or higher, or medium,
or low, but on all students and teach them to be active and productive citizens in a rapidly
changing world.
A key challenge for 21st-century schools is to address the diversity of cultures,
abilities, and motivations of each student (Learnig First Alliance, 2001). Many students lack
socio-emotional skills, which disconnect them from school as they go through the various
cycles, this lack of connection negatively affects their academic performance, namely
performance, behavior and health (Blum & Libbey, 2004). In this paper we present the basic
assumptions to improve learning as a process of knowledge, citizenship and creativity, as a
process that generates well-being and inclusion in a community of learners.Fundação Calouste Gulbenkia
