Rethinking twenty-first-century competency-based education: a Bildung -centred critique in comparative perspective using the Singapore curriculum as an analytic case

Drawing on social science perspectives, research has examined how twenty-first-century competencies are incorporated into educational policies, curricula, and classroom practices across contexts, yet comparatively little attention has been given to these processes from an ‘internal’ perspective that is distinctively educational and curricular. Informed by Bildung-centred Didaktik, this article addresses this gap by critically examining the conceptual framework that underpins twenty-first-century competency-based education. Using Singapore as an analytic case and situating it within the global movement towards competency-based education, the article elucidates three central ideas promoted by the OECD and other international organisations: competencies as educational goals, competency-based curriculum development, and pedagogy for twenty-first-century learning. These ideas are critically examined by tracing their origins and analysing their inherent issues. The article argues that Bildung-centred Didaktik offers a viable and distinctively educational alternative for rethinking educational purposes, knowledge and content, and classroom teaching in comparative and international contexts.