EDUCATION REFORMS TOWARDS 21ST CENTURY SKILLS: TRANSFORMING STUDENTS' LEARNING EXPERIENCES THROUGH EFFECTIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

This paper reviews literature on learning environments with a view to making recommendations on how teachers could create effective and high-quality learning environments that provide learners with transformative learning experiences as they go through the process of education. An effective learning environment is critical because quality education, which is essential to real learning and human development, is influenced by factors both inside and outside the classroom. Learning institutions have a responsibility to create an effective learning environment that is capable of mitigating the factors that can impede students’ learning as they also enhance those that promote learning. The qualities of a learning environment such as leadership style, physical and psychological security, availability of learning resources, curriculum content, objectives, models of curriculum delivery, assessment and the school culture contribute significantly to student learning either positively or negatively depending on how they are shaped. This implies that teachers have an awesome responsibility of establishing structures that systematically address these qualities to ensure that learning institutions promote individualized learning that is inclusive of all learners. The paper recommends reforms in education with a view to ensuring that learning environments provide learners with opportunities that enable them to go through transformative learning experiences that nurture them with the desire for lifelong education.