title: Developing 21st century skills through gameplay in Kuwait
Creators: name: Aljarallah, Khaled
Publisher: name: University of Reading
Year: 2024

description: Education in Kuwait does not appear to be evolving and developing to fulfil the needs of the 21st
century. Kuwait’s low marks in international tests are an indicator of a problem that has to be 
addressed and resolved in its educational system. Therefore, whether students in Kuwait are 
being prepared with the necessary 21st century skills has become an increasing concern. Previous 
studies have assessed education in Kuwait and offered solutions for reform, but these have 
ended in failure. Due to the complexity of the problem, this research aimed to explore a more 
realistic and practical approach to spark change in education. The aim was to empower teachers 
with an effective teaching method that would enable them to develop a more engaging learning 
environment in their classrooms. Therefore, the research’s purpose was to explore the possibility 
of developing some of the key 21st century skills, specifically communication and leadership,
through playing games. This research sought to answer the main question: “Do communication 
skills appear to develop through communication activities and, if yes, how?” 
This was an explanatory sequential mixed-methods study utilising mainly quantitative and 
some qualitative methods to explain the findings. The research took place in an after-school 
educational club in Kuwait. The participants underwent a programme that lasted three months. 
The sample was 15 eleven-year-old boys from Kuwait. The programme was designed to teach the 
participants communication and leadership skills through gameplay. Two questionnaires were 
completed by the participants, one at the beginning of the programme, and the other on 
completion. The post-programme questionnaire was followed with an interview. The 
questionnaires focused on communication and leadership skills. The quantitative data from the 
questionnaires were analysed using SPSS. The qualitative data from the questionnaire, and from 
video observations, were used to further explain the findings. 
The results were discussed and interpreted through the lens of the conceptual 
frameworks of Kolb’s experiential learning theory and Bandura’s self-efficacy theory. The results 
showed that the participants’ self-efficacy beliefs in most of the communication and leadership 
abilities mentioned in the questionnaires increased. They also showed that the participants 
gained knowledge about communication skills, which was the focus of this research. 
Furthermore, the study found that the participants were engaged and motivated due to the 
reward system that was associated with the games they played. The research findings 
demonstrate that gameplay is an effective method of engaging students and enabling them to 
develop important 21stcentury skills. This offers a potential solution to existing issues in Kuwait’s 
educational system. In a school or ASC setting, teachers and coaches can take the initiative to
start creating an engaging class environment by using more games to incentive their students. 
This, hopefully, will motivate the students to become better learners.