Future of Education

FUTURE OF EDUCATION

Traditional teachers are increasingly losing the education war because the teenage students are distracted by the social world. Of course the students don’t see it the same way. They never wanted the endless instruction on topics that are irrelevant to them. They desperately want to learn, but what they want to learn about is their social world- how it works, how they can secure a place in it that will maximize their social rewards and minimize their social pain. (Leiberman 2013:282)

Demographic dynamics and technology are set to revolutionize the workplace. Futurists predict that anything which is “routine” will be automated, virtualized or carried out by robots. Gerd Leonhard, a futurist and author says that “there is one key word that you would not want in future is routine. If your job is routine and it doesn’t matter if it’s cognitive or manual- it will be automated.” And if teachers are to succeed through this disruptive change they need to understand the wide gap which exists between the educational systems and the demands of the workforce.

It remains to be seen how educators on one hand adapt the technology within the classrooms and on the other how futurists are pondering on whether the advances in technology will create more jobs than they destroy. What futurist Leonhard predicts is that large scale job losses will definitely lead to major social and cultural changes. Could it be that with the technological advances in the next decade or so we do not have fixed work force?

If we were to draw an analogy of what the flexible work force would look like- a ‘Film Crew” is an ideal model which comes to mind, where a set of specialists are brought together for the duration of the project and then disbanded.

As educators we need to evaluate how are we evolving and revolutionizing teaching methods and curriculums to meet the demands of the future and curriculums constantly to keep our students engaged.

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