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The term ‘School’ is a very important part of all our lives. It is regarded as an enabler of humanity, driven by the responsibility of taking humans from where they are to where they can be. The intent of ‘the concept of school’ is noble, and great. But, now, the time has arrived for the concept of schools to go through some quantum leaps of change. Relevance in the 21st Century has to be the central focus for schools; and, also, to enhance their abilities as enablers for the students of the modern world.
School is often associated with a routine. Waking up to the morning alarm and practising a series of routinised activities every day has become an unsaid norm for all children going to school. This routine has often been quoted as mundane by the 21st Century kids. Moreover, the kids of today’s generation do realise that — learning can happen from anywhere. They know that today ‘Online Schools’ have become a reality. If anyone had any doubts, those were cleared during the way the schools adapted to newer practices during the lockdown owing to the latest Pandemic.
In retrospect, schools already have shown signs of change, and evolution. Schools have shown that choosing a flexible time to learn is possible. They have proven that learning need not stick to fixed routines (at least not all the time). After the Pandemic, schools are already making a strong game-changing statement in front of all the stakeholders of Education —schools have a new purpose now.
So far, schools have been critical in terms of their ability to provide us knowledge, help in building social skills, and self-disciplinary skills, provide primary education, build a social network, etc.
The Schooling System is going through a major overhaul — an evolution of sorts —moving way beyond its past-held rigidity and institutionalization-based model of functioning. Schools are rewriting their purpose, keeping in view the abundance of resources available today, as opposed to the situation in the past. This has become inevitable for being relevant in the 21st Century. They are building purposes that fit the sensibilities of the learners of our age and the ages to come.
But, for getting into the idea of repurposing schools, we need to build on the context driven by the past in terms of the age-old practices related to organised education.
In a layman’s language, education is a process of imparting knowledge; moreover, it is a formalised process intended to provide a levelled playing field to all those who want to use this system to learn.
The crises faced by humanity in the 21st Century have led to schools inculcating a very important realisation that — the acquisition of knowledge cannot happen the way it has happened in the past. Schools are now moving beyond fragmented disciplines-based educational models and uni-dimensional assessments, and moving towards skill-development as a critical focus to enable 21st-century children.
Research shows that with the changing trends in new job opportunities, degrees and marks will reach a point of irrelevance and will not aid in getting jobs or employment. Data from huge employers like Microsoft, Google, Apple, Ernst & Young, IBM, Facebook, and many more depicts that there has been an increase in hiring people who do not possess a traditional college degree (these companies are some forerunners in setting up this trend). Though, traditional degrees will be relevant for the coming few years, but, there are high chances of them turning irrelevant shortly. One of the reasons for this is the lack of conversion of the accumulated knowledge during the graduation period (which is the intended purpose of this period) into applicable skills. Acceptance of such data-driven predictions is enabling schools to repurpose themselves to focus on skills as outcomes of reformed and revolutionised curriculum models.
Schools are reforming themselves to try and fill the chasm between ‘what we learn’ and ‘what we implement’ in our jobs, and our life at large. Schools are working hard towards providing relevance to the idea of ‘Education Empowers’ even in the 21st Century, the age of the information revolution.
Today, schools are working towards adapting curriculums and practices, which are targeted at preparing their future citizens to face the challenges thrown at them after their educational journey. To justify the true meaning of ‘Empowerment’ in 21st Century Education, the educators persevere, day and night, to be the torch bearers of this ‘Change’.
Young educators are pioneering the path for the evolution of the education system in the modern world. They are trying to remove connotations of rigidity and non-flexibility from the term ‘system’ attached to the term ‘Education’. They are reforming the system which once held on to ‘old school thoughts’, conventions, and doctrines that solidified a fixed path to learn. These change agents are enabling a radical change in perspectives, a la evolution in thoughts, to facilitate the reformation of educational practices.
Change Management is always difficult, especially when we are talking about the entire education system at large. A restrain to such change is driven by the lack of upgrade in the practices defined under the role of teachers, lack of innovation in school policies and administration, and lack of acknowledgement of the fact that 21st Century learners cannot be addressed, reached out to, and connected with using generationally-outdated educational practices and philosophies. These concerns are being addressed by modern educators, educationists, EdTech and Educational Research Organisations. And, the changes enabling the repurposing of schools already have begun as an outcome of adapting to new-age practices and philosophies of learning.
Let us address the teaching side of the concern. Learning is a continuous process. One can never stop learning, and teachers are no exceptions. Every industry needs constant upgrading; no industry can work without constant advancements (not just in practices, but, also in philosophies). Educators (teachers and other stakeholders who are involved in the role of imparting education) found no other option but to upskill themselves to remain relevant. They have started converging on 21st-century skills as a fulcrum focus to cater to today’s students and justify the future demands of their potential professions.
Also, in this age, educators are working relentlessly to bring innovative and era-relevant methodologies to the classroom. The age-old methods of teaching are slowly vanishing as practices of the past; this has been a result of the deliberation of educators across the world who are connecting with a student audience that has decent exposure to the 21st Century content easily accessible on the Internet. In our modern world, students have information at their fingertips. So, it becomes inevitable for educators to keep up with their pace and scope of information access. The educators are preparing themselves to keep up with the inquisitiveness and curiosity of the students and focus on explaining and delivering ideas and concepts in the best possible manner. Educators have started adapting to blended learning methodologies in delivering curriculum, providing a holistic approach for the students; this keeps them hooked to ideas and concepts, making them see the practicality of those ideas. The perseverance of educators and schools in scaling up this evolution of practices is in a dire need of unequivocal and relentless support from all the stakeholders of the education system. This is a need of the hour.
Educators have also started placing additional emphasis on the importance of developing a connect (an era-sensible rapport) with the students. They work towards being updated with the content that is prevalent (or trending) among students. This provides them with considerable context into the thoughts-and-opinions trends of these students. This further opens up opportunities for them to associate these trending topics with the fundamental concepts, which leads to better attention among students and maintains their interest in the class. Educators are working hard towards bringing in customisation in terms of learning, into classrooms; classrooms that are being made hybrid (and not just restricted to the typical idea of a physical classroom).
As per a prediction released by Linkedin, there will be 150 million new technology jobs in the next 5 years. The future of education will depend on the following broad skill categories — global citizen skills, creativity skills, technological skills, and interpersonal skills.
As we are discussing how Educators and Schools are moving on a revolutionary path of change in modern-day education, there are a few who are already pioneering such change and inspiring people worldwide. Finland, ranked as one of the best-performing education systems in the world, has designed a curriculum based on collaboration, entrepreneurship, active citizenship, and social awareness through real-world application. They also provide a platform for the students to showcase their skills. A few schools in India have started adapting to this revolution by enabling their students with new-age learning strategies.
Finally, let us draw an analogy from the automobile industry. Let us refer to ‘Electronic Vehicles, aka ‘EVs’. Until now, we have had the luxury of using fuel-run vehicles, without the thought of depletion of resources across ages. But, now, when the entire world is scrambling for alternatives to the non-renewable sources (which have depleted faster than we expected), the need to shift to electronic vehicles has become inevitable. EVs are not the only option. But, the automobile industry already has adapted to the EV tech, and already exploring a variety of renewable fuel sources to drive this tech. Humanity was left with no choice but to bring in an environmental-friendly solution for this stated problem. A few years back, nobody had thought of the fact that we would have vehicles that would run on electricity (even if it is through a secondary drive-source). Today, EVs have become a reality.
In the same way, schools are revolutionising themselves to overcome outdated and irrelevant practices of learning. The Education system is undergoing a paradigm shift in the modern world.
But, these schools, these enablers need much-needed enabling and support from the collective-consciousness of this world. They need to be motivated by the population at large to keep the revolution and the change ‘intact and continuous’.
We, as the citizens of this free world, need to do whatever it takes to keep this revolution going.
If we realise this need before it’s too late, then the upcoming generations — that may consist of our own children and wards — can reap the high-quality benefits of this revolution.
So, let’s bring in this Change, from today. Let’s Enable Our Enablers.
Let us facilitate the repurposing of schools.
Let us enable all our educators, both teachers and policymakers, to usher the new wave of change in Education.
Note:
This post is dedicated to all the educators and educationists of the world, and the perseverance that they demonstrated in the face of the toughest of odds, over the last few years.
Thanks, to all of you.
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