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The workplace is changing in ways we were not expecting and suddenly the competencies have become the most sought-after set of capabilities and skill sets within almost all workplaces. In our workplace, being able to access knowledge is one thing but what is more important, is being able to take that knowledge and develop it into a deeper understanding and then apply those understanding's to be innovative and ingenious, allowing the creation of new products, systems, environments and media. Understanding the learning process is second only to the competencies in terms of importance in the workplace and in our day-to-day social and relational lives.
All these changes are fundamentally shifting the purpose of school, as schools are where young people learn to contribute and function within the increasing complex experience we call life. We still need to prepare our young people to enter the society and communities that they will live in and to do that successfully. Suddenly the ground underneath our educator feet is shifting and many of us are unsure of what direction we should take, with the default being ‘business as usual’.
However, there are clear trends that are identifiable and we need to start addressing these and make urgent changes to what curricula look like, to prepare learners so they have the capability to manage the complexities of their 21st-century lives.
As in the previous education paradigm, this emerging paradigm shift is starting to take shape and suddenly we are asking educators to rethink the very nature of their role and the role of schools in their communities. After less than 200 years of the current education paradigm we now need to build the new education paradigm and its implementation is urgently required.
By default, this paradigm shift will require engaging educators in making the first major transformation to curriculum and the processes that take place within schools, since the early 1800’s. Schools are one of the last organisational institutions to adapt to the new environment we find ourselves living in now. This is due to schools being one of the most conservative organisations within society. Educators will be making the significant changes in a very public environment and hence under significant scrutiny. Any modifications on this scale need to be agreed on by government, communities, business’ as well as the parents/caregivers of those that attend our schools. We need to be bold and assured that what we are doing is in the best interests of the learners in our care.
The background reading regarding ‘why humans run the planet’ is helpful in providing an understanding of the necessity of humans to adapt quickly to the numerous changes across technologies, relationships, global communications, access to knowledge, buying and selling, transportation, commercial power supply and finally; schools! The adaptive response from schools so far has been minor with some schools adopting some technologies and some schools trialling innovative learning environments! If schools do not adapt very quickly they will become irrelevant.
The transformations that we have made as a species over the last several millions of years have been extraordinary, especially when we compare ourselves to every other species. Education systems need to make a significant systemic transformation now and adapt to a very different world from the one most of us, as educators, were born into.
For educators, this is a significant challenge and the scale of the transitions required should not be underestimated. What we now require is a professional learning program that is focussed on meeting the actual needs of learners, as well as being consistent, and provide educators with a framework for transitioning their practice to be in line with the capabilities that our young people urgently require. Those transitions will not sit comfortably with many educators and the necessary changes will generate significant debate within schools around the world and this debate is necessary.