Education - The Changing Landscape

We are meant to be preparing our children for the future – but we have no idea what that future looks like. We have no grasp on what life will be like in 5 years, let alone the next 12 years (the life-span of a learner in the school system). So how do we plan for the future?

The best way to secure the future is to create it!

Our entire education system was invented to meet the needs of industrialism, so to say the we need to radically rethink the fundamental principals on which we educate our children is prudent indeed. Which principles are we too identify? What needs to change? This is uncharted territory!

Alexandra K Trenfor (see below) gives us an insight into how we should be considering the way forward. The moment we, as teachers, let go of the reins, we are beginning a new chapter in education.

The majority of us 'established' teachers find it immensely uncomfortable allowing our learners more freedom in the classroom - it's completely foreign to every teaching principle that we have learned. In my opening statement I said that we are preparing our children for tomorrow, but we don't have a clue what tomorrow holds, so showing our kids where, how and what to look for, but not telling them what to see is a step in the right direction! The challenge is, where do we go from here. How do we share the reins to allow the freedom for children to interpret what is important for their future and what is simply us clinging onto the past?