How to link industry specialists with teachers

(For a summary/systematic reading , please read the topic sentences of each paragraph, a 1-minute read)

Preramble: Welcome to a ground-up approach, starting in reality and then shooting into some pretty blue sky thinking. Teaching can be a lot more malleable than it currently is, and can allow altruistic industrialists to partake in what I have found to be the most rewarding of work. So why not leverage our tech to further involve industry in education?

Education isn't as closely linked to industry as it should be. In my previous article (A less academic curriculum is a better curriculum ) I argued my case for changing this. We will go into a specific way in which we might be able to here. As well as exploring the why within a school context.

Teachers tend to lose track of, or don't have, industry experience related to their academic subjects. I personally experienced this issue. I started my career in the world of engineering and spoke of this experience whilst teaching for the next 8 years afterwards. I have recently returned to industry work and boy oh boy was my advice outdated! Only a few subjects typically have the networks to include industry specialists in their curriculum. Other subjects soldier on disconnected from industry specialists who are looking to pass their wiles onto the next generation.

Academic teaching is becoming less relevant with its content and more focused on outdated metrics. Students of mine have graduated school with mediocre grades that I would hire in a heartbeat, whilst others that need a lot more growth to be able to work well on a team have scored nigh on 100%. Academic rigour is relevant to academic study. We need to stop conflating it with overall competence.

With all this said, teachers don't have enough time to make connections with industry and so need to outsource it. I spent a year trying to find a university lecturer willing to come into school and speak with the students. I couldn't even get past their office staff for a proposal. However, we're in luck. Companies exist that already have a network of industry specialists eager to help teach the next generation. And what's more, they are now far easier to connect with given the EdTech adoption education has recently gone through.

Once industry links are established, teachers will be able to adapt their curricula to include industry perspectives on the implementation of their subject. We could begin by introducing an industry specialist or two for a couple of lessons as a Q&A to bookend project-based learning topics. Eventually building up to consultation periods where students will need to work continuously with said specialist to produce something of worth. A caveat. This will not be possible if we do not strip back the content of our current curricula!

The final stage of including industry specialists in our teaching could lead to secondment-style agreements that allow teachers to work in tandem with them as facilitators of learning. Whilst the industry specialists provide 'subject' knowledge. Thus potentially creating a completely different subject for students to learn. The larger view here shows fixed academic subjects relevant to student interests as an indelible program of study in case they wish to continue on an academic path - paired with transitory industry courses that have universal learning methods taught using up-to-date industry knowledge.

We need an education system that is as adaptable as its students will need to be in the future. The liberal arts prove a great basis to provide stability for students to continue learning about the physical world around them. Aside from this though we need a skills-centred approach from an educator's perspective and a content-centred approach from an industry perspective. That way students can have the best of both worlds!

Helpful Links:

• An institution that connects teachers with industry experts - https://pathful.com/connect
• An institution that connects teachers with industry experts - https://www.connect2teach.com/