Theoretical and Practical Knowledge

What are the most appropriate actions to be taken to bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical aspects in education?

First, let us simply try to understand what is meant by theoretical and practical knowledge. From our childhood, theoretical knowledge teaches theories and techniques needed in knowledge gaining. On the other hand, practical knowledge can be acquired by gaining skills to do certain activities with/without theoretical knowledge. It is hands-on experience that is gained by doing things. It is very similar to real life tasks such as repairing home appliances, understand how your vehicle operates, making objects from carved wood etc.

Over the years, I believe the gap between the theory and practice immensely increased in education due to our results-oriented education system as we build a set of students who are good in rote learning with no application skills. Actually, the blame should go to four parties of education. They are students, parents, teachers and policy makers. These parties were lack of agreement about the most important knowledge to be included and highlighted according to trends of technology as all of them are happily confined to a particular curriculum/syllabus. The delivered curriculum/ syllabus of our education system is often less dynamic and not rich in engaging content than I believe it can and it should be. That is my personal opinion.

But with the pandemic, I can see some educational institutes are trying to focus on this gap by improving the learning standards of the students, using their own research and feedback to improve practical skills, involving each party with equal responsibilities and celebrating accomplishments in a different manner etc.

So, here are the actions that I suggest to bridge the gap between the theoretical and practical knowledge. If you are an academic in a university or a teacher in a school, then you need to develop close relation with students and parents/guardians. You need to create and engage in topics (such as personality development issues, current trends of education, employment opportunities etc.) that are culturally relevant but outside the syllabus/curriculum.

I believe in promoting personalized learning which can have a different impact than collective learning as each child is unique. Apart from that, if you belong to any of the four parties that I mentioned above, then you need to set benchmarks and track the progress with certain time frames. There has to be a specific time for self-reflection for each party as well. On top of it, you need to be open minded and ready to evolve with adaptation (without being a prisoner of traditional education).

Tip:

The following link explains tips for addressing the achievement gaps after distance learning.

https://dtlconference.wisc.edu/news/5-tips-for-addressing-achievement-gaps-after-distance-learning/