Reimagining Education

Education has a higher purpose than just developing knowledge and skills – of enabling children for a purposeful and meaningful living – and that comes with an understanding of the self and the world around.

Preparing the Citizens of Tomorrow

Our education system is a legacy of the First and the Second Industrial Revolutions when the purpose of education was to prepare skilled labour for the factory system. Though automation and technological advancement radically altered the way we work, play or communicate in the Third Industrial Revolution (1960- ), the purpose of education, unfortunately, has remained unchanged in our current system of teaching the young.

Evidence of dramatic changes is all around us already — artificial intelligence, quantum computing, self-driven cars, genetic engineering, sharing economy, 3D printing, to name just a few. In the near future, the all-encompassing technology- and innovation-driven Fourth Industrial Revolution (2010-) will transform current social, cultural and economic structures into a new world order.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution

Technological revolution that will fundamentally alter the way we live, work and relate to one another
Technologies that fuse the physical, digital and biological worlds such as the Internet of Things (IoT), 3D printing, Artificial Intelligence (AI), autonomous systems, robotics, materials science, energy storage, nanotechnology and biotechnology
Transformational impact on all disciplines, economies and industries
Age of extraordinary creativity, innovation and originality
Challenging of ideas about what it means to be human
Social and Creative Intelligence

The implications of this tectonic shift will be immense for education, workspaces, and employment and employability.

New economic, social and institutional models will emerge

As new models evolve, traditional industries will fade out as will demand for a traditionally-trained workforce

Artificial Intelligence will become ubiquitous

As AI advances, all routine, repetitive work will be taken over by machines

New careers
and
opportunities

65% of students who seek employment in 2030 will work in careers that are unheard of today

‘Human’ skills
will be
most valued

Jobs not taken over by AI will require skills such as social, emotional and creative intelligence, problem-solving, critical thinking, etc.

According to a survey carried out by the Oxford Martin Press (2013 Future of Jobs report), the most important skills relevant to jobs that will not be replaced by technology would be social and creative skills. When we expand some of the findings of this survey and aggregate it with some of what the experts are talking about, skills that are most relevant today are:

Social Intelligence and Creative Intelligence

Social Intelligence

Empathy

Awareness of self & others

PERCEPTIVE COLLABORATION

Perceptiveness, negotiation & conflict resolution

PERSUASIVE COMMUNICATION

Changing minds & hearts

ASSISTING
& CARING

Service- mindedness

SHARING

Trust and transparency

Creative Intelligence

INNOVATIVE PROBLEM-SOLVING

Ability to come up with unusual ideas and develop creative ways to solve complex problems

CURIOSITY

Ability to enquire and to engage deeply

DEEP
THINKING

Ability to connect disparate bits of information and create a holistic perspective. Ability to master essential skills and knowledge

PASSIONATE PERSEVERANCE

Ability to stick with a problem/goal and not give up until successful

DIVERSE & INCLUSIVE PERSPECTIVES

Belief in inclusive practices and quest to understand diverse and global perspectives

These are intrinsically human traits that young children have in abundance. As educators, it is our responsibility to nurture and hone them to ensure that our children thrive in the future. Content is, of course, important. Numeracy and literacy, digital literacy, subject/discipline knowledge as well as learning of processes and skills are critical as they are the basis on which students will be able to evaluate and internalise new and evolving information. However, all this is a means to an end. And the end is to prepare students to become proactive and engaged citizens of the world of the future.

As educators, we are committed to ignite that inner will that will propel children to fulfil their promise as social and creative beings by equipping them with the right knowledge and skills and, primarily, by seeding the right attitude. In a transformed ecosystem of education where learning is no longer confined to schools but available any time and any place, we fulfil our commitment by deploying progressive methodologies and pedagogies as well as by bringing expanded opportunities for learning into the classroom.