Opinion
Evolution of Learning Environments – How Educationists would build Indian School of Future Part 2
Read on for amazing insights into the vision of building the school of the future…
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We were keen to feature views of School Leaders and Educators on 'The Evolution of Learning Environments: Building the Indian School of the Future'. The excitement was palpable. Educationists across the country were preparing to gather at the ScooNews EdBrainstorm with Professor Sugata Mitra on April 2 in Mumbai. In preparation for this exercise to discuss the building the Indian School of the Future, ScooNews invited key delegates at the EdBrainstorm to share their vision on the Evolution of Learning Environments. The result was a smorgasbord of ideas and beliefs, a melange of thoughts and concepts, lively agreements and livelier arguments!
The complete story featured in our April 2018 issue, we are reproducing this online as a series of articles to make it comfortable and easier for our online readers, read the 2nd episode for some more amazing insights into the vision of building the school of the future…
Great teaching backed by technology
The Looking Glass of 2030
We borrow a term ‘VUCA’ used by the US army referring to the environment of the educational scenario that we will bequeath to our future generations of students and learners. VUCA, made popular in his white paper ‘Leading in a VUCA World’ by General George W Casey of the US Army (Retd.), looks at the future as Volatile Uncertain Complex and Ambiguous. According to Gen Casey, we live in a connected but unstable world where stability is a passing phase, instability is the norm, and complexity is accumulating. Things change, beyond our control. Being uncertain, it is difficult to visualize outcomes for the future. Integrating the multiple variables affecting our ecosystem is complex – and perhaps impossible. The future is ambiguous too – as the same data can yield multiple and often competing interpretations. In a VUCA scenario, the personal perquisites that are required in institutions and their leaders are as follows…
Vision, to point the way ahead. Courage to articulate a clear view of the future. Character, because leaders with strong values build strong organisations. ‘Trust becomes the glue that binds organizations together’.
Let’s look at the following words of wisdom…
· Developing and communicating vision and strategy
· Building high performing teams
· Setting the internal and external conditions for success
· Preparing for the future
· Taking care of ourselves
Could this possibly be the mantra for the future of educational institutions? Prof Denis Shirley of Boston College, Massachusetts, and writer of 'The Mindful Teacher', points out that the aim of schooling, always defined as an achievement with reference to standardised test score results, had to evolve to the attainment of worthy goals. Integrity had to be balanced with achievement.
Integrity – • as a personal characteristic; • as a professional disposition, and • as a result of a school system. The traditional ideological concept of Integrity has to be replaced by evidentiary imperatives. Integrity that is insular has to become global. He mentioned that 'love of one's country is a beautiful thing; but why does the love have to stop at the borders?' Referring to the book by Michael Ford 'The Rise of the Robots', Shirley pointed out the future was uncertain and technology was going to change civilizations in a way unprecedented in human history. Professionals in the field of education would have to shift mindsets of achievement orientation to student well-being orientation, if we want safety and peace in the world of tomorrow.
A study conducted on PISA toppers of 2015 by OECD has revealed the trauma that children have gone through in the process of achieving the 'impossible and incredible' scholastic goals; it is too large a cost to their young years. A classroom tool suggested by Shirley was to film the children while they were learning. These short film clips could then be run in faculty meetings to get peer critique on how transaction strategies could be made more effective.
We need to lay a great amount of focus on collaborative effort and sharing between teacher communities and global educational communities, bottom-line being that the issues facing our children, across the world now seem to be acquiring a degree of universality, hitherto not seen in ‘boxed up’ civilizations. Contrary to popular belief, it also has a near global consensus on the fact that Great Teaching backed by technology is progress- but Great Technology backed by poor teaching will be a disaster in the classrooms of the future. As a tribute to all that our noble profession has given us, let’s be to each other and our communities… ‘Yours in the service of education…'
About the author:
Sudeshna Chatterjee is the Director Principal, EuroSchool, Airoli.
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