Hacking education – who’s got the mind to?
Legacy thinking and preparing students for a world that no longer exists are problems requiring a new generation of bold, progressive leaders in education, who can drive an agenda of change.
But in the opinion of educationalist Frances Valintine, New Zealand is progressing much slower than the rate of change.
“In New Zealand education, there are some brilliant changemakers but I don’t see a culture and clear directive to progress change.”
From the policy to practice, she says the challenges facing education demand long-term strategies that don’t just respond to immediate need. Other countries are well down the pathway of education progress so we don’t need to cut our teeth on new ideas. There are plenty of proven examples of successful new models we could adopt.
Frances cites three key challenges that need to be addressed:
· Education policy is too broad for many of the communities it serves.
· There is underinvestment in teachers’ development.
· In positioning Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths within subject silos, we have miscalculated the real value of STEM, which can be used to develop the problem-solving and growth mindset our children need to be prepared for the future.
Valintine will share her knowledge at the upcoming Leading Remarkable Learning conference, with global education superstars Sugata Mitra and Sir John Jones.
“Today’s students learn more from You Tube and social media than they do from class-based lessons and formal assessments.
“This is the world of ‘just-in-time’ learning where students curate opinions and ideas from multiple sources and apply their knowledge as-and-when they need it.
“Technological advances, the demise of traditional careers, the exponential growth in global student numbers and the re-definition of what it means to be ‘educated’ require new thinking and actions - in and outside the classroom.”
Ends
About the conference
Leading Remarkable Learning is a conference convened by Westmount School to share the opportunity to redefine and refresh views of education, and inspire the education community for the future.
It will present and interpret the latest research and technologies in key areas of 21st century learning:
· Self-organising learning environments
· Schools in the cloud
· Innovative learning environments
· Personalised learning