The education system has been challenged in such a way that the fundamental preconceptions of the system itself are being re-written.
We are at risk of overloading our educators and overwhelming our learners.
Mental health has become a great concern during the pandemic and will have lasting effects for decades to come.
There is no reasonable way we can expect education to simply return to ‘business as usual’ once things begin to return to ‘normal’. Without an invigoration, a rebrand if you will, we will have a generation of learners and educators who become marginalised and apathetic to their place in society.
The past 12 months have proven it is possible to provide a robust and impactful education by distance, this is no different to the distance learning offered at University level and could be filtered down into secondary and even primary school.
Such a system already exists in sparsely populated areas of the world. Technology is a key driver in the modern world where virtual interconnectivity will become the process of business.
We need to adapt teaching and learning to anticipate the change from predominantly office based functions to a mixed media approach to business.
If a portion of the professional workload will be carried out at home in the future (as looks likely to be a future trend) with meetings becoming virtual then it is imperative that the education system adapts to this way of working.
In doing so learners will be suitably prepared for working life; imagine for example a class using Virtual Reality at home, being led by a teacher from a class room. Could this be the future of international business?
It is the stuff of science fiction, yet most of us believe it will happen at some point, why not now, why not make positive statement from a devastating world event!
At the same time would it also be a blueprint for reducing carbon emissions and improving worker wellbeing, creating a cleaner and healthier environment for future generations?
Obviously practical skills still need to be taught in the class room, creative subjects such as art, music and technology are vital for the national culture while teaching practical physical learning, not to mention team working and social skills.
But these then also have their own status and place in education rather than being considered secondary to the core learning if science, maths and English.
The greatest challenge to this is not the capacity of learners or educators, but the facility and resources to effectively provide such an education while ensuring all learners thrive and have equal opportunity to succeed.
A culture of trust and ownership would need to exist between schools and stakeholders in providing costly tools for home learning, indeed home learning is not always possible.
Could it then be an opportunity for larger classes to be taught centrally from one location while students sit in their own class rooms? Could one lesson be team taught across several schools at the same time through the use of technology?
We know there is a gulf in wealth, health and prospects for many reasons and any solution must be offered to every learner with equal opportunity.
Safeguarding would need to be updated to take into account new challenges and risks, but many of the building blocks have already been laid with current distance learning. Many schools have home and site learning, maybe this could be a trend for the future, whole school cohorts only attending school on reduced days with distance learning on others.
The opportunities are there, the work has already begun, it is the responsibility of policy makers to safeguard today while ensuring a better tomorrow.
Does ‘remote’ learning only apply to school students?
If the principle of class or home-based eLearning can be successfully introduced into the curriculum why can it not then be transferred to teacher learning, sharing best practice, Governance.
Rather than the education system trying to reactively adapt to the job market are we now in a unique position where we as educators can proactively inform the shape of business in the future.
Providing practical solutions that will save money on office space, energy, materials. While reducing carbon emissions and providing workers the opportunity to spend more time living life alongside their work.
In conclusion, I realise this concept if rather grand and far reaching, there are some assumptions made about future economy and world trends.
My proposal is only an evolution of what has come before, however the innovation is the wholistic implementation across the whole of education, giving all learners equal opportunities to succeed and giving Britain the opportunity to not only become a key leader in education but also the future technologically led culture of business.
1335-11