Article written by:
Dr. Judit Beke
Co-Creator, GiLE Foundation
Craig V. Johnson
Co-Creator, GiLE Foundation
Sowing Seeds for Tomorrow
- 19 November 2019
GiLE posted a similar article for the World Science Forum 2019.
The Hungarian Academy of Sciences hosted the 20th World Science Forum (Forum), under the theme “Science, Ethics and Responsibility”. As part of this prestigious scientific conference, Global Institute for Lifelong Empowerment (GiLE) hosted an official event that sent out a strong wake-up call on the future of education. The session entailed a series of insightful talks and presentations by various keynote speakers from academia and industry. It highlighted the important need for more multi-stakeholder engagement to discuss the future of education and, perhaps more importantly, what needs to be done to galvanise educators, policy-makers, students and socio-civic groups into action, in order to ensure that our education system are fit-for-purpose in our Digital Age.
Albert Einstein once said that education is what remains after one has forgotten everything what one has learned in school. However, before we focus our efforts on what remains afterwards, it seems that we first need to agree, collectively, on the answers to some basic questions. For example, who is actually responsible for an individual’s education and for the education system as a whole? And can we say that all stakeholders have a moral obligation to ensure that our education systems add value?
Our representation at the World Science Forum 2019:
It is for this reason that GILE focussed their efforts to conceptualise ‘responsibility’ and ‘ethics’ within education at the Forum. Our session addressed a select group of (mainly) PhD and master’s students, representing eleven (11) Hungarian universities and twenty-five (25) countries. After several engaging discussions and though-provoking workshops, our session clearly confirmed that there is in fact an urgent need for a paradigm shift when it comes to updating education systems and further upskilling educators.
There are some traditional ways of educating students that are no longer as effective today and as a result, we must transform the system, such as how we deliver knowledge and how we assess students, for example, in order to meet the needs of societies. Cathy Davidson, a well-known professor and educational innovator, said that “if we are not adding something that only great teachers can add, we should be replaced by a computer screen”. We know that in the future it will be relatively less about your memorised knowledge and rather more about how you apply it (i.e. critical thinking).
"The Digital Age is already upon us and we require a lot more tangible action if we are to appropriately position ourselves for a future career with meaning."
