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Disclaimer: I don't normally write blogs as I think that I express my thoughts better in speech but as I observe education today as we emerge from a gruelling pandemic, I decided to put pen to paper (or rather fingers to keyboard) to share some perspectives on reimagining education to be relevant to today's society. The intention is hopefully to spark some truly needed discussion and hopefully a mini rebellion as we push the boundaries of what education needs to become. This can only take place through educators who are willing to rise up to the challenge and push the necessary boundaries.

The world by choice or by force moved towards serious digitisation particularly in the last two years and education to some extent also had to join the bandwagon but as we returned to the classroom, it seemed to me that we completely missed some key opportunities. That being said, where do we begin to reimagine education? It may be wise to start by defining what the word reimagine means. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, to reimagine is “to think about again, especially in order to change or improve.” Your next question may be, 'so why do we need to reimagine education?'

The case for change is a question of purpose. To reimagine what education can be, we must first question what it is for. Societal changes have certainly brought new challenges for teachers: access to unlimited information, technology, global warming, economic crises and of course Covid-19. And with any new challenge, comes the need to re-examine current approaches to education. In the Caribbean context, we can say that primarily our education system looks at academic attainment from standardized tests to determine success or failure. We can also say that this system is currently not adequately equipping students adequately for their future because although society is rapidly changing, schools are evolving much slower to accommodate these needs and of course, the disruption of Covid-19 highlighted this even more. Two years later and schools for the most part are still struggling even where technology hardware is present.

So what does our education system need to do? Well, let’s take a look at some projections, according to the World Economic Forum Future of Work Report 2020:

More companies are increasingly expanding to remote work and accelerating digitalisation and automation post-Covid.
It is estimated that by 2025, the hours of work performed by machines and people will be equal.
By 2025, new jobs will emerge and others will be displaced by machines.
The most in-demand skills will be a mix of soft and hard skills.
Reskilling will be required to keep the labour force relevant.

Sources: Future of jobs report 2020, World Economic Forum

This data tells us that we need an education system which can produce students who can innovate and create solutions for problems and jobs which do not even exist yet. And while there are teachers, schools and programmes running ahead and embracing these needed changes, they are often doing it DESPITE the broader educational system rather than because of it.

So where do we start in reimagining education? How do we dismantle systems which have existed for hundreds of years? How do we deliberately shift from an over-reliance on standardized tests towards the acquisition of the needed 21st-century skills? How do we implement certain core competencies such as collaboration, digital literacy, critical thinking, and problem-solving that advocates believe schools need to teach, to help students to thrive in today's world? Is it that we just need to add more technology to the classroom? While we can sit here and talk about all that is not working in education and why change is so difficult, I want to say that one of the answers lies within reimagining the role of the teacher. If you are in the business of educating others, you need to understand the changes and evolve. Doing so will be good for you, your students and society and is one of the keys to future-proofing education.

“We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.”

J.K. Rowling

At 21st Century Educators, we have been looking at how the multi-tiered, interactive professional development we have implemented could prepare teachers for future-ready schools. The strategy has been to look at the trends, research and implement professional learning in a myriad of formats to create transformative teachers and to ensure that the end goal is not just to get students with good grades but rather to focus on the whole child development. We have also focused on introducing ICT integration in the classroom because we understand that Technological advances offer novel affordances to engage learners. However, the need to improve the digital skills of our teachers must be grounded on the understanding of the need for evolving pedagogies and content. Otherwise, the technology will just remain a tool and not bring significant benefit to the teachers or students. We want transformative educators who can build the lives of many other educators and students, and this will then have ripple effects on others. We spend so much time focusing on the macro picture that we forget the power of the individual.

However, it must be a deliberate, thoughtful process based on research, cultural applicability and the needs of the teacher! It must also be interactive and carefully implemented and there must be an iterative process to check to see the impact and what is working and what’s not. Our development of teachers must be data-driven and that does not mean the numbers who attended sessions. To have an impact professional learning needs to be sustained and teachers need to be lifelong learners. Teachers must have a space to collaborate which is not limited by geographical or time boundaries. Teachers get to learn from each other.

So how do we begin reimagining and deliberately transforming educators to be 21st-century educators in future-ready schools? Well, let’s look at one of the most well-known examples in nature. How does the butterfly transform?

The Caterpillar