Developing 21st century skills

Once the current recession is over and inflation brought under control, the question of Malta's competitiveness should again become the main item on the national economic agenda. There are various factors that have an impact on a country's competitiveness and in the case of Malta, labour costs are certainly not the most determining element.

If Malta wants to accelerate its economic growth to reach the average GDP per capita of the more advanced EU countries, we need to create the conditions that foster above average economic growth.

One option we have is capital accumulation - increasing input factors like buying more modern equipment and encouraging more workers to enter the labour force. This strategy will improve economic output and will no doubt contribute to reasonable economic growth for some time. But this approach is also subject to diminishing returns.

There will be a time when buying new equipment will only result in marginal improvements and the momentum to sustainable growth will be lost. Similarly the initial advantages gained through investment in training of workers will slow down unless this strategy is sustained by a third factor that enhances productivity - technological innovation.

Technological innovation is very different from the introduction of technology equipment, which in reality is just new capital. Technological innovation is the application of technology to solve problems, increase efficiencies, develop new products and services, and the creation of new knowledge.

This is where I have a concern about our understanding of the implications of adopting this ambitious long-term strategy for economic growth. Our vision for making Malta a centre of excellence in different fields in the early part of the 21st century must be matched by an education system that promotes knowledge creation, as distinguished from knowledge acquisition and knowledge deepening.

We need to create a synergy between three distinct dynamic forces: new capital, new skills and new knowledge. New capital can be bought, but new skills and new knowledge can only be developed through an educational system that is likely to be very different from the one we have today.

Very often our schools emphasise the memorisation of specific facts and procedures outside the context of their use in the real world. School curricula enumerate a large number of facts and concepts within school subjects and emphasise their acquisition. Assessments are composed of a few extended open-ended multi-part problem-based projects that embed key concepts and principles and correspond to real world situations. The move to a knowledge acquisition stage has to be based on a more profound participation of students in their own learning. As the education expert Robert Korma states:

"Teaching for knowledge creation consists of challenging students to build their knowledge and explore new topics. Collaborative projects and investigations involve searching for information, collecting and analysing data, generating knowledge products, and communicating with outside experts and audiences to share results. Rather than being passive listeners, students are engaged in applying their new knowledge to the solution of complex tasks."

Countries like Ireland, who face a similar challenge to that being faced by Malta, are basing their reforms to improve their competitiveness on revamping their educational systems. Danuta Gray, CEO of Telefonica 02, the second largest mobile operator in Ireland, sees her country's future in science and ICT technology. She frets about the low number of Irish students going in for science, engineering, mathematics and computer studies.

Her warning to her country's policy makers is very sobering:

"If we don't create the foundation for people who have a genuine desire to do science, technology and computing studies, we won't have the raw skills needed to take advantage of the innovations and ideas that will be part and parcel of this exciting new world we are in."

As Prof. Kozma states: "It is only when our students are able to think critically, communicate effectively, use technology, work well in teams, learn continuously and produce new intellectual and creative works that sustainable and equitable growth is possible."

We need to ask ourselves whether this is what our education system is really achieving.

johncassarwhite@yahoo.com