Practically every country planning its post-recession strategy is focusing on upgrading its education system to gain competitive advantage. In a world that has seen globalisation clearly rewarding the winners and punishing the losers in the competitiveness game, such planning is of critical importance. The US, Ireland and Britain are among the countries that are targeting education reform as the main item on their restructuring priorities.
We need to emulate this strategy to ensure that the connection between our economic ambitions and our education system are really effective. Ireland, which used to be considered the most successful EU economy in the last decade, is going back to the drawing board to reform its education system and once again become more competitive.
Danuta Gray, chief executive of Telefoinica 02 in Ireland says: "I get worried when I see less than 20 per cent of students are sitting honours maths in the School Leaving Certificate. If we do not 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 a part and parcel of this exciting new world we are in."
Our own vision for the future of our country is not very different from that of Ireland. Like them we are a relatively small country with a desire to excel in ITC, financial services and tourism. But to make this dream a reality we needed to revise what we teach, how we teach, and the way we assess our students.
We are seeking investment in the knowledge creation industries. To attract this investment we have to prepare our students by giving them the skills that are needed to promote this investment. These skills will include the ability to search, organise, and analyse information. Searching for information through IT tools, like the Internet, is not enough. The value of information technology is in interpreting information and turning it into knowledge.
Our students also need to communicate effectively in a variety of ways. The falling standards of both spoken and written English are a threat to our economic ambitions for the future.
School curricula must be revised to encourage students to collaborate with others of diverse skills and backgrounds; to think critically, innovatively, and creatively; to resolve problems and be entrepreneurial. The learning of these skills can be woven in the teaching of all subjects, but especially those of science, maths and information technology.
This will necessitate a change in the role of teachers and lecturers. Today, lecturers have a comprehensive knowledge of the curriculum goals and materials. We should be aiming to upgrade the lecturers' role to one where they are proficient in coaching and guiding inquiry and collaboration among students. Lecturers should be encouraged to continuously experiment and innovate in their classes and share best practices.
Connecting our economic ambitions with our education system also necessitates a change in the way we assess students. The assessment criteria in certain courses depend too much on acquiring and regurgitating information from text books. The assessment criteria in future should be more based on the ability of students to conduct investigations, prepare reports, make presentations, produce creative work and participate in projects.
Our education system will only become really relevant to the economic realities that our businesses are facing when we create a better balance in the curriculum between the acquisition of factual knowledge and the mastery of applications of concepts, and the development of individual curiosity, creatively, communication and enterprise.
Inertia is our worst enemy. Inflexible mind sets of those who must ultimately decide on the necessary changes, irrational fear of failure, and inflexible bureaucracy that delays the implementation of change programmes are the threats that can derail this change programme.
My experience tells me that there are several senior educators that have the right vision for the future of our education system and its role in achieving our economic ambitions. These people need to be empowered to get on with the job of transforming visions into economic and social realities.
Time is not in our favour. We do not have unique advantages that are not found anywhere else. So, we must outsmart our competitors by thinking, planning, and implementing change programmes in the most expedient way.
jcassarwhite@yahoo.com