World of change

By Graeme Salt

Many moons ago, “change is constant” was a phrase drummed into me during my studies of ecology as an undergraduate. Now that I am working in the world of education, the phrase rings truer than ever. With the needs of employers changing rapidly as we enter a Fourth Industrial Revolution dominated by machine learning, how should we in schools and parents at home be responding?

While the future is impossible to predict perfectly, at least we can be sure that change is coming. We can probably also be sure that change is happening at a greater pace now than in any period of history, driven, of course, by the developments and convergence of technology. As a natural start, this is something we can all prepare for: the ability of people to cope with, adapt to and exploit inevitable change. Easier said than done, perhaps, but at least we have something concrete to approach safe in the knowledge that there are formative experiences that can help make people more adaptable, more “future-proof.”

At a recent graduation ceremony at my school, I reflected on what the world was like in 2005, the year these students started their formal education. Facebook operated by invitation only and the first YouTube video had just been uploaded. We were still five years away from Kakao or Dulwich College Seoul (both of a 2010 vintage). People carried separate portable players for music, laptops for email, cameras for photos and phones for, well, phone calls. The convergence of global positioning systems, mobile technology and portable payment methods resulting in beautiful applications like Uber or Kakao Taxi were not even a dream.

By sharing these examples with students and parents, we were reminded of the paradigm shift our lifestyles have seen in just a few years. We also noted just how many jobs are new in this era compared to those unimagined or under-represented in 2005. Once upon a time, young people learned specialist knowledge required for employment through their education at school and university. Now the development of personal and social qualities appears to be far more valuable for those seeking fulfilling futures today.

As well as possessing the attitude and ability to cope with change, I expect the following qualities to be the most valued: having the confidence and aptitude to learn new things; being able to solve problems creatively better than a machine; being able to get the best from other people, in a team or as a leader; and getting the best from themselves through possession of personal resilience and strong support networks.

With conclusions drawn on how to future-proof our students, our approaches are focused on developing these attitudes and talents. This includes framing school as a place where young people learn how to learn in a wide variety of challenging ways, whether that be independently, in a group, creatively, socially or adventurously. The teacher's role is transitioning from being a teacher of specialist knowledge to being a shaper of skills and attitudes. Starting at age three, children are making more choices over how and what they learn, with our harnessing of choice within an ambitious learning atmosphere developing greater engagement and genuine interest in learning. By also responding more to their needs (their personal and collective voice), we find more students discovering what they really care about ― be that a cause, a career, a passion, a dream ― and, we believe as a consequence, greater potential for leading a fulfilling life within a world of change.

The author (Headmaster@dulwich-seoul.kr

) is the headmaster of Dulwich College Seoul, a part of the Dulwich College International (DCI) network of schools.