Preparing our Learners for the Future

Recently I attended a talk by Francis Valintine the founder and chair of The Mind Lab. Mind Lab is an education provider that is dedicated to enhancing digital literacy across New Zealand. This talk opened my eyes regarding the importance of incorporating digital technologies into our classrooms and how essential these skills will be for our learners in the future. 

What came through strongly in the talk was; 

• Many of the 'analogue' jobs in New Zealand are disappearing. These so called 'analogue' roles are turning into new digital roles and re branding under a different name. 
• We need to educate our children so that they learn skills such as the ability to be flexible and adaptable in order for them to be successful and ready for the future. 
• We want our children to continually gain new knowledge and find the solution to problems. Retaining facts is no longer important, it is these other skills which children need to learn for the future ahead.
• We are at a fundamental transition time in the world and we need to prepare our children for this. 

"Is our current education system preparing our children for a world that no longer exists?"


One thing that stood out to me in the talk was that New Zealand's third biggest issue was our "inadequately educated workforce", this was followed by our "insufficient ability to innovate". With all the technology and digital roles in our country that we can't fill - this has made me understand that we need to change our education system.

Our education system shouldn't look like it did decades ago. Although our literacy and numeracy skills are still fundamental in our schools, we must adapt our old teaching styles and be more willing to teach children new skills such as the ability to problem solve, collaborate and to be resilient.   

I really enjoyed the talk by Francis Valintine, it certainly opened my mind to what the future of education should look like. I am looking forward to learning more about collaborative practice and digital learning for the future with The Mind Lab. 

https://nztech.org.nz/blog/my-letter-to-parents-frances-valintine/

http://themindlab.com/about-us/

https://educationcentral.co.nz/opinion-frances-valintine-future-focused-who-are-we-fooling/