The Coalition of School Networks (CoSN) published a video, “Learning to Change, Changing to Learn” a number of years ago. The video was published in response to a US Department of Commerce survey of 55 industrial sectors in relation to their ICT intensiveness. This survey found that education ranked 55, the lowest, below coal mining. The video features a number of international experts who describe what 21st century learning is about and how the world of school differs dramatically from the lives of young people.CoSN has now created a new video featuring young people,”Learning to Change, Changing to Learn, Student Voices” to give young people a voice to describe their world.
Take a few minutes to view both videos and consider if this is the case for us in Ireland – are our schools promoting 21st century teaching, learning and assessment and if not what do we need to do to bring about change? A recent report, The Next Leap – Competitive Ireland in the Digital Era calls for reform of our education system in order to prepare citizens for this new digital world. The paper does not spell out what our reformed education system could look like but none the less it recognises we do need to change. Do you think we need to reform education or is the system fine as it is to prepare our students to become active citizens of the 21st century?