Are our schools able to future-proof our children?

GILLIAN KLAWANSKY

“Most classrooms and curricula were developed to address the needs of the industrial age of automation – not the fourth industrial age of cyber-physical systems we find ourselves in,” says Michelle Lissoos, managing director of Think Ahead Education Solutions, which works with schools across SA, assisting them with implementing 21^st-century education technology solutions to prepare pupils for today’s world.

“Schools are the key players in preparing our children for this uncertain future,” adds Lissoos.

“As a community, we need to redesign what we teach, how we teach it and where we teach those skills. “Schools need to relook the way in which the curriculum is delivered and explore models such as the flipped classroom, inquiry-based learning and cross-curricular themes. Technology needs to be a given, not a ‘nice to have’. Physical learning spaces need to be less rigid and more collaborative and flexible.”

For King David Linksfield and King David Victory Park, changing the curriculum at Grade 8 and 9 level has proved to be an effective strategy. “In Grade 8 and 9 we’ve introduced a new curriculum because we recognised the fact that we have to make school globally relevant. If we don’t, our kids are going to be left wanting,” says King David High School Linksfield principal Lorraine Srage.

“As a school, we recognise that kids have multiple intelligences: while some kids are good at sitting a test, others have other strengths. So in these grades, we’ve devised a programme where we have five core subjects, but kids then choose subjects. This allows them to take ownership of their learning.”

It’s all about developing 21^st-century working skills.

“At some level we hope this will allow the learners to develop probably the most important skills they’re going to need,” adds Srage. “Firstly it has to do with communicative skills, because a lot of the work is done collaboratively as well. Then we’re also looking to develop common sense, flexibility, integrity and EQ (emotional intelligence).

“Anybody can go online and find content, but we’re looking at how the kids are going to use and internalise the information, so that they discover a passion. We want to have kids who have lifelong learning skills – otherwise, they are not going to adapt to a constantly changing world. It’s an unknown future, but if we aren’t developing confident, flexible, communicative and collaborative young adults, then they’ll fall short in the world today.”

So far, the school’s strategy seems to be working.

“We’ve found that our kids have engaged much more with their learning because they’ve taken ownership of it, and that’s what adults are going to have to do.” says Srage.

“In matric, we’re bound by the syllabus, but the advantage of an Independent Examinations Board (IEB) matric is that it does encourage critical thought, and it encourages children to use multiple skills. But it’s just a written examination.

“So, where children may have other intelligences – they may be creative or good orators, for example – the matric syllabus doesn’t really accommodate that, which is why we need to develop it at a younger age.”

For Andrew Baker, principal of King David High Victory Park, 21^st-century learning is a personal passion and a key school objective. “They talk about the ‘five Cs’ of 21^st-century learning: collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, communication and co-operation,” he says. “We’re very focused on an education system that’s going to prepare our children more for what’s largely an uncertain, unpredictable future. Traditional careers will disappear as robots will do them more efficiently, but a whole lot of new possible careers that we haven’t even thought about yet will emerge.

“As educators, a lack of predictability unsettles us because we have to prepare children for a future we’re not sure about. Globally, no one has the perfect solution, but we look to the Americans, Canadians, Australians and the Finns, and we borrow good ideas and weave together something relevant for a South African 21^st-century curriculum.

“King David Linksfield and Victory Park are on the same page, but we have slightly different approaches relevant to communities we serve. We’ve both targeted Grade 8 and 9 as the school years where we have more freedom to experiment with slightly different pedagogies and learning methodologies.

“In Grades 10 to 12, we focus on the IEB matric to ensure learners can pursue degrees of their choice – it’s become so competitive at tertiary level.

“In Grade 8 and 9 we’ve introduced ‘subject focused days’ and ‘projects-based learning’ – an international phenomenon and a key element of 21^st-century learning. In these grades we also blur the boundaries between strict subject borders and take a thematic approach, where we try to spend time looking at a particular theme and linking in relevant subjects to that theme.”

On “subject-focused days” there are no classes – the focus is experiential and task-based. Kids either go off campus or staff make presentations to learners from which very specific tasks are generated. Says Baker: “Learners work in groups for collaboration, they generate ideas and need to problem solve, brainstorm, report back to the teacher and devise a way forward. Tasks are then handed in for assessment.”

The school has also recently introduced modular teaching in Grade 8 and 9, where natural sciences (biology and physical science), humanities (history and geography) and commerce (business studies and accounts) are modulised.

Baker explains: “Instead of doing each of these six subjects the whole year, learners only do three of these subjects – for example, biology, history and business studies – at any one time over a semester, which lasts half the year. Thereafter, they write an exam and move on to the next subjects for the year.

 “Technology is a critical part of 21^st-century learning, but it’s more about the teaching methodology and the way the children are working.”

Both King David Linksfield and Victory Park recognise coding as a critical skill. They’ve partnered with Ariella Rosenberg from ORT SA, who’s been negotiating with IT company Cisco to allow the two KD schools to offer learners an international baseline certificate in IT competence, recognised globallly. It’s available to learners from Grade 8 to 12 and serves as an extramural at a low extra cost.

Herzlia High School is also looking to equip learners for an uncertain future. “It’s impossible to future-proof your kids. All you’ve got to do is prepare them in the best way that you can,” says principal Marc Falconer.

“This means that we have to decide what they need to be doing, which are things like collaboration, ongoing learning and critical thinking. That’s the role of the education system – it has nothing to do with content, it has to do with equipping learners with the skills they’ll need.

We’re spending a lot of time designing project work that allows learners to explore their own passions, interests and particular ways of going about things. We’re helping them develop their own critical thinking skills in the most appropriate ways.

If you think that you’ll get a matric certificate that equips you to go to university, and that you’ll get a job and you’ll stay there for the next 40 to 50 years, then you’ve missed the boat.” says Falconer.

“What we’re doing, rather, is trying to engage and stimulate you so you understand that there are different ways of learning and so many different areas that you have of expressing your learning.

“We’re living in a sometimes difficult but interesting creative tension between an output like matric exams and university, and the other output, which has to do with a broader understanding of what education entails. They’re both important, and the one extends and develops from the other.”

Denese Bloch, principal of Yeshiva College Boys and Girls High Schools, echoes these assertions. “The most important skills that young adults need today are the ability to access information, analyse and assess the information, and to apply it to whatever it is they are researching,” she says.

“This requires the development of critical thinking skills. Instead of being content-based, they are skills-based – and therefore don’t limit the individual’s potential to explore options that might not even exist today.”