Mindlab by Unitec: Global and Local Trends in Education

08 February 2016 (APC Week 29, Task 6)

Reflecting on Some of the Current Trends in Education

When we're considering 'where to next', it's important that we consider the issues and trends that are likely to influence education over the next ten to twenty years. Looking first at the international trends helps us to see the bigger picture as it were. 

In the "Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds" report released by US National Intelligence Council (2012), they found four significant 'megatrends' that will likely have a huge influence on the geopolitical framework our education systems take place within.

Screenshot from "Global Trends 2030" pp.7 (Source)

The use of online digital media is now widely being used to allow for both collective and individual empowerment at a scale that has been previously unequalled. 

We're able to find out and share ideas online like never before, with learning-based and social media websites allowing individuals  to collaborate in a manner that is likely to be a potential source of both innovation and fundamentalism. In essence, we're all at a bit of a nexus - those clinging on to traditional modes of thought may find the 'future is wide open' and wish to keep the status quo.

Essentially, it has become imperative that educators and administrators alike climb onboard the collaborative technology train as digital immigrants, as the millenials are living and learning as digital natives. (Prensky, 2001).

However, the efficacy of this process before now has been inversely affected by changing demographic patterns - such as high transience in low socio-ecomomic areas within New Zealand impacting on these students in particular gaining equaitable access to the technology that facilitates this process. 

This has seen schools in low socio-economic areas to sign up for apparent 'social enterprise' models in order to provide their students with both the digital tools and internet access they will need to empower their students in the twenty-first century. 

With this model of enablement, there is the risk of gearing educational outcomes within these schools to enhance philanthropic input from private organisations. But, given the real need for access to the tools and skills our young people will need in the coming years, it is essential that we take a collective approach to providing more equitable learning pathways for millenials and their decendants.

By contrast, those schools in more socio-economically advantaged areas are still free to develop curricula that more adequately reflect the wider learning needs and/or educational interests of the community around them, thereby engendering the underlying values and principles of the New Zealand Curriculum document.

In conclusion, it is important that we fully grasp the increasingly globalised nature of living and learning in the current day. We need to make every effort we can muster to adapt our way of thinking and doing (i.e.: theories and pedagogies) to better allow us to provide our students with the insights and learning styles they will need to answer the issues that will arise in the coming decades.

In my next blog entry, I will look at how the rise of social media may provide us with an effective and engaging platform for empowering both ourselves and our learners over the coming year(s)...

References Cited & Recommended Reading/Viewing
Bolstad, R., Gilbert, J., McDowall, S., Bull, A., Boyd, S., & Hipkins, R. (2012). Supporting future-oriented learning & teaching: A New Zealand perspective.Wellington: Ministry of Education.
Education Review Office (2012). The three most pressing issues for New Zealand’s education system, revealed in latest ERO report - Education Review Office.
KPMG Australia. (2014, May 22). Future State 2030 - Global Megatrends.
US National Intelligence Council (2012). Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds. Washington, DC: United States National Intelligence.
OECD (2015). Education at glance 2014.
Pearson. (2013, April 26). Global trends: The world is changing faster than at any time in human history.
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants - Part 1. [pdf] 
Science News (2014, Nov 26). New Mega Trends.
The RSA.(2010, Oct 14). RSA Animate - Changing Education Paradigms.