Should industry leaders help decide school curriculums? The Day Before Tomorrow Education debate
The second episode of The Drum’s Day Before Tomorrow series has delved into how technology is disrupting the education sector, and following the premiere of the documentary in London last night (4 November), a panel debated the extent to which the current education system is failing children.
It was suggested that the eight million children currently in school are part of a system which is rooted in the industrial age and are being prepared to enter a world where a significant number of today's jobs simply won’t exist in the future.
On the panel was Donald Fogarty, founder of Futurerising – a scheme which connects students and educators to professionals in the creative industries – who said the government is not enabling widespread innovation in schools and that industry leaders should have more involvement in mapping out what children are taught.
“The government shouldn’t step away [from managing education] but industry leaders should be defining what is taught for that industry. They are closer to what the reality is. [The government] doesn’t need to be applying a one-size-fits-all system,” he suggested.
Fogarty added that it should also fall on the tech or creative industries, for example, to fund developments in the education sector if more children are to leave school with relevant skills.
This stirred the audience, comprised of those working in the education sector, with Heather Storey – a policy analyst and developer, Education and Children's Services for Greater London – stating that many of the ideas raised in the film would be difficult to implement at any scale.
“We have a democratically elected government to, at the very least, provide a safety net and an education for the most vulnerable children. It’s nice to think of this utopian world, but the education structures are there for a reason and you might not feel that they’re doing the best for everyone but they are helping a lot of children not fall down cracks,” she argued.
Also on the panel was Dan Harvey, head of experience at SapientNitro, who partially agreed and said that the film’s example of bringing your own device to the classroom “wrangled” with him for those reasons.
“If that was a requisite for every classroom then you’re already biasing against the privileged and affluent,” he said.
Dave Birss, The Drum’s head of TV and presenter of The Day Before Tomorrow series, admitted that he questioned himself throughout the making of the film about how some of the initiatives could actually work with the masses.
However, everyone on the panel and in the audience agreed that the first step to making major changes to improve the education of children and young adults, and adequately prepare them for the future, is to accept that everyone learns differently, and the one-size-fits-all approach no longer cuts it.
“Until we get beyond the definition of the ‘the book’ as something with pages in it, we will always be biased towards one way of learning,” said Harvey.
The next wave of The Day Before Tomorrow documentaries will premiere in London next week, focusing on the topics of retail; finance and entertainment.