Is the UK education community stakeholders in human progress?
publication date: Mar 1, 2010
Are we Stakeholders in Human Progress? This might sound a bit Orwellian, and I use the phrase not just because Eric Arthur Blair is buried in a cemetery in my village, but because I, fundamentally, believe that we are.
The UK education system and the industry that supports it is world class. We are the model that other nations look to when deciding education policy and progress. We, for example, have hosted government visitors from the US, Australia and the Middle East – who have come to see how learning is delivered through the world’s only national intranet – Scotland’s Glow. Our BSF programme is being closely modelled by the Saudis, and the US is planning to build and equip thousands of new schools in a similar way. Add to that the education software and assistive technologies that we, as an industry, export all over the world, it is clear that we are on the right tracks.
In a world where domestic politics often cloud the issue and the great education we as a nation provide gets lost in polemics, we need to acknowledge and celebrate what we do. We also need to make sure we don’t lose this edge.
The world is changing. The concept of a job for life is now an anachronism and one that my three children who are all school age will not recognise. Commentators in the States reckon that today’s learners will have 10 to 14 jobs by the time they are 38 years old. And then there are those with, the intriguingly named, portfolio careers. How many jobs will they have?
In this fast changing environment we can all agree with Karl Fisch. Today’s learners need transferable skills. They need to be able to prepare themselves for jobs that currently don’t exist, using technologies that haven’t yet been invented, to solve problems that we haven’t even considered yet.
Meanwhile, globalisation and flexible labour markets have combined to produce an inter-national and inter-city competition for talent. In the face of this new economic threat, governments of all countries have recognised the need to improve their indigenous intellectual capital. Across Asia, the USA, Western Europe and the Middle East administrations are investing to do this.
And we can’t ignore the fact that the levels of aspiration around the world are tremendous. India for example had 2 million graduates last year and as technology lowers barriers to entry into the global economy – there will be increased competition for professional jobs.
RM has offices in Kerala in Southern India and as part of our community work there we sponsor two government schools. When I visit the schools and ask the children what they want to be – they say engineers, lawyers and doctors, or work in IT. These children don’t come from wealthy families. But they are ambitious, motivated and willing, no eager, to learn. And their parents and, more importantly, their governments know that investing in their futures is investing in both personal and society’s progress. Human ingenuity, drive and ambition mean that some of these children will be competing with my children for those professional jobs.
I’m proud that the UK education system is the one that pioneered ICT in teaching and learning. And I don’t want to appear jingoistic or protectionist. But we need to maintain this position. We are entering a period of unprecedented public debt and there is no doubt that we need to balance the books. But on the day of writing this the government has just announced £449m of cuts to university funding in England. This worries me. We shouldn’t make short-term decisions that will damage the very fabric of UK plc.
I’m also a firm believer that we have no given entitlement to our position in the world economy and that we have to earn it in competition with others. And as the white heat of globalisation takes hold we need to be thinking in those terms. Education can’t solve all of society’s ills but if you do agree that we are stakeholders in human progress then we should keep pushing the boundaries. If we’re not thinking of global skills as a nation – then we’re missing a trick.
While globalisation may be driving investment in the future of learning, domestic policy will ultimately dictate who progress furthest. And the countries that do that will win the global race.
So are we stakeholders in human progress? I think we are. Will we continue to be so? Well, that remains to be seen. And with a reference to Aldous Huxley, who for a very short time taught my near neighbour George Orwell, we are entering a Brave New World.
But unlike Orwell and Huxley I’m not afraid of the future. I’m rather excited by it.
The UK education system and the industry that supports it is world class. We are the model that other nations look to when deciding education policy and progress. We, for example, have hosted government visitors from the US, Australia and the Middle East – who have come to see how learning is delivered through the world’s only national intranet – Scotland’s Glow. Our BSF programme is being closely modelled by the Saudis, and the US is planning to build and equip thousands of new schools in a similar way. Add to that the education software and assistive technologies that we, as an industry, export all over the world, it is clear that we are on the right tracks.
In a world where domestic politics often cloud the issue and the great education we as a nation provide gets lost in polemics, we need to acknowledge and celebrate what we do. We also need to make sure we don’t lose this edge.
The world is changing. The concept of a job for life is now an anachronism and one that my three children who are all school age will not recognise. Commentators in the States reckon that today’s learners will have 10 to 14 jobs by the time they are 38 years old. And then there are those with, the intriguingly named, portfolio careers. How many jobs will they have?
In this fast changing environment we can all agree with Karl Fisch. Today’s learners need transferable skills. They need to be able to prepare themselves for jobs that currently don’t exist, using technologies that haven’t yet been invented, to solve problems that we haven’t even considered yet.
Meanwhile, globalisation and flexible labour markets have combined to produce an inter-national and inter-city competition for talent. In the face of this new economic threat, governments of all countries have recognised the need to improve their indigenous intellectual capital. Across Asia, the USA, Western Europe and the Middle East administrations are investing to do this.
And we can’t ignore the fact that the levels of aspiration around the world are tremendous. India for example had 2 million graduates last year and as technology lowers barriers to entry into the global economy – there will be increased competition for professional jobs.
RM has offices in Kerala in Southern India and as part of our community work there we sponsor two government schools. When I visit the schools and ask the children what they want to be – they say engineers, lawyers and doctors, or work in IT. These children don’t come from wealthy families. But they are ambitious, motivated and willing, no eager, to learn. And their parents and, more importantly, their governments know that investing in their futures is investing in both personal and society’s progress. Human ingenuity, drive and ambition mean that some of these children will be competing with my children for those professional jobs.
I’m proud that the UK education system is the one that pioneered ICT in teaching and learning. And I don’t want to appear jingoistic or protectionist. But we need to maintain this position. We are entering a period of unprecedented public debt and there is no doubt that we need to balance the books. But on the day of writing this the government has just announced £449m of cuts to university funding in England. This worries me. We shouldn’t make short-term decisions that will damage the very fabric of UK plc.
I’m also a firm believer that we have no given entitlement to our position in the world economy and that we have to earn it in competition with others. And as the white heat of globalisation takes hold we need to be thinking in those terms. Education can’t solve all of society’s ills but if you do agree that we are stakeholders in human progress then we should keep pushing the boundaries. If we’re not thinking of global skills as a nation – then we’re missing a trick.
While globalisation may be driving investment in the future of learning, domestic policy will ultimately dictate who progress furthest. And the countries that do that will win the global race.
So are we stakeholders in human progress? I think we are. Will we continue to be so? Well, that remains to be seen. And with a reference to Aldous Huxley, who for a very short time taught my near neighbour George Orwell, we are entering a Brave New World.
But unlike Orwell and Huxley I’m not afraid of the future. I’m rather excited by it.