Education in a global world

February 13, 2018

• Topical

Despite the UK’s recent decision to withdraw from the European Union, it seems an unavoidable truth that children nowadays are being raised in a global world. It’s more likely today than ever before that jobs will feature interaction with businesses and individuals from a host of different nations. So, how are our schools preparing children for this future?

Some schools are preparing children for the globalised job market of the future by moving away from teaching solely European languages and also revolutionising the way languages are taught in schools. Independent school, St Mary’s Clane, has made the study of Mandarin compulsory for its pupils in years 7 and 8 and state schools that do not have Mandarin on offer as a GCSE course sometimes have it as a language club instead. What’s more, the way languages are taught is changing. Although being able to write is an important skill, especially with Mandarin where there are thousands of characters to learn, the emphasis is moving toward speaking and a genuine ability to communicate in that language. This is exemplified by the increasing popularity of the Joutes Oratoire, a national debating competition which is conducted in French. There isn’t an equivalent for other languages yet, but as other languages grow in popularity and become more common in schools, some will likely emerge.

Other schools are engaging with an increasingly global world by taking on international qualifications like the International Baccalaureate, usually known as the IB. A Levels are recognised as a qualification outside of the UK, but employers and university staff won’t necessarily know exactly what they mean without looking it up. With the more familiar IB, it’s easier for them to see how you compare to other candidates and for them to trust that you will have been trained in the same skills as they are used to. Moreover, there is a compulsory language element to the IB that means students will continue language learning up to leaving sixth form or college. The language element of the IB is appealing to the global market, as is its uniformity.

A new initiative that has come from the Faculty of Education at the University of Cambridge is Learning for Leadership (LfL) which aims to make the way learning is approached more compatible with the skills being demanded by the global market. The five Leadership for Learning principles focus on learning as an interactive and self-motivated endeavour. They state that ‘learning relies on the effective interplay of social, emotional and cognitive processes’ and ‘everyone is encouraged to take the lead as is appropriate to task and content’. The LfL principles aim to make pupils accountable for their own learning and encourage them to reach conclusions independently. Although teachers help guide them to the answers, they do not offer them up on a plate. In creating an individual who is a responsible learner, LfL believes that people will be better prepared for the global job market, and be able to offer employers flexibility and independence. These ideas coming out of the Faculty of Education are relatively new and have not necessarily been filtered down through the system completely. They are beginning to be disseminated to a wider audience, but it will be a while before they permeate aspects of the curriculum.

Preparing today’s pupils for a global market is a relatively new need that has been placed on the education system. The main way that it is being tackled within schools is through better and different language learning that will facilitate communication with businesses and individuals in different languages worldwide. This in itself is still a big challenge. Languages were dropped as a compulsory GCSE requirement in 2004 and in the interim British schools seem to have fallen somewhat out of love with them. But, it looks like things could be changing again. Language learning, alongside the promotion of independent and constant learning as the main aim for pupils are the forces ushering today’s youth into their global future.

Needing a little help with any of your subjects? Look at what subjects we cover.