Education reform needed to meet future challenges

Tests and assessments should be scrapped and replaced with more experiential based education, said Graham Brown-Martin, founder of Learning Without Frontiers.

‘Teachers are the backbone of our country … their training and making sure that they have the right qualifications are important,’ says Hussein Al Hammadi, Minister of Education. Jeffrey Biteng / The Show more

DUBAI // The education system is producing students who are trained only for examinations, leaving them unprepared for the demands of the real world and the future, speakers at an conference in Dubai said on Tuesday.

Tests and assessments should be replaced with more experiential education, said Graham Brown-Martin, founder of Learning Without Frontiers, a think tank.

“If you’re looking to learn how to swim and all you do is study textbooks or YouTube videos and then pass an exam without going into a swimming pool, have you actually learnt to swim?” he said.

“The purpose of education is to equip our children with the knowledge and skills to reimagine society, to meet the challenges of their generation.”

Speaking at the Global Educational Supplies and Solutions conference in Dubai on Tuesday, Mr Brown-Martin said there was an excessive focus on assessment.

“An education system with the end goal of passing exams so that you can slot into a particular job is outdated,” he said.

The present system was not providing children the skills to meet future challenges or compete for jobs, he added.

“Some form of assessment is valuable but it shouldn’t be the primary reason for education,” said Mr Brown-Martin.

Effective reform of the system calls for teachers who understand how to motivate pupils to learn.

“If passing tests is what you want to do, then the technology will develop in that direction but it cannot replace good-quality teaching,” said Mr Brown-Martin.

Hussain Al Hammadi, the Minister of Education, said the training of teachers was important to the Government.

“Teachers are the backbone of our country. As such, their training and making sure that they have the right qualifications are very important,” he said.

“We have people who have been teachers for 10 to 20 years and they have great experience, but perhaps they need qualifications in specific areas.

“Then we have new teachers who have one or two years’ experience, who have different experience, and we have to have a framework that caters for teachers of every kind.”

Ella Bjornsdottir, a principal consultant at FranklinCovey, a specialist in performance improvement, said educational reform was necessary but it had to start with individuals. “By changing human behaviour, we can help children to develop self-confidence and the characteristics of leadership,” she told the conference.

“When children have self-confidence, they are more inquisitive about their learning.”

The FranklinCovey “Leader in Me” initiative has been adopted by schools across the UAE and around the world.

It seeks to strike a balance between academic pursuits, school culture and leadership.

“There will be fear of change and resistance but we tend to see positive changes within schools that adopt our approach after about two years,” said Ms Bjornsdottir.

She said children should be encouraged to be proactive. They should plan and set goals, prioritise the completion of important tasks, balance their desires while keeping in mind the needs of others, listen to and understand other people’s views, value the strengths of others and learn to work as part of a team, have a healthy lifestyle and learn from outside school.

“None of this comes overnight and it requires a systematic approach to adopting these skills,” Ms Bjornsdottir said.

“Over the four years that wehave been working with schools in the UAE, we have noticed a shift in thinking on this issue and people are more open to these ideas.

“Every teacher is different but we are seeing many become more receptive to what we are trying to do.”

The conference concludes on Thursday.