Ripe For Disruption

As you read this blog post I would have had a discussion on what's next in learning, the latest in a series of Salons offered by SingularityU Global (watch the replay here). The expert panel includes Jan Owen and Kyle Hermans, the three of us determined to shift education so we leave no child or adult behind. Because Lifelong Learning is here to stay and Lifelong Learning is so very closely related to the Future of Work.

Guaranteed, the discussion was robust enough to convince our audience that we are in need of a new curriculum. That teaching English, maths and science in their current iterations, equips us for very little - especially not for the Future of Work - which is intrinsically linked to how we will live. 

"Why didn't they teach me how to do a tax return at school instead of long division? I have a calculator for that" asks my daughter, attempting to lodge a tax return on her own for the first time. I don't disagree. How can I? We are increasingly reliant on technology for the long division, algebra, algorithms and other mathematical functions.

What could a new curriculum include? As SingularityU colleague Dr. Vivienne Ming suggests, there is only one job description in the future and that's what we need to be training our children (and adults) for - to be creative adaptive problem explorers.

Here's a few modules that would be placed well in a global curriculum: kindness, resilience, purpose, curiosity, creativity, entrepreneurship and enquiry. As Jan Owen says, we need to be graduating job creators, not job takers. 

Are you up for a challenge this week? What's the one thing you can do today to move education to lifelong learning? Who can you talk to? Who are the change makers, the #futuremakers in your world? Now is the time for action.