5 education trends to look forward in 2024 by Shashi Banerjee

 1. Contextual And Contemporary Curriculum: Isolated subject fields - math, history, geography, etc. - have long dominated our understanding of knowledge sharing and learning. As technology and global realities necessitate adaptive and resilient professional approaches, multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary curricula will become more commonplace. Our experiences and societies do not exist in silos, and the time-tabled bifurcations of our learning experiences will dissipate, making space for multi-perspective learning environments. The shift from traditional curriculum domains to transdisciplinary ontologies will be embedded in relevance, context, and student agency.

2. Human Ingenuity and Innovation Are at The Forefront: Technological breakthroughs such as ‘generative artificial intelligence’ are a double-edged sword. Ensuring that human innovation, entrepreneurship, and creativity are always paramount will be critical. Education to nurture integrity and compassion is our bulwark against distortions of truth and justice. At SNS, we encourage students to be thought leaders through platforms such as Colloquium, which nurtures problem-solving and innovation. Integrating learning through doing will be crucial to furthering human advancement that is equitable, ethical, and sustainable.

3. Technologies To Transcend and Transform the Learning Experience: New and engaging spaces of learning, such as social media, AI, and MOOCs, are enabling a learning revolution to tailor pedagogies to each student’s needs. The school resides not only in the physical building but is multi-sited, and classrooms are multi-modal. Strengthening teacher training and education and addressing inequities of access are crucial to ensure each learner has these technologies and opportunities at their disposal. Advancements in Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, and Mixed Reality will transform and redefine teaching and learning beyond substitution and augmentation. These innovations will aid learners in engaging in real time not only with what is but with what can be.

4. Learner-Centered Assessments: We are finally shifting away from rote learning and summative assessment towards assessment as a formative guide to each student’s learning journey. Developments in neuroscience and psychology are offering further insights into what helps humans learn effectively and joyously. Ideas from gamification from motivation studies will help schools move away from the carrot-and-stick approach and instead nurture self-directed learners. We will start to see a shift from overly managed and scrutinized examinations to unsupervised examinations, with learning built around honesty, ethics, and fairness.

5. Pedagogies For the Planet and Peace: It has become imperative for schools to focus on nurturing empathetic, empowered and socially conscious citizens. To engage with the world beyond the factory model of learning and unsustainable living. Philosophies of being which center introspection, connection and innovation are needed to address the challenges of the world. Foundational to the above four trends is the change within the education sector to move beyond learning only for material gain to learning for change. Creativity and compassion from arts, sports, and community will continue to be embedded within the curricula, mainstreamed from their earlier extra-curricular status. To lead the global movement towards a more peaceful world and a resilient humanity co-existing on our only planetary home.

 

Attributable to Shashi Banerjee, Director of Education, Shiv Nadar School