WEBVTT 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 (0:56 people's noises) 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 (check who) 1.17 We've got one hour and a quarter. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 (confused voices then 1:31) How do we know when these things are going to be turned on? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 (confused voices, then1:58) What? OK? Right. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 (Chairperson 2:03) Ladies and Genltemen, can I ask everyone 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to take their seats, please? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We're about to begin, so if you're visiting the bar, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 can you charge your glasses and return to your seats, and then we'll begin. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We've got an hour and a quarter for this debate. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 OK, can I -- Welcome everybody to the Online Educa OEB debate. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'm not sure what number this is in the series of debates that we've had, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I think it may be getting up to our 10th. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 What I can tell you is that in the time that we've been having these debates 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and that I've been chairing them, my eyesight has now gone so bad 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that I can't possibly read any notes that I have without using glasses, so 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I think we must be on at least our 10th. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 What I can also tell you is that Online Educa itself, OEB, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 this year is celebrating its 21st anniversary. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So I think that perhaps deserves a round of applause. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So happy birthday to Online Educa -- (Applause) -- this fantastic conference. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And 21 years ago was a very difficult -- very different world indeed, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 when one thinks about the scale and scope of change that there -- 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that has taken place in the last 21 years. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 One statistic I was reading recently was that in the UK, in 1994, 21 years ago, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 there were only 67 mobile phones per 1000 people. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But only ten years later, in 2004, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 there were more mobiles in the UK than people. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And that pattern of spread of mobile communications alone 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 has spread across the world and in Africa, for instance, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 those of you who have been to Elearning Africa will have learned about 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the spread of mobile communications across the African continent. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So in terms of the scale of technological change, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and the spread of that change across the world, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the change in that short period of time, in these past 21 years alone, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 has been enormous, and we heard about 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the scale of it in the opening plenary session this morning. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We live in a world that is globalized, interconnected, hyperlinked 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and that scale of change we're experiencing, have experienced 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in the last 21 years, is going to gather pace and continue. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And all that is going to create a huge challenge for education and training, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 which is going to be at the heart 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of dealing with both the positive and negative aspects of that change. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And that's why the motion that we're dealing with today, in this debate, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is so important, and why the whole subject of giving young people the skills 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that they need to cope with the challenges of this new world 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that we all are going to -- that we are creating, is so important. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We've got four speakers, four panel speakers 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to open the debate this evening 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I'm going to ask each of them to speak for 10 minutes, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and then I'm going to -- 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 -- two of them will speak for the motion, obviously,and two against -- 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 then I will throw open the debate to all of you, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but if you want to intervene whilst they are speaking, because 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we're having a parliamentary-style debate, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 then you can try to intervene on them 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and if they want to take your intervention, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 then they can do so, but it will be entirely up to you. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And if they don't, then you can draw whatever conclusions you want from that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But I want to ensure that we keep the flow going, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so I'm not going to let you bully them but I'm going to allow you, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 if you want to make a particular point, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 or if you want to make a short intervention, to do so. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Then after they've spoken, we'll throw open the debate to the floor 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and you can make your contribution, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but do please realize that time is of the essence, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so please try to keep it short and to the point, succinct. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This is the kind of debate equivalent of texting. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So, no long rambling contributions, because I will cut you off 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 if you try to do that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So, very short contributions, please. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And then I'll ask each of our -- I'll ask one speaker from each side 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to sum up, and then we will take a vote, and we'll do that by a show of hands. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And I've also made it clear to all the speakers that they may 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 say things that they don't necessarily want to be held to in the future, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so I hope that you will understand that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But this is an opportunity for us to explore some of the issues, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but don't take it all too seriously, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and don't come and accuse people of saying things that you would -- 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that they might not necessarily always want to be held to. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 With that in mind, I'm going to ask our first speaker, who is Jo Swinson. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Jo Swinson, who is the former Minister for business, innovation and skills 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in the UK's coalition government of 2010 to 2015, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to speak first for the motion. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And Jo, since leaving Parliament, has begun a new career 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and is involved in an award within a data intelligence company 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 called Clear Returns 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and she is an expert on the challenges and opportunities of the digital age. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So, over to you, Jo. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 (Jo Swinson) Thank you very much indeed, Harold. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And I'm absolutely delighted to be here in Berlin at OEB. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 A bit of a first, actually, the first technology-related conference 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that I've been to where there is a queue in the ladies' loos! 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I have to say I was particularly pleased by that, not only as a feminist, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but also as a Brit who appreciates the art of queuing. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So it was good on two fronts. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So, this house believes that 21st century skills aren't being taught, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and they should be, is the motion that I want to convince you 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to support this evening. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We absolutely need to be equipping our young people, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and indeed, people at every stage of their lives, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 with the skills that they need for the 21st century. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And our education systems, and our wider society, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 have an important role to play in this. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But I will put it to you, this evening, that when it comes to technical skills, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 when it comes to social skills, and vitally, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 when it comes to capacity to embrace change, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we are not yet rising to that challenge sufficiently. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There are very specific skills, there are gaps in science and technology 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that are not being properly filled. 9:32 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 These shortages are causing significant problems 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 for businesses, for employers. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Half of engineering companies say that they have delayed taking forward 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 new products or services, because they have vacancies 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that are so hard to fill, because the skills are not there to recruit. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Digital start-ups are often in real need of software developers 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that they cannot find sufficiently. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And companies of all sizes, grappling with cybersecurity challenges 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 struggle to have the skills that they need to take on those important issues. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 As Harold mentioned, I'm now a director of a company called Clear Returns. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's been going for about three years, based in Glasgow, and uses data analytics 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to help retailers understand the problems they have with product returns 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and therefore successfully cutting the costs for retailers, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and resulting in better customer satisfaction. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But in our technology team of 17 people, there are 12 different nationalities 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and not one of those people went through the school education system in the UK, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because the skills are not taught up to scratch. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Now, there have been some improvements and as to 2014, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 computer science has been introduced into the curriculum in the UK, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but that is not the end of the matter, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because 11% of computer science graduates are unemployed. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 In fact, that's one of the highest unemployment rates 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 for any subject discipline, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 at a time when we have a huge shortage of these very skills. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Something is going very wrong when that is the case. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And this is not just about teaching people to code. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Fashionable ....... (check) undoubtedly is at the moment (check) 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and it is necessary that we do have people who can code. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But it's not some kind of silver bullet on its own. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Actually, it's the building blocks that we need to be putting in place, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the things that lie before you get to the point of coding, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the logic, the basic maths, enhancing those skills, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so that people can put those building blocks together 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and create an argument or a train of thought or a mathematical proof, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 or indeed, a piece of code that will instruct a machine to do something. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Yet our maths skills are also going backwards. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 A King's College, London, study found that compared to the 1970's 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 young people today are significantly less well equipped in the field of mathematics. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And it's also worth pointing out that we are missing out, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 when it comes to teaching these skills on almost half of the population. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Only one in five A-level physics students is a girl. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 When it comes to computer science, that figure drops to 1 in 10. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Now, it's wonderful to be at a technology conference 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 where there is a queue in the ladies' loos, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but even at this conference, if you have a look at the speakers' brochure, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 only 8 of the 35 main speakers are women, so where are the women? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We are missing out on that important talent 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 who will not then get in the fields that we need for the 21st century 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to enable all of our economies to flourish. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We're also not doing well enough at the social skills 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 which have always been imported -- important, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I would argue, are even more so in the context of the 21st century. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Employers have long complained that they get coming into the work place 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 are not yet ready for work. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I have to say there is that thing I've observed, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 when new graduates starting out in the work place 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 seem to be allergic to using the telephone 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 for the purpose it was originally designed for. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I've lost count of the number of times when, speaking to a member of staff 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 about the particular project that they are trying to make happen, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and it seems so stuck, and I say: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "What happened when you asked that person about it?" 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "Oh, I sent them an email and they didn't get back to me." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You know, for all the wonders that technology can undoubtedly do 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in helping us in our working life, when you want to get people to do something, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 an email is very easy to ignore, and it is much harder to just put to one side 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 a face-to-face person or contact, or on the telephone. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And relationships are absolutely critical to 21st century work places and skills: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 getting things done, collaborating in teams, motivating others. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Yet when we assess children and young people in the education system, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it is genuinely done on a pure individual basis, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 not looking at how they are actually operating within a drip setting (check). 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And when it comes to skills in terms of relationships, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 something like personal, social and health education, which I would argue, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is absolutely essential to help young people learn to navigate relationships, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and important issues like consent when it comes to sex, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's not even compulsory in the UK curriculum. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 In a world where ultimation is increasing, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 where jobs that we've already seen through the Industrial Revolution, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that manual jobs have been replaced by machines, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that with the next stage of technological advancement, many, many more, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in things like accountancy and professional services, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 are also going to be replaced by algorithms, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the human social relationship skills are going to be in even more demand 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and therefore deserve much more attention. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And my final point is that we have not done enough to prepare people 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 for the world of change. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 A little while ago, I spoke at a School Award ceremony to 12-year olds 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And I was to explain to them how the world had changed 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 since I was there age. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And one of the examples I used was the process of taking a photograph. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And I described how, when I was 12, you would have a thing called a camera 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that was all that it did, it was just for taking photographs, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you would have to get a piece of film, physically, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to load it into the camera machine, you'd had to do that pretty carefully, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because you didn't want to expose the film and it was quite a fiddly process. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You wouldn't know whether the photos you were taking were any good. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You would have to take at least 24, or sometimes 36, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 depending on which particular piece of film you put into your camera, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 before you would then take it along to a pharmacist's or a chemist's shop, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 pay some money and then go and do something else for a few days, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 at which point you could come back 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and be presented with your little envelope of photographs, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and see if any of them had turned out OK. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And I was counting on these 12-year olds looked at me 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 like I might well be lying to them: this is how it worked, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because of course these days, you know, within a matter of seconds, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you can take dozens of selfies in your phone, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 apply however many Instagram filters you like, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and share it with the entire world, just without leaving the school. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The pace of change is accelerating hugely. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Here in 2015, for us to consider what even are 21st century skills, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is like going back to 1915 and trying to imagine the space race, nuclear power, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the internet, or the kind of social change going from a situation 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 where women didn't even have the vote, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to electing a woman as Prime Minister in the UK, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 or the change with gay rights, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 or the ending of racial segregation in the United States. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We can't even conceive of all that the 21st century is going to bring. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And so, more than anything, with this huge pace of increasing knowledge, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 more than anything, what we need to do is equip people 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to cope with and thrive on change and uncertainty. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Instead, we have bunches of kids being processed through the education system 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that doesn't look that different to several decades ago. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So we really do have a problem here, in terms of the skills 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that we are teaching and more importantly, not teaching well enough. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Whether it's technical skills, whether it's those social skills 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 or whether it's the vitally important ability to be resilient, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to recover from change and setbacks, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and to apply yourself in a new way to a new set of challenges and horizons. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 These are the things we must be focusing on, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and we aren't yet rising to that challenge. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I support the motion. 18:06 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 (Applause) 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 (Moderator) OK, thank you very much for that, Jo. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Our next speaker, who is going to speak against the motion, is Allan Päll, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 who is the Secretary General of the European Youth Forum, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 which is the representative body for youth organisations in Europe 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and he is an advocate for youth's rights. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 He lead student unions in Estonia and at the European level, and has advocated 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 for students' voices to be included in educational policy. Allan: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 (Allan Päll) All right, thank you very much, chair. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I would like to very much support many of the claims made by our opposition. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 However, when it comes to the question and when it comes to this specific motion, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 this house does not believe that 21st century skills aren't being taught, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because, well, let me put it very bluntly and very simply: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the whole notion of what are 21st century skills is often just a bunch of nonsense, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 if I would sum it up very briefly. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But let me go into it a bit more. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There are many definitions of what these skills could be 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I fully agree that they do include everything mentioned by the opposition. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 However, there are many other ways of looking at it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So if we are to say whether these are being taught or not, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 even if we have a problem of the very definition of what these skills are, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 how can we say that they are not being taught so determinedly? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Some of the elements that can be mentioned as 21st century skills 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 are simple things, as critical thinking, problem-solving, reasoning, analysis, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 research skills, creativity, curiosity, perseverance, self-direction 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 oral and written communication, leadership, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 information and communication technology, social justice, literacy, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 civic, ethical behavior, global awareness: the list goes on and on and on. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So, indeed, many of those things, perhaps, are not being taught enough, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 or specifically enough, in our educational systems. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But that doesn't mean that this is not happening. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Let me ask you one simple question: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 If you believe that we don't acquire many of these skills 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in our educational environment, be it in a formal setting 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 or a socializing moment in your school or at university, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 would we actually witness the pace of change in society that we are seeing. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Almost all of us have gone through the educational system. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So, we must get a lot of those skills also through that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I do agree, though, that there is something to be said about 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the question of how specific are we when we look at those skills. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Because that is true that most curricula -- 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 education is very much compartmentalized into very specific subject areas 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and we're seeing an increasing trend of those subject areas becoming 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 more and more specific. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And thus indeed, there is perhaps not enough emphasis on looking at, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 or thinking really about are we acquiring all those sets of skills 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that are important for our socialization, etc., our technical skills as well, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 as mentioned by the opposition. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 One of the things that I would like to highlight is that 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the schools and universities, and vocational education and training 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is not only about the formal learning outcomes 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that we are beginning to measure more and more. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It is also about the social environment at that very school or university 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that determines a lot of what education gives us. 22:18