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(0:56 people's noises)
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(check who) 1.17 We've got one hour
and a quarter.
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(confused voices then 1:31) How do we know
when these things are going to be turned on?
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(confused voices, then1:58) What? OK?
Right.
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(Chairperson 2:03) Ladies and Genltemen,
can I ask everyone
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to take their seats, please?
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We're about to begin,
so if you're visiting the bar,
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can you charge your glasses and return
to your seats, and then we'll begin.
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We've got an hour and a quarter
for this debate.
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OK, can I -- Welcome everybody to
the Online Educa OEB debate.
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I'm not sure what number this is
in the series of debates that we've had,
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I think it may be getting up to our 10th.
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What I can tell you is that in the time
that we've been having these debates
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and that I've been chairing them,
my eyesight has now gone so bad
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that I can't possibly read any notes
that I have without using glasses, so
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I think we must be on at least our 10th.
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What I can also tell you is that
Online Educa itself, OEB,
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this year is celebrating
its 21st anniversary.
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So I think that perhaps deserves
a round of applause.
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So happy birthday to Online Educa --
(Applause) -- this fantastic conference.
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And 21 years ago was a very difficult --
very different world indeed,
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when one thinks about the scale and scope
of change that there --
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that has taken place in the last 21 years.
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One statistic I was reading recently was
that in the UK, in 1994, 21 years ago,
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there were only 67 mobile phones
per 1000 people.
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But only ten years later, in 2004,
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there were more mobiles in the UK
than people.
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And that pattern of spread
of mobile communications alone
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has spread across the world and
in Africa, for instance,
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those of you who have been to
Elearning Africa will have learned about
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the spread of mobile communications
across the African continent.
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So in terms of the scale
of technological change,
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and the spread of that change
across the world,
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the change in that short period of time,
in these past 21 years alone,
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has been enormous, and we heard about
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the scale of it in the opening
plenary session this morning.
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We live in a world that is globalized,
interconnected, hyperlinked
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and that scale of change we're
experiencing, have experienced
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in the last 21 years, is going to
gather pace and continue.
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And all that is going to create a huge
challenge for education and training,
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which is going to be at the heart
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of dealing with both the positive and
negative aspects of that change.
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And that's why the motion that we're
dealing with today, in this debate,
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is so important, and why the whole subject
of giving young people the skills
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that they need to cope with
the challenges of this new world
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that we all are going to --
that we are creating, is so important.
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We've got four speakers,
four panel speakers
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to open the debate this evening
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and I'm going to ask each of them
to speak for 10 minutes,
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and then I'm going to --
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-- two of them will speak for the motion,
obviously,and two against --
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then I will throw open the debate
to all of you,
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but if you want to intervene
whilst they are speaking, because
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we're having a parliamentary-style
debate,
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then you can try to intervene on them
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and if they want to take
your intervention,
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then they can do so, but it will be
entirely up to you.
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And if they don't, then you can draw
whatever conclusions you want from that.
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But I want to ensure that
we keep the flow going,
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so I'm not going to let you bully them
but I'm going to allow you,
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if you want to make a particular point,
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or if you want to make
a short intervention, to do so.
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Then after they've spoken, we'll
throw open the debate to the floor
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and you can make your contribution,
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but do please realize that time
is of the essence,
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so please try to keep it short and
to the point, succinct.
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This is the kind of debate equivalent
of texting.
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So, no long rambling contributions,
because I will cut you off
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if you try to do that.
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So, very short contributions, please.
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And then I'll ask each of our --
I'll ask one speaker from each side
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to sum up, and then we will take a vote,
and we'll do that by a show of hands.
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And I've also made it clear
to all the speakers that they may
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say things that they don't necessarily
want to be held to in the future,
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so I hope that you will understand that.
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But this is an opportunity for us
to explore some of the issues,
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but don't take it all too seriously,
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and don't come and accuse people of saying
things that you would --
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that they might not necessarily always
want to be held to.
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With that in mind, I'm going to ask
our first speaker, who is Jo Swinson.
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Jo Swinson, who is the former Minister
for business, innovation and skills
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in the UK's coalition government of
2010 to 2015,
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to speak first for the motion.
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And Jo, since leaving Parliament,
has begun a new career
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and is involved in an award within
a data intelligence company
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called Clear Returns
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and she is an expert on the challenges
and opportunities of the digital age.
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So, over to you, Jo.
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(Jo Swinson) Thank you very much indeed,
Harold.
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And I'm absolutely delighted to be here
in Berlin at OEB.
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A bit of a first, actually, the first
technology-related conference
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that I've been to where there is a queue
in the ladies' loos!
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I have to say I was particularly pleased
by that, not only as a feminist,
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but also as a Brit who appreciates
the art of queuing.
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So it was good on two fronts.
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So, this house believes that
21st century skills aren't being taught,
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and they should be, is the motion
that I want to convince you
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to support this evening.
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We absolutely need to be equipping
our young people,
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and indeed, people at every stage
of their lives,
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with the skills that they need
for the 21st century.
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And our education systems,
and our wider society,
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have an important role to play in this.
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But I will put it to you, this evening,
that when it comes to technical skills,
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when it comes to social skills,
and vitally,
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when it comes to capacity
to embrace change,
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we are not yet rising to that challenge
sufficiently.
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There are very specific skills,
there are gaps in science and technology
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that are not being properly filled. 9:32
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These shortages are causing
significant problems
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for businesses, for employers.
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Half of engineering companies say that
they have delayed taking forward
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new products or services, because
they have vacancies
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that are so hard to fill, because
the skills are not there to recruit.
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Digital start-ups are often in real need
of software developers
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that they cannot find sufficiently.
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And companies of all sizes, grappling with
cybersecurity challenges
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struggle to have the skills that they need
to take on those important issues.
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As Harold mentioned, I'm now a director
of a company called Clear Returns.
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It's been going for about three years,
based in Glasgow, and uses data analytics
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to help retailers understand the problems
they have with product returns
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and therefore successfully cutting
the costs for retailers,
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and resulting in better
customer satisfaction.
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But in our technology team of 17 people,
there are 12 different nationalities
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and not one of those people went through
the school education system in the UK,
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because the skills are not taught
up to scratch.
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Now, there have been some improvements
and as to 2014,
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computer science has been introduced into
the curriculum in the UK,
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but that is not the end of the matter,
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because 11% of computer science graduates
are unemployed.
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In fact, that's one of the highest
unemployment rates
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for any subject discipline,
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at a time when we have a huge shortage
of these very skills.
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Something is going very wrong
when that is the case.
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And this is not just about
teaching people to code.
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Fashionable ....... (check) undoubtedly
is at the moment (check)
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and it is necessary that we do have
people who can code.
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But it's not some kind of silver bullet
on its own.
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Actually, it's the building blocks
that we need to be putting in place,
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the things that lie before you get
to the point of coding,
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the logic, the basic maths,
enhancing those skills,
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so that people can put
those building blocks together
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and create an argument or a
train of thought or a mathematical proof,
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or indeed, a piece of code that will
instruct a machine to do something.
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Yet our maths skills
are also going backwards.
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A King's College, London, study found that
compared to the 1970's
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young people today are significantly less
well equipped in the field of mathematics.
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And it's also worth pointing out
that we are missing out,
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when it comes to teaching these skills
on almost half of the population.
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Only one in five A-level physics students
is a girl.
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When it comes to computer science,
that figure drops to 1 in 10.
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Now, it's wonderful to be at
a technology conference
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where there is a queue
in the ladies' loos,
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but even at this conference, if you
have a look at the speakers' brochure,
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only 8 of the 35 main speakers are women,
so where are the women?
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We are missing out
on that important talent
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who will not then get in the fields
that we need for the 21st century
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to enable all of our economies
to flourish.
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We're also not doing well enough
at the social skills
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which have always been imported --
important,
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and I would argue, are even more so
in the context of the 21st century.
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Employers have long complained that
they get coming into the work place
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are not yet ready for work.
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I have to say there is that thing
I've observed,
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when new graduates starting out
in the work place
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seem to be allergic to
using the telephone
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for the purpose it was originally
designed for.
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I've lost count of the number of times
when, speaking to a member of staff
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about the particular project
that they are trying to make happen,
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and it seems so stuck, and I say:
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"What happened when you asked
that person about it?"
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"Oh, I sent them an email and
they didn't get back to me."
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You know, for all the wonders that
technology can undoubtedly do
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in helping us in our working life, when
you want to get people to do something,
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an email is very easy to ignore, and it is
much harder to just put to one side
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a face-to-face person or contact,
or on the telephone.
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And relationships are absolutely critical
to 21st century work places and skills:
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getting things done, collaborating in
teams, motivating others.
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Yet when we assess children
and young people in the education system,
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it is genuinely done
on a pure individual basis,
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not looking at how they are actually
operating within a drip setting (check).
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And when it comes to skills
in terms of relationships,
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something like personal, social
and health education, which I would argue,
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is absolutely essential to help young
people learn to navigate relationships,
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and important issues like consent
when it comes to sex,
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it's not even compulsory
in the UK curriculum.
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In a world where ultimation is increasing,
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where jobs that we've already seen through
the Industrial Revolution,
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that manual jobs have been replaced
by machines,
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that with the next stage of technological
advancement, many, many more,
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in things like accountancy and
professional services,
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are also going to be replaced
by algorithms,
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the human social relationship skills
are going to be in even more demand
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and therefore deserve much more attention.
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And my final point is that we have not
done enough to prepare people
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for the world of change.
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A little while ago, I spoke at a School
Award ceremony to 12-year olds
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And I was to explain to them
how the world had changed
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since I was there age.
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And one of the examples I used was
the process of taking a photograph.
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And I described how, when I was 12,
you would have a thing called a camera
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that was all that it did, it was just
for taking photographs,
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you would have to get a piece of film,
physically,
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to load it into the camera machine,
you'd had to do that pretty carefully,
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because you didn't want to expose the film
and it was quite a fiddly process.
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You wouldn't know whether the photos
you were taking were any good.
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You would have to take at least 24,
or sometimes 36,
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depending on which particular
piece of film you put into your camera,
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before you would then take it along
to a pharmacist's or a chemist's shop,
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pay some money and then go and do
something else for a few days,
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at which point you could come back
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and be presented with your little
envelope of photographs,
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and see if any of them had turned out OK.
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And I was counting on these 12-year olds
looked at me
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like I might well be lying to them:
this is how it worked,
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because of course these days, you know,
within a matter of seconds,
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you can take dozens of selfies
in your phone,
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apply however many Instagram filters
you like,
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and share it with the entire world,
just without leaving the school.
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The pace of change is accelerating hugely.
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Here in 2015, for us to consider
what even are 21st century skills,
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is like going back to 1915 and trying
to imagine the space race, nuclear power,
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the internet, or the kind of social change
going from a situation
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where women didn't even have the vote,
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to electing a woman as Prime Minister
in the UK,
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or the change with gay rights,
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or the ending of racial segregation
in the United States.
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We can't even conceive of all that
the 21st century is going to bring.
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And so, more than anything, with
this huge pace of increasing knowledge,
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more than anything, what we need to do
is equip people
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to cope with and thrive
on change and uncertainty.
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Instead, we have bunches of kids being
processed through the education system
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that doesn't look that different
to several decades ago.
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So we really do have a problem here,
in terms of the skills
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that we are teaching and more importantly,
not teaching well enough.
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Whether it's technical skills,
whether it's those social skills
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or whether it's the vitally important
ability to be resilient,
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to recover from change and setbacks,
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and to apply yourself in a new way
to a new set of challenges and horizons.
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These are the things
we must be focusing on,
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and we aren't yet rising
to that challenge.
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I support the motion. 18:06
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(Applause)
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(Moderator) OK, thank you very much
for that, Jo.
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Our next speaker, who is going to speak
against the motion, is Allan Päll,
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who is the Secretary General of
the European Youth Forum,
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which is the representative body
for youth organisations in Europe
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and he is an advocate for youth's rights.
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He lead student unions in Estonia and
at the European level, and has advocated
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for students' voices to be included
in educational policy. Allan:
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(Allan Päll) All right,
thank you very much, chair.
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I would like to very much support many
of the claims made by our opposition.
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However, when it comes to the question
and when it comes to this specific motion,
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this house does not believe that
21st century skills aren't being taught,
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because, well, let me put it very bluntly
and very simply:
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the whole notion of what are 21st century
skills is often just a bunch of nonsense,
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if I would sum it up very briefly.
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But let me go into it a bit more.
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There are many definitions of
what these skills could be
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and I fully agree that they do include
everything mentioned by the opposition.
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However, there are many other ways
of looking at it.
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So if we are to say whether these are
being taught or not,
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even if we have a problem of the very
definition of what these skills are,
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how can we say that they are
not being taught so determinedly?
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Some of the elements that can be
mentioned as 21st century skills
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are simple things, as critical thinking,
problem-solving, reasoning, analysis,
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research skills, creativity, curiosity,
perseverance, self-direction
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oral and written communication,
leadership,
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information and communication technology,
social justice, literacy,
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civic, ethical behavior, global awareness:
the list goes on and on and on.
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So, indeed, many of those things, perhaps,
are not being taught enough,
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or specifically enough,
in our educational systems.
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But that doesn't mean that
this is not happening.
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Let me ask you one simple question:
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If you believe that we don't acquire
many of these skills
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in our educational environment,
be it in a formal setting
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or a socializing moment
in your school or at university,
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would we actually witness the pace
of change in society that we are seeing.
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Almost all of us have gone through
the educational system.
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So, we must get a lot of those skills
also through that.
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I do agree, though,
that there is something to be said about
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the question of how specific are we
when we look at those skills.
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Because that is true that most curricula --
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education is very much compartmentalized
into very specific subject areas
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and we're seeing an increasing trend
of those subject areas becoming
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more and more specific.
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And thus indeed, there is perhaps
not enough emphasis on looking at,
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or thinking really about are we acquiring
all those sets of skills
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that are important for our socialization,
etc., our technical skills as well,
-
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as mentioned by the opposition.
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One of the things that I would like
to highlight is that
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the schools and universities, and
vocational education and training
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is not only about the formal
learning outcomes
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that we are beginning to measure
more and more.
-
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It is also about the social environment
at that very school or university
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that determines a lot of
what education gives us.
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In terms of specific skills
that were mentioned by opposition
-
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and the lack of those skills, there are
many variables perhaps to look at.
-
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Yes indeed, we are missing out
on engineers,
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we are missing out on also
staff in medical sciences, in care.
-
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We would need indeed many more people
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to have those qualifications,
perhaps, indeed.
-
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But there is also a question of
what is education for
-
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and what are the requirements
on the labor market.
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And those two things,
although they interact,
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they move at different paces.
-
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So sometimes, we start to put blame
very easily on the education system for
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not delivering specific skills when, for
example, the structure of our education
-
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-- sorry, the structure of our economy
has changed.
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And I think here, it's an important
remark that we need to look at
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different experiences
of different countries.
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And you see countries where
unemployment levels,
-
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even throughout the financial
economic crises,
-
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were record low, such as in Germany
and Austria.
-
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But if you look at youth
unemployment figures,
-
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youth unemployment also among
highly educated young people,
-
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in different areas, like Spain or Greece,
all around the Mediterranean,
-
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they've been staggeringly high.
-
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And it's not because
the education systems failed,
-
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it's because the macro-economic systems
failed them there,
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in terms of not having enough job creation
for all those skills.
-
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And of course, there is something
to be said that when we train people
-
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and when we train minds
to think critically,
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to come up with new and innovative ideas,
we also change the world through that.
-
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So, we need to understand
that interaction.
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but certainly, when we look at
21st century skills, well,
-
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if we are to define them with this broad
set of lists that I noted,
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we certainly are gaining those skills,
but perhaps, not specifically
-
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and not enough: that, we could agree.
-
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When it comes to preparedness for change,
-
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when are we ever prepared
for the change to come, one might wonder.
-
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Indeed, things, technologically,
are changing very fast.
-
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And maybe our educational systems
are not embracing that technology
-
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at the same pace.
-
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But that doesn't mean that
if we would embrace
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the use of that technology very quickly,
that it would enhance immediately
-
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the skills that we can describe as
21st century skills,
-
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such as, for example, critical thinking.
-
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There are many advocates that say that
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we need to replace
subject matter teaching completely
-
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with horizontal level approaches.
-
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That doesn't work.
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If we don't know the facts, how do we know
that we are on the right path
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with our decisions, how can we know
what really happened in the past,
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and not, how can we verify what is true?
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So when we look at the skills, we need
to look at the evidences
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in terms of teaching preparedness
and pedagogy.
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And yes, we agree: there is a lot
to be done there
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in terms of measuring those essential
skills of socialization and communication,
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building relationships, and it is true
that around, it's estimated,
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around 50% of jobs in the service sector
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are about to disappear in the next
20 years and transform, hopefully,
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into something completely new.
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Finally, indeed, those skills,
we can all agree,
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we'll need those skills.
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But there is an important element
of young people,
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and this is a study that we have done
in the European Youth Forum,
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that they gain a lot of those skills also
outside, in non formal education settings.
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And the key here is to see if we can bring
those experiences
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that young people gain from youth
organizations, activism,
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into the formal education setting,
and thus make it much more open
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to recognizing those prior experiences
as well, to overcome this shortage.
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Thank you very much.
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(Applause)
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(Moderator) Thank you very much, Allan.
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Our next speaker who is going to speak
for the motion is Pedro De Bruyckere
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who is an educational scientist and
he has worked in Ghent in Belgium
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since 2001.
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He co-wrote two books which debunk
popular myths on generation Y
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and generation Z,
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and the latest one was entitled
"I was 10 in 2015". Pedro:
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(Pedro De Bruyckere) OK. Good evening.
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I'm a teacher, I'm a teacher trainer,
so I'm not used to standing still.
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So if you don't mind, I will move.
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Allan, thank you very much for
making my point.
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I have to explain: I have to agree,
I've written a book about it.
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There's no such thing
as 21st century skills.
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And that's why they need to be taught.
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I have to explain this.
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You know, if we go back in time, to see
the origins of the 21st century skills,
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you'll end up with the liberal arts,
the Septem Artes Liberales.
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Rhetoric, what we are doing right here,
that's for me ancient history,
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but still needed today.
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But the question is,
is this still being taught in school?
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Because, like ....... Alberts (check) says,
moreover we get a focus on the Three R's
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-- Reading, 'Riting, 'Rithmetics --
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while most of the young people are
looking to Snapchats.
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But because of the focus,
because we want to test stuff,
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the more important things
are being forgotten!
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Rhetoric, philosophy, for me, crucial.
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To be honest, then, you don't have to look
at Ancient Times,
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than you have to look at Medieval Times,
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because then philosophy was added
to the Liberal Arts.
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So we need to train our children
because it's great to say:
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"Look at us: we've done it."
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Yes, but we are not talking about us,
because in 20 years' time, they will --
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we will be old, boring and
other people need to sit there
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and beyond stage, using rhetoric.
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So we need to prepare them.
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I'm not sure if we're doing a great job.
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For instance, if we talk about technology,
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technology is often like a sex ad
in education.
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You know, you talk about
all the dangerous stuff
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and you never talk about the fun stuff.
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You know, it's very simple:
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"Don't do this, don't do that,
certainly don't try that! Go ahead!"
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And another -- for instance, McKinsey,
the McKinsey report, 2014 McKinsey report,
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said just (check)
-- and I agree again with you both --
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there is a mismatch.
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There is a mismatch between
what children study in school
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and which topics they choose,
and what we need in the economy.
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But at the same time, the employers said:
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"You know, don't train them
to a specific job
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"but train them in strategic
and communication skills."
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OK, they have been around for ages
but they are still important.
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But what do we do, for instance,
in many schools?
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I've been in schools in Holland,
in Germany, in --
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you know, we teach them how to write
a job application.
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We teach them how to perform
a talk for a job.
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Do we teach them to write
a LinkedIn profile?
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No, what we say is "Never post
a drunk photo on Facebook,
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"because people will search you."
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What we don't say is:
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"You know what? Post something good
about yourself on Facebook,
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"that isn't a selfie."
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But we think well, they will do this.
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Actually, for instance research by
Jan van Dek (check):
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that's one of the stuff
that our kids don't know.
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And if we don't teach them, who will?
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So that's my point: we need to teach them
basic skills like Jo said:
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communication skills, strategic skills.
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And if you want to call them
21st century skills because, by accident,
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we're living in the 21st century,
so be it.
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(Applause)
Thank you.
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(Applause)
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(Moderator) OK,
thank you very much, Pedro.
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Our final speaker who is going to speak
against the motion is Miles Berry,
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who is the principal lecturer
in computing education
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at the University of Roehampton in the UK:
Miles.
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(Miles Berry) Pleasure to be here,
really is.
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Philip and Gudrun, where are you guys?
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OK, on the Twitter thing you say:
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"We need to talk about what the purpose
of education is, what is education for?"
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And that's where I want to start.
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I want to move back from the motion,
to think about what education is for.
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And to do that, we need some understanding
of what education is.
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I've been in education
for over 40 years now.
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But even so, I checked.
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It's the culture or development
of personal knowledge, or understanding,
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growth or character,
moral and social qualities, etc.,
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as contrasting with
the imparting of a skill.
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(blurred: check)
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OK, there's definitely a place
for imparting skills,
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but that's training, not education,
and there is a difference.
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My Roehampton students study education,
but they are trained to teach.
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England's new computing curriculum
educates people about the principles,
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the principles of computer science:
(inaudible: check), I tell you.
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(laughter) ... technology, I think
the technology ran on me tonight,
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it's all right I'll give it...
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(off) (unintelligible)
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(Berry) 21st century skill
-- on knowledge -- (laughter)
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Knowledge that these things are the wrong
shape for my head: never mind.
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OK, so: England's new computing curriculum
that Jo has alluded to
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educates people about the principles
of computer science,
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whereas we used to train them
to use Office software.
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Or think about sex.
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Look, not like that: we rightly include
sex education on the curriculum in schools
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but we typically don't include training.
(Laughter) Important skills.
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Do without microphones.
(Laughter) ... very well.
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In England, our Education Act says
what education is for.
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Firstly, it's to promote the spiritual,
moral, cultural, mental and physical
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development of pupils and of society.
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And it's to prepare pupils
for the opportunities, responsibilities
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and experiences of later life.
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What else could education possibly be for?
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In that, you just got to love laws
that require you to do
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what you'd want to do anyhow.
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There does remain a question about
how best to prepare people
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for these opportunities, responsibilities
and experiences.
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I think the nob of the motion this evening
is about whether this should be done
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through some sort of training
in 21st century skills
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or by passing on the knowledge,
understanding and wisdom
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of our generation to the next and I'd say,
the latter.
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I've no problem with skills per se
in teaching.
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Behavioral management is a skill,
coding is a skill,
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so is searching for things on Google,
or even Bing.
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OK. I've some problem, though, with the
notion that there are 21st century skills
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and I'd agree with you on that.
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But both of you have done a fine job
of demolishing that notion already.
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I've also some problem with the skills --
with the notion that skills can transfer.
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Skills are about accomplishing something.
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There's a context to the skills,
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and I think we diminish specific skills
by attempting to generalize them.
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It isn't critical thinking,
it's thinking critically about something.
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It's not creativity,
it's creating something.
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And it's not communication,
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it's communicating something
through some media.
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The 'something' here matters.
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It's really not possible to teach skills
in the abstract fashion, without context.
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And the context is king.
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Whatever the specific domain,
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knowledge of that domain is necessary
for expert skills.
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My main problem, though, is that
we've only a little time in school.
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We've other things to teach and
our students have other things to learn:
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things like knowledge
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and understanding
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and wisdom.
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Without these, skills are unlikely to be
of much practical benefit.
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Stephen Downes is here.
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Well, nodding in his direction, I'd say,
learning is about connecting things:
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neurons, ideas, people.
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The computer scientists get this,
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Google's page rank algorithm relies
not so much on the content of the page,
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as the links between the pages.
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The thing is then, the new stuff has to be
connected to something.
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Otherwise, it's just isolated factoids.
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We can't make sense of it,
we can't use new knowledge
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unless it's integrated into our existing
mental maps, our schema.
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Put simply: it takes knowledge
to gain knowledge.
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This apples to each of us as individuals,
but it's also how civilization grows.
-
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Human achievement is a cumulative thing.
-
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New knowledge doesn't normally contradict
what's gone before.
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It builds on it.
-
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If Newton saw further than others had,
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it was because he stood
on the shoulders of giants.
-
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What hope would there be
for the next generations
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if they had to discover everything afresh
for themselves?
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The consequence of our building
on what's gone before
-
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is that the pace of cultural, scientific
and technological change
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accelerates exponentially.
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But even allowing for this acceleration
is knowledge, understanding and wisdom
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which have done the test of time.
-
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Less so, skills.
-
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Expect new inventions and discoveries
over the next 85 years
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and new practical skills to go with them.
-
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But don't expect the foundational
shared knowledge of our civilization
-
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to become irrelevant.
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Indeed, it's on this very foundation
that the new knowledge will be built.
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It's not 21st century skills
that young people need.
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It's 21st century knowledge, understanding
and wisdom.
-
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Time, I think, for a quick case study.
-
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The most successful education systems
and the top universities
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seem to organize their curriculum
around well knowledge-based subjects.
-
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England's new National Curriculum is
quite explicitly a knowledge-based one.
-
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It sets out to provide pupils with
an introduction to the essential knowledge
-
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they need to be educated as citizens,
-
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and to introduce them to the best
which has been thought and said.
-
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One of the most radical things we've done
in that curriculum,
-
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which many see as rather reactionary,
-
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is to have replaced the old ICT
with a new subject: computing.
-
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This includes an introduction
to the principles of computer science
-
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for all, from age 5 up.
-
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It has been my privilege
to be part of the team
-
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designing and implementing
the new subject.
-
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Under the old curriculum we offered
a good grounding in tech skills,
-
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finding this online,
making a presentation,
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typing up stories, articles and reports.
-
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Sometimes, even making a spreadsheet,
often about having a party.
-
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Do people really use spreadsheets
to plan parties?
-
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Are these fun parties? Are these
-- OK (laughs)
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It was fine: pupils moved on to work
or the next phase of education
-
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with some competence and confidence
-
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and broadly speaking, were
digitally literate.
-
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Our ...... (check) students
at Roehampton's
-
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suggested that broad portfolio skills,
-
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two thirds regarded them as .... as
competent, proficient or experts.
-
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That said, it was all too often
a bit -- well, dull.
-
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There's a limit, or at least
there should be a limit
-
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to the number of times you can
find something out on the internet
-
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and make a presentation about it.
-
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Generally, it did precious little
to provide any real knowledge
-
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or understanding of computation,
information theory or digital technology.
-
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In the same audit, less than 15%
of my new students
-
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rated their understanding of
digital technology
-
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as competent, proficient or expert.
-
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So we started again.
-
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We built on the idea of computing
as having three elements:
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computer science, information technology
and digital literacy,
-
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the foundations, applications and
implications of the discipline.
-
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We took a leaf out of
William Morris's book:
-
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"Have nothing in your house that
you do not know to be useful
-
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"or believe to be beautiful."
-
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And built a curriculum of things
that would be useful,
-
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but also things that were interesting. 40:54