Curricular Improvements: Place Based Learning; Schools And Beyond

Why is it that many employers still report a “skills gap” when looking for talented members of the workforce?

Within a few years of entering the workforce, a gap will be opening up between what you need to know, what has recently been discovered, and what you are being taught while at school. In just a couple of decades, the content of the best libraries in the world has been made available to us through the internet and on mobile devices in a matter of seconds. But, there is an increased awareness that the school systems of today are not preparing children for the jobs of tomorrow. The pace and volume of change means that lifelong learning is no longer an option, but absolutely essential.

To take advantage of lifelong learning opportunities demands certain skills. We need to be motivated to learn, without the constant supervision and support of a teacher. We need to be able to ask questions and relate the knowledge gained to real-life challenges. We need to remain with the challenge even when the work gets hard.

We need to be prepared to try something; fail; adapt; then try again until it works. We need to network with other learners, sometimes virtually, often across cultures. We need to critically analyse and evaluate the content we find in seconds on the Internet, not memorise it with no purpose beyond passing an examination. We need to play creatively with ideas and solutions. Above all we have to understand that lifelong learning does not suddenly begin when you leave school. There is a growing understanding that the gap between the outputs of our education system and the needs of employers are not indicative of a failure in the last few years of formal schooling alone.

The gap is the cumulative consequence of years of education built upon a foundation set down in early childhood. In other words, the problem and the answer appear early on in life. The youngest children have an in-built curiosity to learn and ask questions, to learn through play. When a toddler repeatedly asks “why” or works with other children to create a city using toy building blocks, they are setting down the basic foundations of inquiry-based, personalised learning. They are learning by asking their own questions rather than learning answers to pass examinations, which assess other people’s questions set by institutions. This is why the foundation of lifelong learning is an approach that should begin at the kindergarten, continue through school and pass smoothly into interactions with the workplace and adult society.

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