Difference between revisions of "Another brick in the wall"
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<h2> Timeline </h2> | <h2> Timeline </h2> | ||
<h2>2010-2015</h2> | |||
The signs of the financial and fiscal crisis were still obvious in the European economy. Although Greece was forced to restructure its debt, the rest of the vulnerable European economies were not affected mainly due to timely and well-coordinated government actions. With increased solidarity, European officials realized that the monetary union was not enough to guarantee stability and they had to move faster towards the European integration. <br> | |||
Moreover, one of the major concerns at the top of the EUs agenda was the achievement of their 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. Realizing that the EU considerably lagged behind the rest of the world in terms of innovation, leaders in Brussels started engaging European companies in order to address the issue. Together they realized that a fundamental change in the EU education system was required at all levels, even for primary and secondary education. <br> | |||
Another matter of great concern was the increasing rates of students disengagement. Schools introduced the use of technology in order to facilitate teaching and make the learning experience more interesting and appealing to students. Schools which introduced tablets used them not only as a substitute for textbooks but also to provide a completely new way of learning. Companies were designing and developing functions and applications that migrated the learning experience to the digital world. <br> | |||
<h2>2015-2020</h2> | |||
However, global warming continued to worsen and imposed increased pressures on governments throughout the world. Governments had to allocate part of their budgets towards minimizing effects on the environment and reversing the damage that had already been caused. That translated into a smaller percentage of total GDP allocated to education. In 2015, after having explored alternative ways of rendering the educational system more efficient, EU governments, in cooperation with companies, started making substantial changes in the educational system. The first was the introduction of tablets in every school in the European region. The plan involved 50% regional coverage with tablets within the first 4 years of the program and a further increase to 70% in year five. The tablets were subsidized by the governments and companies, while parents were contributing only 30% of the final price. Technology companies provided tablets specifically designed for educational purposes that were addressing the needs of students for primary and secondary education. Publishers cooperated with application providers and adapted the existing learning materials for the new digital era. After the failure of widespread internet integration in classrooms in years past, publishers knew that content is the key to success in this new era. Although their power decreased because there were other parties participating in the development of e-books, such as graphic art and application providers, their role remained of primary importance. <br> | |||
However, the main issue proved not to be the provision or the content of the tablets, but rather stemmed from the change of mentality that was needed in order for the new system to operate smoothly. Teachers and parents found it difficult to adapt and doubted the success of the new system. Parents distrusted the new educational techniques and doubted whether engagement from the part of the students would increase, as tablet use could prove distracting in class. Teachers were the most resistant to these changes since they required additional training and were a complete deviation of what teachers considered teaching as usual. But With close to half of the teachers in the EU either having retired or planning retirement within the next ten years, more open-minded young teachers had entered the educational system, which facilitated the transition to the new technology-based teaching methodologies. <br> | |||
As this new learning environment became mainstream and generally accepted, the EU governments decided that it was not enough. They realized that education should be further integrated and introduced uniform standards for all EU member states to share and embrace in their national educational systems. Reactions came from people complaining that the new system did not take into account cultural differences and would lead to flattening of the European culture. For example, questions were raised on how history classes would be taught without damaging the local identity of the country. In response the EU granted some content freedom to the local governments for sensitive courses. However, the decision makers were committed in not stepping back and decided to proceed to the implementation process. An additional outcome of this new system was standardized skills-based assessments which were conducted on a frequent basis. The results of the tests were collected, stored in a central databank and frequently monitored to track the progress of pupils in different regions. The widespread adoption of performance measurement via technology made it easy to use tablets and other technology within the classroom for monitoring kids performance. <br> | |||
Teachers also followed the progress of their pupils and compared them with their European peers. Students followed their teachers lectures through the interactive e-textbooks, which better helped them grasp the meaning of what was taught. Classrooms became smaller as the teacher had to monitor closely the learning progress of each student through the interactive technologies. However, the number of teachers in need did not increase due to the reduced number of students, as a result of the demographic trends in Europe. The materials were all available online. Assignments, projects and tasks were conducted online and shared with peer groups across Europe. Assessments were structured according to adaptive testing methodologies that allowed officials to monitor the long-term trends of the effectiveness of these teaching methodologies. <br> | |||
<h2>2020-2025</h2> | |||
As years went by, standards became more rigorous and testing was taking place on an almost constant basis. Parents were convinced that the new system address childrens learning needs in a better way. In this new system, Schools found themselves with less and less autonomy while standards and policies were defined and measured from a central EU government authority. Although learning was taking place in a very structured and standardized educational environment, students found themselves more engaged in the learning material due to the change in teaching methods. Their motivation also came from peer to peer comparison. Schools maintained their dual role as a skills and character building institutions. Childrens socialization mainly took place in the school district. However, what had deviated from the old educational system was that the currents focus was on preparing children for a highly competitive professional life. Children learn how to compete but also what they are competing against. Globalization and standardization of the educational system had increased the competition focus. The ages of innocence for children were nothing more than a memory. Children receive the basic, standardized education during their primary and secondary school life and specialize only by the time they reach university. <br> | |||