According to a recent Citizens School study on the future of learning, educators need to reimagine a more future-relevant educational experience by better preparing kids with the abilities they will need to flourish in an unknowable future.
The ‘Future of Learning’ white paper describes how the UAE is taking the lead in promoting a curriculum that emphasizes the development of the technological, entrepreneurial, and critical thinking abilities required for the future.
The white paper examines how Dubai and the UAE’s youngsters are in a special position because of their access to developing technologies, naturally diverse classrooms, and progressive government policies. The study shows that modern education must change and adapt to results that cannot be captured in a report card but rather by better-preparing kids with the abilities they will need to flourish and achieve.
“As the body of human knowledge grows, educators must rethink the conventional ways of teaching by giving students the freedom to explore topics, broaden their interests, and learn about new technologies to determine the paths they want to take to realize their full potential. To survive, today’s learners must develop crucial entrepreneurial life skills. The study’s foreword, written by Dr Adil Al Zarooni, founder of Citizens School Dubai, calls for the curating of today’s learning experience to “reimagine learning, contributing to a globally recognized future learning framework enabling learners to thrive and enjoy a better quality of life in the future.”
Putting the kid at the center of reimagining educational journeys is important, according to Hisham Hodroge, CEO of Citizens School Dubai. The test, effectively transferring knowledge from teacher to student, is the primary channel on which the contemporary educational system concentrates. This approach needs to be updated because, according to research, 40% of children in kindergarten today will need to be self-employed or entrepreneurs to make any money. This calls for a different approach to education to improve quality of life by developing future-focused mindsets capable of seizing opportunities, driving change, and realizing that success and failure are vital for personal development.
The Future of Learning white paper examines education development throughout history, current trends in education worldwide, the UAE government’s pioneering role in focusing on the future, and poll data from more than 1,200 UAE parents on their opinions of the quality of education.
According to the survey, bitcoin and the metaverse (both at 54%), together with artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality (VR), will have the biggest influence on children’s futures. The white paper discusses the significance of assisting youngsters in developing skills and abilities that make them more adaptive to the realities of tomorrow at a time when Dubai is moving in a manner driven by quick technologies and multifaceted employment responsibilities.
Regarding what this means for teachers, Kephren Sherry, Head of Primary Citizens School Dubai, adds, “We must empower our students to explore their passions, experience success, and deal with failure, seeing failure as a significant step to subsequent success. We must also encourage our students to take ownership of their learning. The teacher today must help students access knowledge from a variety of sources, extract key information, and interpret it for them to be able to navigate and make decisions about the who, what, how, and why of the information, particularly in the complicated real and virtual worlds that we all now live in.
