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IOE academic informs T20 discussion about the future of education

20 May 2021

果冻影院 Institute of Education (IOE) academic Paul Grainger has contributed to the Think 20 (T20) conference on the future of education after Covid.

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Think 20 (T20) is the official engagement group of the G20 and is composed by think tanks and research institutions. It serves as the 'idea bank' of the G20 and provides research-based policy recommendations to the G20 Leaders.聽

The virtual conference discussions focused on ensuring that students recover from the disruptions to schooling that the Covid-19 pandemic has brought. In particular, the Group discussed how to prevent students from financially fragile households being pushed out of the education system, whether digital technologies lead to a new paradigm for future education, and how policies could be designed around this.

Paul Grainger spoke about the enormous potential for digitalisation and the crucial role it played in remote learning during schools鈥 closures. However, he also mentioned that the pandemic had highlighted the resource limitations of remote learning, for example, space in families鈥 houses, the number of devices, and the skills required so that users can get the most out of remote learning and working.

Another limitation that has become clear is the limited opportunity for interaction and the difficulty in teaching practical skills. Grainger stated that this is causing a bottleneck in licence to practise occupations, such as cheffing, where the student has to demonstrate a set of skills in order to obtain that qualification. He argues that though technology may support learning, some form of human interaction will remain essential.

Grainger also stressed that it is impossible for vocational colleges to teach unless they collaborate with employers: 鈥淲hat we have to do post-pandemic is break down the siloes where teachers are 鈥榟ere鈥 and employers are 鈥榯here鈥. If employers want people with the appropriate skills, they鈥檙e going to have to collaborate [with colleges] in delivering those skills in local networks鈥 We鈥檙e looking at a new paradigm for employment feeding into a new paradigm for education.鈥

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