The current buzzword of education is probably innovation. UNICEF defines it as “solving a real problem in a new, simple way to promote equitable learning”. The OECD calls it “a key driver of growth and well-being”, encouraging the “nurturing (of) innovation skills like creativity and critical thinking”. Progressive schools are all looking at ways to demonstrate their alignment to this bold concept, as they prepare their students with the skills required for the world of tomorrow.
Globally, we have moved from a traditional, set curriculum to a more inquiry-driven environment. The pedagogy is less about specific content, more about exploration and project-based learning.
Education has become a space where speedy innovation and intuitive skills are required to stay relevant. Our younger generation are no longer relying on their teacher as the font of all wisdom. Instead, they weave their own paths through YouTube videos, TikTok algorithms or an instant ChatGPT solution. As a student once said: “I can learn anything on the internet.”
In 2020, OECD recognised, through four scenarios of the future, that education was experiencing a paradigm shift and schools must start making strategic choices. As online learning models transform how we access our growth and knowledge, schools are set to become hubs of expertise or lose their status.
In 2025, it is clear they rightly predicted the seismic impact AI would have. The winners in the long game will be those who grasp these opportunities, such as modifying how we offer our education or creating specialised high-tech learning environments.
The jobs of their future will be based around being innovative, using AI ethically, resourcefully, and grasping the technological opportunities
Adapting our practice is key, as these tools of education are evolving. It will not be long now that examinations will all be assessed online, another game changer, as students will be assessed on their application of knowledge, not content. Even how universities assess students is likely to shift; rather than grades in final exams, life-long digital portfolios demonstrating ongoing critical thinking skills through projects will likely become the norm.
Verdala International School has plenty of innovative teachers, however, for their ideas to be put into practice we needed a bolder IT vision that would give our students opportunities to enhance their problem-solving skills and get creative with intuitive software.
Therefore, like many schools, we opted to integrate Apple iPads into our teaching and learning. We are excited to individualise our students’ learning journey and provide instant feedback from peers or the teacher. This move has not been without its challenges. It required investment in hardware and infrastructure alongside an Edtech coach to support staff, as well as mindful, safeguarding monitoring.
In kindergarten, iPads have been a useful, intuitive tool for a while, although some parents worry about their children losing the ability to write. This is a valid concern, as current research is highlighting that young children are so used to being on screens at home that they arrive in school with underdeveloped fine motor skills. This may influence their longer-term ability to write, which could affect their development of creative writing and literacy. While the beauty of handwriting may be an outdated expectation, being able to write is not. The stylus can be a compromise but not a replacement.
The resistors often focus on what is happening in schools, yet the real culprit is the lifestyle of the digital native. Home-life easily becomes driven by gadgets to keep the child entertained while adults go about their business. Parents worry that using the iPad in school is too much screen time; in fact, it may be a lack of balance in their home life that is the issue.
On any given day in an average school, even with the iPad toolkit, students have a good range of active experiences in a variety of subjects, sports and the arts, alongside the soft skills that one learns through collaboration, discussion and play.
The demands of this transformative trend mean our young people have no choice but to be technologically literate. The jobs of their future will be based around being innovative, using AI ethically, resourcefully and grasping the technological opportunities as part of curiosity and life-long learning. However, it is also essential that we all, schools and families, maintain the balance between analogue and digital to both protect our well-being and perspective.
Totty Aris is head of Verdala International School.