In a few days, hundreds of students start their tertiary education. This year will be different in some ways from previous years as the COVID-19 pandemic has caused massive disruption and created so much uncertainty about the best way to promote learning. In many other ways, education hopes and fears are the same they have been for the past two decades.
Most of the students joining university and vocational college courses will this year be Generation Z young people – those born just before and just after the turn of the millennium. They face a very different world from that of their parents and perhaps even that of the millennials generation that came before them.
I have still to hear about an education policymaker or politician that does not wax lyrical about the importance of education for promoting the well-being of society. It is time to move away from platitudes and come up with a coherent vision and action plan for the future of education. Countries like Malta that start with an unenviable record of low achievement need to have laser focus on how to mend the system if students’ and parents’ hopes for the future are not to be frustrated.
Gen Z-ers fear that the job they get after they finish their tertiary education will not match their personality. They fret about the negative experiences of millennials who, despite their qualifications, end up underemployed in jobs that can be done by persons with lower capabilities. For instance, how many law and business graduates are today performing glorified clerical jobs that do no justice to the hard work they did when studying at university?
It isn’t easy to gauge how much influence parents still have on the choice of career for their children. What is certain is that policymakers should be concerned about the high number of students who are opting for soft courses that are more likely to lead to a dead-end in the search for a rewarding career. How many lawyers, anthropologists, philosophers, sociologists, and linguists does a country need? Perhaps, more importantly, how are tertiary education students being prepared for the skills that the workplace of tomorrow requires?
Academics will argue that education is not just about preparing for a career. Try telling that to the thousands of job seeking graduates throughout the EU. Many are unemployed or underemployed because their tertiary education did not prepare them for the jobs that today’s economy offers.
The long-term vision for education must never be blurred
Education policymakers need to start an intensive soul-searching exercise on how to help youngsters realise their hopes and overcome their fears about their future. The first question that needs to be asked is “What knowledge skills and attributes do our students need to thrive in the complex world?”
A second equally crucial question is “What kind of learning is needed for this current and future complexity?” As we live in the fourth industrial revolution, we will be short-sighted if we ignore the technological developments that are shaping the workplace.
Predictions that automation will make humans redundant have been made since the industrial revolution. But the current disruptive wave of technological development, especially in the use of artificial intelligence, has already begun.
Students working within the changing workplace environment must be able to make effective use of modern technology, as well as develop skills that technology cannot replace.
The current generation of undergraduate students is the first generation who will see artificial intelligence having a definite impact on their working lives. Our politicians and policymakers need to reassure students that the education system is hardwired to provide the necessary skills for tomorrow’s workplace. At the same time, they need to ensure that our tertiary education institutions can provide the soft skills toolset that every adult needs.
Putting education at the top of the political agenda will be of little meaning unless we ensure equity. The widening income and achievement gap needs to be addressed by a robust action plan to fight the inequality of opportunities. Free education and financial incentives for all is not enough to ensure that the have-nots in our society have a real chance to realise their hopes for a better living for themselves and their children.
Every child has a right to an excellent education irrespective of the personal circumstance that may hinder their progress in social mobility.
Of course, education is not just about schools and teachers. It is also about how society and the politicians that lead it plan for the future.
The long-term vision for education must never be blurred.