24/7 learning – opportunities and challenges

 

Mr John King

Gable Hall School
United Kingdom

 

There are, in my view, three key challenges and opportunities for radical change surrounding this issue. Firstly, there is the view that 24/7 learning is advantageous and will address, in some way, a perceived shortfall in provision. Secondly, that current pedagogic practice, if extended over time and space, might provide inspirational platforms for change. Thirdly, that current educators are able to provide something worthwhile to satisfy an agenda for 24/7 learning.

Educators widely accept that members of our community, whether they be adults or young learners, are learning all the time. It is the qualitative value of the learning experience which is, however, in question here. One could argue, for instance, that a TV show such as Deal or No Deal, which has achieved cult status in many universities, provides a useful learning experience. The game depends on understanding a reasonably complex set of rules which requires learning skills. Educators need to define clearly what they mean by ‘valued, developed or advanced’ learning and to identify scenarios where this is taking place outside the confines of recognised formal learning institutions before judging the appropriateness of the learning experience.

Following this, the real challenge is for teachers to change their mindset and reinvent their roles to ‘de-professionalise’ the task of teaching in a way which will accommodate changed understandings of how, when and where valued learning might happen effectively. The school-based model of delivering understandings about an increasingly complex world is becoming more and more inadequate. The opportunities to utilise new technologies, which already exist, to enhance and advance learning through dynamically engaging learning in different environments and contexts need to be fully understood by teachers. In summary, teaching, as we know it, widely practised around the country, is insufficient to satisfy the needs of advanced learners.

The second challenge is to accept the fact that the formal institutions of learning, as most are currently designed, built and organised, present significant barriers to effective learning. It is not teachers alone who need to accept this view. It is one widely shared by parents, employers and politicians. Disturbingly some Academies, which represent major vehicles for educational change, are still largely being built to reflect the old and now redundant system. Most are simply a more modern version of unsuitable provision. There needs to be a cultural change and the paradigm shift which teachers need to make, must be repeated more broadly amongst other stakeholders and particularly throughout the communities schools are sited in.

In summary, schools are not the only place where learning can take place and teachers are not the only people capable of passing on what is valued. The extensive use of mentors and coaches drawn from within the community needs to be radically increased. Schools and teachers should act not only as providers of learning, but, with others as brokers of personalised educational packages for young people, delivered by a host of newly trained para-professionals. Hence the professional educator role needs to support employers and others to become effective mentors and coaches. The opportunity here is to discover and create new communities of educators, skilled and equipped to offer young people valued learning, with and beyond formal institutions, fully utilising new technologies, designed specifically in some cases to produce the ‘Martini’ style of education – ‘Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere’.

 

Mr John King is Head of Gable hall School, in the UK.

The Discussion Forum on this Workshop Paper is now closed.