The Growth Of Global Schooling

It is rightly said ‘Change is the only constant’. This statement applies to every aspect of life. The concept of schools and schooling has changed over the years. Schools in the yesteryears were all about a class filled with more than 50 students, grades and rote learning and textbook based.

Schools back then only focused on marks and not on whether the concept was understood or not, considering the number of children in each class, even if the teacher wanted to give individual attention, it was not practically possible. The focus was on short-term memory and recall wherein children were encouraged to regurgitate facts without applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating.  Hence education was all about memorizing data, so only the children who could mug up did well, while most of them just scrapped through their school years. Another factor to consider is that most children did not know how to apply the concepts they learned in real life, hence they were forgotten as soon as exams were over – there was no long-term learning.

However, over the years, some innovative and risk-taking educators realized that due to technology and globalization the education landscape needed to change. They worked hard to create a system that used integrated learning and neuroscience as a base to develop a new curriculum and teaching methodology. This required personalized attention and thereby most private schools limited the teacher-student ratio to facilitate learning catering to different learning styles. These schools focused on being child-centric. Slowly but surely parents noticed the difference in their own schooling and the one their children had access to and their focus moved from marks to providing them with the right kind of education. An internal study conducted by us shows that there has been a shift in parents preference, they are now looking to send their child to an IB or IGCSE school so that they get the right kind of exposure. 

In today’s day and age with the advancement in technology, the face of schooling has changed yet again. Today a child is not expected to retain information as we have Google to do that for them. Now a child is expected to understand the concepts and should be able to apply them in his/her surroundings if you notice this has provided opportunities to many young entrepreneurs who have applied their ideas and created a business model for themselves. A school is no more limited to four walls. A child has access to content, they can study various concepts, they can also remotely attend a class being conducted anywhere around the world, they can write to teachers from across the globe to have their queries answered. This is the Start of Global schooling and this is only going to grow.

Distance learning is a concept that is currently gaining momentum. However, it is huge for the graduation and post graduation level, over the years even schools will apply this concept. Where they would tie up with various schools to give their students access to world-class education. In the year to come our children will have access to any teacher and any class. They could choose to study a subject that interests them, taught by the best teachers around the world. Another concept that is gaining popularity is Flip Classrooms. Children will study the concepts at home and come to school for discussions and presentations on their understanding of the subject.

It is the right time for the government to preempt this change and make alterations in their policies and boards accordingly. The trend is going to hit upon us sooner or later and it is best to be prepared for the same, as I mentioned above ‘Change is the only Constant’

Lina Ashar

Guest Author The author is Founder, Dreamtime Learning School