The rapidly changing face of world economics is influenced by global players rather than individual countries. We have a duty to educate school children what to expect, but phenomenal the rate of change means the teaching resources set to apply the educational standards to be learnt in year seven lessons could be completely out of date by year 10.
Remember life before desk top computers the world wide web, search engines, iPod and the mobile phone? Surprisingly you don’t have to go that far back in history. I can recall my first experience of an electronic calculator. The size of an old CRT television, perhaps not the best benchmark as already you have to think what was a CRT TV? But this beast was the pride and joy of the office able to calculate all manner of maths at the speed of sound. Now, the same kit is embedded in mobile phones able to spring into life instantly and calculate addition, multiplication and division with the flick of a thumb and the speed of light. But this is not my real concern.
Written information in the past comprised of letters, phone calls and maybe the odd telex. It induced an inherent level of thinking time. Many burning issues resolved themselves and there was time for a degree of lateral thinking. Communications were more on need to know and addressed to maximum of one level up or down. But our language has changed. Communications are rapid and seemingly endless. Emails are frequently copied to every known person on the planet and these are not just the spammers. Somehow we have forgotten protocol and launched into broadcast mode that puts the news channels to shame. The disinterested recipient becomes the distracted. But this is not my real concern.
In the past searching for information could be a painstaking and thankless task. Reference libraries needed probing and the information copied and analysed. Considered thought emerged but it took time. Today Google et al. complete the task in a couple of nano seconds. We are engulfed in facts that answer, inform and astound. But we are influenced by a dominate body, the search engine, that arranges the facts in an order of self analysed priority. It has no remit or comeback should this distort or misconstrue. But this is not my real concern.
Great products have emerged from investment in design and technology. But the best may yet fail overwhelmed by the lower standard product through market manipulation where customer choice is stifled. Betamax versus VHS, Apple vs. Microsoft situations are legion and the consumer looses out. But this is not my real concern.
My concern is the phenomenal global strength of certain entities. Google has immense power and as we know absolute power corrupts absolutely. Their “Do no Evil” mantra will be tested and I imagine quietly abandoned as market dominance requires a matched defence mechanism that would expel challengers as in any market strategy. But there is a worrying downside. As the larger companies grow they risk spectacular collapse. And before the muttering starts who would have thought Lehman Brothers, Chrysler and Japan Airlines would be in financial ruin despite a dominance that appeared insurmountable. As if the current behoths fail all must be considered fallible. My concern is that global aspirations should be tempered. The recent eviction of Google from China was perhaps the right choice but the wrong reasons. But how do we best prepare children for adult life. The most dramatic changes in recent times have been introduced by very young players. This presents incredible opportunities and pitfalls. How do we prepare children to enter the job market when it is changing at such a phenomenal pace that is beyond the comprehension of most adults.
World Set To Be Smaller When Children Leave School
School Educational Achievement Reports Set To Go On-Line
One of the biggest breakthroughs in education is under way. The DCSF launched the Home Access scheme to help poorer families gain access to broadband. Not just a free laptop and broadband which the scheme provides, but the means to link parents to the school and teacher. Progress reports can be dynamic identifying areas where help is needed. Homework suddenly takes on a new dimension. No longer the text book exercises that isolate children and parents, now the teaching resources can be fun and encourage leaning. Research proves this is a huge opportunity welcomed by teachers, children and parents. We take a look at the top 20 benefits researched by Becta and the BBC.
1. Microsoft showed 37% of secondary pupils used computers for study every day at home.
2. Pupils are more likely to use computers at home for their schoolwork than they are at school
3. 85 per cent of secondary school learners believe that technology makes it easier to do homework.
4. More recent evidence has suggested that having a computer at home associates with a 2 grade improvement in one subject at GCSE. This means that a pupil who would have got a D, could, with the effective use of technology at home, now get a B at GCSE
5. Children who have access to a computer at home are more confident and capable users of technology and more independent learners overall.
6. More than 90% of secondary level pupils, aged between 11 and 18, used a home computer for schoolwork at least once a week.
7. And more than a third were using their family’s computer for homework or revision every single day.
8. There have been concerns about the “digital divide” – in which children from better-off families get an advantage in school from better computer equipment at home. The government says there are about a million children without the internet at home – leaving them at the other end of the scale from the two in five pupils who are using computers at home every day for schoolwork.
9. As well as using computers for homework, they have become a major feature of leisure time – identified by 71% of young people as being among their favourite activities.
10. There is also a strong belief among parents that having a computer at home is valuable to their children’s education. Children spent an hour a week more for learning than a comparator group who had existing access.
11. Microsoft’s Ray Fleming suggests the higher levels of computer use at home for schoolwork is a reflection of the limitations on computer use in school “School use of information technology can be very scheduled – it’s often structured around particular lessons,” he says. At home children look for information on the computer in a more informal way”. And he forecasts that this trend for studying at home with a computer will increase. “There is an increasing blurring between learning-time and leisure-time and so computers in the home are becoming as important as those in the classroom.”
12. “There are so many sources of information, that the challenge now is not about finding information but finding the most useful questions,” he added.
13. Earlier this month the government announced a £300m Home Access scheme to give a laptop to 270,000 low income families and free broadband access
14. Children’s Secretary Ed Balls said that being without the internet at home leaves pupils “at a disadvantage to their peers”. Computers are no longer a luxury for the few, but are as essential a part of education as books, pens and paper
15. Overall, 65 per cent of beneficiary parents agreed that their child is spending more time on homework since gaining access
16. 81 per cent of parents (94% in black and minority ethnic groups said home access would improve their confidence in using technology.
17. 81 per cent believed home access increased their involvement in their child’s learning
18. 97 per cent of parents surveyed believed that home access would help their children do better at school.
19. Overall, 65 per cent of beneficiary parents agreed that their child is spending more time on homework since gaining access
20. 81 per cent of parents (94% in black and minority ethnic groups said home access would improve their confidence in using technology.
The opportunity to maximise the learning capacity of children through support at home is huge. It can also be great fun, involve parents and allow real time awareness of progress and achievement. Not something that was possible with end of term reports.
