Icdk outlook No. 04, May 2019 The Future of Education

 
 
Danish Agency for Science and Higher Education 
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the future. 
Considering the ways of learning, another way of developing students with the soft 
skills in demand is by creating a new paradigm of learning, where students develop 
a critical mindset and the soft skills in demand in the future, no matter their field 
of education. In the US, there are signs that this change comes both from 
established institutions and from the new actors in the market. 
3.2 
Barriers and friction: job-centric education and new roles for teachers 
When considering the barriers of change, there are both structural as well as 
practical obstacles to making higher education more job-centred, and to implement 
a new learning paradigm. Focusing on the structures, especially two barriers are 
evident, when talking to stakeholders in Silicon Valley: 1) Decision-makers in 
doubt whether a job-centric education is desirable and 2) Re-structuring teacher-
education (and teachers’ mindsets) to the use of EdTech and new ways of learning. 
When considering the demand for new skills, these are, as mentioned, largely 
driven by industry and it would thus potentially require a shift in all fields of 
education to change from a research- and science-centred curriculum towards job-
centric content. Some of the new actors in Silicon Valley stress a change towards 
actually collaborating with industry in the development of a curriculum, such as for 
example the case with MissionU.
3.2.1 Re-orienting the role of teachers for the 21
st
 century 
Re-orienting towards more individualized and digital learning both means that the 
role of the teacher changes, but it also means that teachers need to better 
understand how to use technology as an educational tool. This requires not only a 
practical shift in teacher education but also a structural shift in the mindsets of 
teachers, which could pose a barrier in the years to come as part of the current 
generation of teachers are so-called digital illiterates, while the new generations of 
students have grown up with digital tools. However, this barrier is already showing 
signs of being overcome, One US example is Jill Watson, an AI-robot, who won the 
prize for the teaching assistant at Georgia Tech. This provides opportunities for 
teachers to change their role towards mentoring, counselling and teaching design. 
The above-mentioned changes are clearly not confined to higher education, and 
the following last section will discuss some implications for other generations: the 
existing workforce and the future workforce, who is now in primary education.