The changes that our educational model needs, the constant reforms that are produced and that do not benefit our children, the need to introduce changes in the classroom to adapt it to the new times, etc… We have spent years thinking about that future that never comes. And although there is a small boom in innovative or alternative schools, there is still much to be done, especially in public education. That is why we will present you some aspects that the education of the future should include or apply.
Education, due to professional training, has always been present in my life, and since I became a mother, even more so, since I am very concerned about the world we are building for our children, the legacy we are going to leave them, and how they they have to be trained for their development as people. If we want to change «something» or «everything» in the society around us, we must start from the base. And that basis is found in two areas: in the family and in school. Each of them with their basic functions, but CONNECTED to each other, establishing bridges, opening doors and breaking down the walls that currently separate them.
What Roles should Family have?
From my point of view, the family must provide security, trust and, above all, unconditional love. And this must be worked on day to day and from the time children are young, through positive communication, active listening, dialogue and respect. There are many patterns that we have been dragging and that are nothing more than myths that have no solidity whatsoever, but that have been introduced in the thinking and in the way of treating our children without benefiting their development as people at all.
For this reason, we as fathers and mothers must also change, we must train, we must constantly learn, take care to know what happens in each stage of the little ones, and act accordingly. We must demand of ourselves the perfection that we constantly ask of our children. We prepare ourselves during our lives for many things, except for the most important thing, being fathers and mothers.
Education of the Future: What should School be like?
The school should, first of all, eliminate barriers, walls and “administrative paperwork.” This to evolve in three basic aspects:
- The student as the protagonist of the teaching-learning process. A school where the needs of the little ones, their learning pace and their way of learning are taken into account. Not all children learn in the same way, or at the same pace
- Do more than listen. It is more than proven that children learn much more by doing than with a theoretical explanation. Therefore, it would be necessary to adapt the distribution of the classrooms, the materials (less paper, more games and manipulative learning)
- The teacher as a guide, facilitator or coach, eliminating the concept of transmitter of knowledge. Currently, information is available to everyone, there is no longer the concept of accumulating knowledge since it is easily within reach. But the teacher is needed as an aid, as a guide to deal with that information and develop knowledge.
Conclusion
Today’s schools were born with specific objectives, in the industrial age, but now everything has changed, and the needs are completely different. Now we must foster what makes us truly human, relationships. And this is where emotions come into play, emotional education, and emotional intelligence as the ultimate goal.. For many years, emotions have been put aside, even the expression of them was not allowed, and more so if they were negative.
We are used to seeing how children are told «do not cry», «nothing is wrong» (when something happens to them, which is surely the most important thing in their day); not to take into account the motivation and enthusiasm in the classroom, since the main thing is the grades. And that energy that children have, and the innate desire to learn, decreases as they progress through the educational system. And this, as is evident, has led us to a society like the one we have, in which «thinking» and «creating opinion» is a valued commodity.
Finally, we must advance in the understanding of the two areas, creating connections and synergies between their members in order to initiate changes that promote the improvement of the educational system, the positive growth of our children, and therefore, a healthier, freer and more responsible society.
