L&D 2020: Shaping change in learning

Society

Education trends

Debates on the proper objectives of learning have become increasingly visible in today’s knowledge society. To some extent this is because the old educational institutions needed to find new ways to justify and legitimise themselves¹.

The established institutions of learning, particularly the older universities, have struggled since the late 1990s to adapt to the new knowledge society, preferring instead to rely on their deep historical roots. Educational certificates have become increasingly irrelevant as they are soon outdated. Learning opportunities have continued to accumulate fast for some, while creating social differences and digital divides for others. Education institutions and policymakers are still struggling to combine innovation, creativity and equal opportunities².

Young people are graded and profiled at the age of 16 and categorised for work suitability in terms of capability and individual preference. As ever, the top talent is highly prized and fought over. In most cases, people are linked to an organisation by the age of 18 and their university education is managed by the company according to the organisational career path the individual has chosen³.

At the top level, people are taking far greater control of their careers, with senior executives having a personal agent who represents them. These agents find the executive the best roles and deals³. Agents often act as old-style coaches, but more actively, to find the best on-going education to meet an often changing career path.

Following the success of companies such as McDonald’s offering their own A-level qualifications, many others have followed suit⁴. Like their high level colleagues, lower level employees are also taking active charge of their careers, rather than wait for the company’s educational opportunities – such as through corporate universities. These employees understand the value of personal education and are demanding about where they will invest their own time and money. Those working in smaller organisations, or self-employed, regularly invest in various forms of education, generally online.

Young entrepreneurs see university as a path for education, but not the only solution. On-demand education programmes, customised to their specific entrepreneurial needs, have grown more common. Entrepreneurial education is spreading quickly – for example MBAs specifically for entrepreneurs. Driven by demand from Millenials, Baby Boomers, and mid-careerists looking to enter small business, entrepreneurial education of all types has expanded over the last decade⁵.

Further education college programmes have already begun to provide for this need. Enrolment in college-level business and entrepreneurship programmes has been growing dramatically in the last 15 years. Courses for entrepreneurs have also grown at secondary school level and several lower level qualifications are available in the subject. Many of these programmes are targeting disadvantaged youth. Small business skills are now being taught to artists, musicians, and others not traditionally exposed to business education⁵.

Prior to 2010 only 10 percent of higher education was conducted online. Virtual education began to enter the mainstream in 2010 after the strong take-up of e-learning by the corporate world⁶ in previous years. Virtual universities have continued to increase following the achievements of early pioneers such as the University of Liverpool (http://www.liv.ac.uk/virtualtour/), but are in competition for a global intake with universities such as Singapore’s Virtual University due to the successful Virtual University for Small States of the Commonwealth⁷ initiative.

Society is concerned that technology is leading to educated illiterates. Widely used and effective voice recognition software has been replacing the keyboard for the last 15 years. We are now well on our way towards a world in which traditional concepts of literacy no longer apply. Education since the turn of the century has been shifting away from teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic and towards encouraging creativity, imagination, and critical thinking⁸.

1. http://gtcni.openrepository.com/gtcni/bitstream/2428/7928/16/2020%20Book%20-%20The%20Knowledge%20City%20-%20Paul%20Nolan.pdf

2. http://www.meaningprocessing.com/personalPages/tuomi/articles/TheFutureOfLearningInTheKnowledgeSociety.pdf

3. http://www.pwc.co.uk/pdf/managing_tomorrows.pdf 2008

4. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article3261485.ece 01/08

5. Intuit Small Business Future Report, 2007

6. Technology's Promise: Highlights from the TechCast Project. William E. Halal (See http://www.wfs.org/forecasts.htm)

7. http://www.col.org/colweb/site/pid/100

8. Illiterates with Doctorates, Revisited. Peter Wagschal, The Futurist, Mar-Apr 2007