My education and life in the 21st Century

Has my education prepared me for life in the 21st century?

In short - yes I believe it has. However, my education has been life-long and has taken place at home as a young child, then in the traditional primary school and high school settings of the 70's and 80's, university in the late 80's and early 90's and then on to real-life work place settings both in Australia and overseas.

Perhaps where I have learned the most has been in the various workplaces or real-life settings in which I have found myself; and in simply 'living life'. Education goes way beyond the formal school setting.

"Never let school interfere with your education". (Mark Twain)

On reflection my early education was very traditional and focused very much on the three R’s, however I do remember there was quite a strong Arts influence as well. My school had specialist teachers in music and visual arts and I do remember these as some of my favourite classes.

Into upper school (for me it was the early 80’s) there was some focus on emerging technologies, mainly the personal computer (PC), however we received only a very basic introduction.

As I moved on to university and work, I was immediately utilizing a PC on a daily basis and have never held a job in which there has not been a computer on my desk. In this sense I now have an intense relationship with computing technology to the point where I don’t feel I can work and be 'switched-on' or productive without one!

I believe it was my university education (from 1988 to 1993) that enabled me to become more equipped to deal with life in the 21st century with a heavy reliance on technology. Having said that, the majority of my education to get ‘up to speed’ with technological advances has been‘on-the-job’ training and has been fairly continuous throughout the course of my 16 years of employment.

This on-going, life-long approach to learning has been highlighted as an important aspect of the knowledge-based economy in which we now live.

In one of this week's readings, A Primer on the Knowledge Economy, Houghton and Sheehan, Victoria University (2000),they state that “innovation, education and learning underpin a knowledge based economy, which makes them [innovation, education and learning] and organising around them, key foci for economic development policies”.

The article goes on to say that “Learning is increasingly central for both people and organisations. Learning involves both education and learning-by-doing, learning-by-using and learning-by-interacting”. This has certainly been true of my experience in the numerous firms and companies in which I have worked, where I have learned by practicing the theoretical, i.e. bridging the 'theory-practice gap'. (The Future of Teacher Education, Asia Pacific Journal, 2000, Professor Richard Smith).

I believe that work and education in the 21st century knowledge-based economy and the ever increasing pace of technological advancement and change in this global climate, will see an increase in demand for skilled trainers, educators and learning managers who employ researched pedagogical strategies, are outcome based and flexible in their approach.

This also translates into the school environment where educators will need to evolve and equip themselves with the skills to adapt to “rapid, fundamental and extensive change”. Heath, G. 2001. Teacher Education and the New Knowledge Environment. Australian Association for Educational Research Conference. Fremantle December.