THE 21ST CENTURY EDUCATION

The contemporary society requires our educational system to transform itself, so that our educators and learners will be prepared to address the challenges and complexities of the 21st century world. We must accept the fact that we live in a fast-pacing world where changes will always prevail and affect the various aspects of our institutions and the lives of people. Furthermore, these changes have become more complex and prominent due to successive technological innovations. Having said that, our society forces us to reform the kind of education that we used to implement in preparing the students. The Traditional Education that we have been operating for the past century could not meet the needs and standards of the new environment. Traditional Education might help students to get a job that would soon be replaced by Artificial Intelligence due to the continuous advancement in information and technology, but it would not equip them with the necessary skills, knowledge, and perspective that they need in order to survive and thrive in the volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world of the 21st century. This is where the 21st century education enters the picture.

The 21st century education is based on the idea of empowering the students through the principles of contextual and collaborative learning with the help of technologies, so they can learn the relevant knowledge, ideas, and skills that they can utilize as responsible citizens to initiate change and create impact into their society. In his book Out of Minds, Ken Robinson said that, “The more complex the world becomes, the more creative we need to be to meet its challenges’, and this is becoming increasingly clear in education and the workplace. People now need to be creative to be successful, but while the idea of success has changed, the education system has not always adjusted its methods or goals to meet it.” We have been stuck in an educational system that does not prepare us for the needs of the current society and the challenges of the future. This is the very reason why we need to reinvent our curriculum and realign it to the standard of the 21st century.

21st century education aims to mold our students to become critical thinkers, collaborative, communicative and creative. Critical thinking and clarity are very important skills and power to thrive in a world deluged by irrelevant information as explained by Yuval Noah Harari in his book 21 lessons for the 21st century. Students must learn to assess and analyze information, and apply them on its proper context not just for the purpose of benefiting themselves but also for the profit of the society and contributing value to the lives of the other people. These information can help them gain the appropriate knowledge that may stimulate them to become innovative and creative in generating new ideas, horizons, systems, and technologies that would lead to the betterment of our interconnected world.

Another important aspect of 21st century education is the integration of technology in education. This is not a simple task. Technology integration in education is not just about utilizing technologies during class discussion. It is about educating the students on how to take advantage of the benefits and purpose of technology for their personal growth and development. It is about using the technologies that we have today to create more enlightening moments and experiences with the students. This is about social transformation using information and communication technology.

As a matter of fact, educational experts have predicted that a few years from now, academic community must prepare for a radical technological transformation as regards to the way teachers conduct their lessons. However, this radical technological transformation immediately took place today due to an unexpected event in our world called COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected various aspects of the lives of many people, institutions, and countries in the International Community. This pandemic forced most of the countries around the world to find alternative solutions for the educational institutions to continue their operations. In the Philippine Context, it became a challenge for the educational sector to shift from the traditional setting of education to Online and other alternative Learning Modalities. This issue encompasses several problems that our teachers, parents, academic administrators and policymakers, and the government must deal with careful consideration, since the future of the next generation is at stake here.

For those students enrolled in the private school, the shift to Online Education might not be as problematic and complex as compared to the public schools in basic education where students have diverse contexts. In the Public schools, the problems that we must take note include the Financial and Personal contexts of the students, the credibility of the module in the public schools, the accuracy of the transfer of learning for public school students who are pure modular and cannot afford the Online classes, etc. These are just some of the factors that hinder the effective and quality learning process of the public-school students.

COVID-19 has totally revealed the forms of inequality of education between those students who have access to technologies and those who could not totally afford it. The radical transformation in the educational sector has already begun. We cannot absolutely go back to the traditional way of conducting learning anymore. As we enter the Post-COVID world, Online Education will be the New Normal in the Academic community. However, we must accept the fact that not every student has the capacity to participate in this kind of system. Students in the Public School that come from various contexts should not be left behind. Government, private sectors, organizations, and individuals must continuously join the movement in empowering our learners with the necessary resources that they can use to sustain their education.

Allow me to conclude this essay with the reflection words that I posted on my Facebook Account regarding the situation of our education and our learners: “Maaaring nagbago nga ang anyo ng Edukasyon pero hindi pa rin nagbabago ang PASANIN naming mga GURO para sa SUSUNOD NA HENERASYON.” What can I do as an ordinary teacher? Well, if we would just focus on our situation, then the perspective of helplessness might always prevail in our every action. In my case, it has always been a routine in my online class that only 8 to 10 students out of 50 students would attend it. Some of them do not have the necessary gadgets that they can use to join online class. Although the local government unit provided some of the students with the gadgets, many of them could not afford to sustain the needed financial resources for the internet connection. There are various constraints in their family context, which always lead them to delay the submission of their assignments and tasks. Controversial modules are still questioned due to its credibility. So, the question is how will I respond to those situations? The answer is I really do not know. The only thing that I know is that in order to redeem the educational situation for the sake of our learners, I have the responsibility to unceasingly take the stand and extend my compassion and understanding to the students. If the situation calls me to provide financial help to some of my students, then I will absolutely do it. Teaching profession is not just a job for me. This is my calling and my mission. This is my reason for living. I teach not for the purpose of informing. I educate my students because I want them to experience enlightening moments in their lives that may possibly transform their lives in the future.