The next generation of educators and their challenges

The job of an educator is not always understood and it’s quite often neglected. You can’t drive a car without wheels and you can’t have a strong-minded society without efficient education. People can disregard this industry if they wish, but they and their children will be subject to the consequences. And what makes an educational system even more efficient? – Great educators in respected conditions.

It is almost 2022, and new educational challenges await us in the next years. Albeit the pandemic has affected the industry and its stakeholders such as students and educators, one must keep in mind other obstacles that will potentially be encountered, especially by prospective educators.

Students are more exposed to information

As you know, children from a young age are open to new kinds of media. At their age, we didn’t have the same access to information as they have today, even for a Gen-Z like me. The Information Age is constantly evolving and thus we must evolve with it to keep up with its pace. Children have no other option than to embrace contemporary tools and data exposure.

This phenomenon requires us to do the same thing; to be more open-minded, to challenge the status quo and to keep ourselves informed on the new ways of communication that the next generation is operating with.

Conversely, if educators adopt a conservative approach and fail to realise this wave of change, it can leave a very bad stain on the quality of communication with our children.

Students are less naïve with sensitive issues

Following my previous point, exposure to information has led students to be more aware of what’s going on with the world around us. Globalisation, technology and the media are all contributors to this.

On the other hand, children are less naïve with sensitive issues due to their primary circles, mainly their families. We must constantly keep in mind the problems and experiences that youngsters come across in their primary lives, which will affect the way they interact with their educators and peers.

Attention span

Back in 2013, a study found that our attention span is less than a goldfish, literally. Eight years later, with the continuous increase of information, do you think that we have surpassed the animal?

This question brings to our attention how the attention span of students will evolve in the coming years. Will it decrease or increase? What can we do to ensure interest and awareness by the students? What mediums work best? These are all questions that we need to think about.

Critical and creative thinking

We hear these terms, yet we might not exactly know their level of importance. Moreover, a student who thinks critically and creatively will not succumb to the dogma that easily – and we need more people like that. One who thinks things through instead of going past them will increase one’s potential in this world (and possibly creating better individuals in the process).

As prospective educators, we ought to instil both creativity and critical thinking in our students. Children should not be passive, complacent, uncritical and uncreative, trying hard to grab the “right” answers to obtain the highest marks. This age-old mentality must be loosened to initiate an open-minded environment and upcoming teachers should acknowledge and act on this.

Lack of educators

The problem of working capital in the local education industry is unfortunately on the rise. Future educators can find themselves in new teaching settings, face unprecedented issues and make up for other educators to keep the education of our students a number one priority.

Students aren’t the only ones who are and will continue to be impacted by this. Future educators need to bring forward the issues that will arise at the time, keep on fighting for better working conditions and make every effort to increase the respect of the profession and its importance in a critical-minded society.