Schools gear up for gen Alpha
It wasn’t too long ago when millennials started leading the way to innovation and youth entrepreneurship, but, now there is a new generation where the spotlight has shifted to — the Alpha generation.
Children from this generation are ones who are born after 2010 and the majority of them are offspring of the millennials, which means they were practically born and are being raised with smart devices in their hands — using technology comes as second nature to them.
As the Alphas grow, the technologies being developed in this Fourth Industrial Revolution is also advancing at a rapid pace, especially the use of artificial intelligence.
How well prepared are schools to teach the Alphas skills that will be required for future jobs that don’t exist yet? Do schools even know which specific skills are essential for this generation?
Brendon Fulton, the principal of the Dubai British School, believes enterprise, entrepreneurship and problem solving will be some of the main skills taught to Alphas in classrooms.
“With increased access to information and knowledge, the impetus of education has been moving rapidly to a focus on how to manipulate and use information, knowledge and understanding, rather than merely dissemination. With increased globalisation, students are developing a greater empathy for worldly issues and so the future is crying out for problem solvers — people who are able to think outside of the box and are used to making mistakes, learning from them and adapting approaches,” he said.
“Being as tech-savvy as they are, Generation Alpha children are able to access information with ease (certainly without the help of adults and teachers), so there will be a rapid shift in educational programmes to harness this ease-of-access and develop the skills of enterprise and entrepreneurship to enable students to add value to society.”
Karan Deep, the innovation manager at GEMS Education, said skills such as critical thinking, collaboration across networks and leading by influence, agility and adaptability, initiative and entrepreneurship, effective written and oral communication, assessing and analysing information, curiosity and imagination are important skills that need to be taught to Alphas to prepare them for future jobs.
“The world is changing radically with rapid advances in technology. Widespread innovation is continuing to give birth to exciting new industries and the major drivers of transformation will have a significant impact on global interaction, job displacement and job creation. Over half of the jobs current middle school students will be doing in the future do not exist today. The skills taught in the classrooms to Generation Alpha will evolve towards inquiry and life skills,” he said.
Deep said that GEMS Education offers the ‘Global Futures Curriculum’ in partnership with Singularity University, where they aim to teach pupils tools needed in the rapidly changing society
“More specifically, it will provide students with deep intellectual insight into a range of exponential technologies (artificial intelligence, digital biology and robotics etc), conceptual frameworks for discussing both the positive and potentially negative implications of these technologies.
“For the society as a whole and for them as individuals, a ‘toolkit’ that is centered around design and critical thinking will help make more informed career and life decisions in an era of exponential change,” he said.
There will be a rapid shift in educational programmes to harness this ease-of-access and develop the skills of enterprise and entrepreneurship to enable students to add value to society.” Brendon Fulton, principal, Dubai British School
For the society as a whole and for them as individuals, a ‘toolkit’ that is centered around design and critical thinking will help make more informed career and life decisions in an era of exponential change.” Karan Deep, innovation manager, GEMS Education