Six big trends in Education for the year 2021

Almost a year into the Pandemic and the challenges it has thrown at educators worldwide has forced a rejig in the relationship between the workplace and the classroom. The acquisition of new skills, switching of careers and even 'looking for careers that don't exist yet' are some of the realities that educators have to face in the years to come. The transition period post-Covid-19 is going to bring even more challenges in the field of education worldwide. The challenges posed by crises like global pandemics are visible, but the challenges brought about by the transition period post crises are not as visible and thus are of a more daunting nature. Educators worldwide need to plan and prepare for the challenges that the recovery period will present post-Covid-19. Upskilling, and becoming future-ready are some of the future goals that Educators need to plan for. Chalk and Blackboards might as well have seen their heydays having been replaced by the smartphone or the laptop. The same would be the case for notebooks, pens and pencils (Handwriting will go for a toss!).  Unfortunately, Darwin's theory of 'Survival of the fittest' will hold true in the times to come, one either forces ones' self to adapt or else give up! Most institutions that don't have the finances or the technical expertise to adapt to a work culture beyond the physical environment will fade away.

Educators all over the world need to prepare for the transition post Pandemic and for this they need to be aware of the seven big trends in Education for the year ahead. 

1.The most evident trend will be the paucity of enrollments of students in schools and colleges all over the world. The economic impact of the Pandemic has been the shutting down of numerous industries leading to massive lay-off both in the organised and unorganised sectors. This in turn has led to a paucity of financial resources required to send students to schools and colleges. As a result of a significant drop in family incomes, students are less likely to get enrolled in good schools and colleges, opting instead to join less expensive institutions, often going for distance-learning options. An acquaintance of mine was in a confused state of mine whether or not to get his three-year-old daughter enrolled in school. He had been advised to go for home-schooling instead of spending a hefty amount on admission fees (till at least things went back to normal). Why would anyone pay higher fees for a degree to a normal college or a normal school when the same could be provided by a distance-learning institution when in any case both would be offering contactless virtual learning?

2. Based on the trend of hesitation to enrol in normal or regular schools and colleges there will be a visible move towards academic content that will self-driven and self-paced rather than teacher-driven. This means that there will be a shift from text-book driven content to computer-based learning modules. This assumes that these learning modules will provide students with learning outcomes and possibilities of self-assessing their work. The teacher's role will in the interim be more supervisory in nature. This marks a big shift in the role of Educators in the years to come. In many cases, summative assessments or year-end assessments will be more easily done by online learning platforms than by teachers physically. The actual face to face interaction between students and teachers will have devolved into a less actual or physical contact. What this means is that students' actual attendance will drop with them having to visit the institution periodically rather than regularly.

3.Graduation from institutions, colleges and schools roles will change with reduced dependence on performances in summative assessments than on formative assessments. This means that there will be a shift towards the CCE (Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation) pattern of evaluation. As such assessments of learning will be based on project-based assessments for learning. These would include online collaborative projects, online face to face interview-based assessments, online vivas, discussions, group activities and so on. What it means is that graduation from each stage would be based more on school-based internal assessments than centralised summative board exams. In all probability graduation certificates will be based on grades rather than percentages of marks.

4. Good Institutions will have to invest in third-party learning platforms, digital content and resources. This would mean that students and educators will have to be provided with proper training to use these platforms effectively. All institutions will be forced to turn themselves in learning institutions for their educators too. Upskilling of educators will have to be a priority and as such the importance of constant in-service programmes and workshops in the use of third-party learning platforms. Ironically enough, the liability of institutions will include not just the salaries of their educators but also the cost of training their educators, and the cost of the licence fees to use third party learning platforms.

5. Even a return to actual classrooms will not ignore the need to shift back to the virtual classroom. The emergence of the Covid-19 Pandemic and its debilitating impact on the world's economy and social fabric have taught us a lesson. Even when we tide over the crisis and vaccinations are in good supply, one cannot be secure in the idea that we have overcome the possibility of another outbreak of the disease. Periodic flareups of the Covid-19 epidemic will force us to plan for a shift back to the virtual classroom. Even when students do return to school, social distancing norms might stay in place so, instead of having all the students in the same class, one might have to divide them, (put them into different classrooms) while the educator conducts the class online from within the campus itself. This way a single educator will be able to be present in two or three different classrooms at the same time and, in a way cater to the doubts and queries of the students.

6. Faced by a cash-crunch, most educational institutions will have to turn to other sources of income. This would be in the form of providing training to other less equipped schools or even business houses. The role of educational institutions will have to change in the times to come otherwise they will face a very difficult time in surviving the outcome of the Covid-19 pandemic.