Landslide:
Why economic inequality is a growing problem facing the world & how online learning helps address it.
Against the wind:
“Breaking all of the rules that would bend, I began to find myself searchin’, Searchin’ for shelter again and again… We were runnin’ against the wind.”
The world is changing. And it’s changing fast!
There’s a strong wind of change blowing.
The world is becoming more globalized, including more integrated economically and digitally and culturally. Technological innovation keeps changing and disrupting the way we do business, the way we work, the way we communicate with one another and the way we socialize.
These changes and these disruptions are getting faster and more pervasive in all aspects of business, work, education, entertainment and culture.
Unfortunately, whether we look at the Western nations or at developing economies, the traditional education systems and institutions are not adapting fast enough to these changing circumstances. Many of their programmes are not linked strongly enough to the vocational training and skills that employers actually need, while the learning experience they provide to their students are not engaging or flexible enough.
Not only that, since 2001 the tuition cost of traditional education keeps getting more expensive for students year-on-year, while the wages of graduates’ entering the labour market have been declining since 2001 (relative to what new graduates entering the labour market earned in the 1980s and 1990s).
Even as wages keep falling for new graduates entering the labour market, those people without a graduate degree (or an equivalent tertiary qualification) are finding it harder and harder to get (and keep) employment. This minimally educated segment of the population risk becoming even more marginalized, because they may become shut out of the formal economy. As a result, this increases the rates of inequality in society. Inequality in society is a growing problem we face in today’s world. It’s contributing to the political and social instability that we’re experiencing in many countries around the globe.
Due to the changes in globalisation and technology, many people are working harder and longer but for less financial reward and less job security. This trend isn’t going to change unless we can up-skill and educate more people more often and more effectively.
Water, water everywhere, / Nor any drop to drink:
The need for more and better life-long learning isn’t only affecting people in the labour market. It’s having an impact on business and employers too.
For examples of this, ManpowerGroup’s global survey in 2013, with participants from 40,000 employers around the world, found the following trends:
· 35% of all employers are struggling to fill their vacancies, with 1 in 3 employers in the USA are experiencing a skills shortage when hiring for their vacancies and a 1 in 4 skills shortage for European employers’ vacancies.
· The main reason that 73% of employers gave for being unable to fill their vanacies is: a lack of people with the right mix and level of skills, experience, and knowledge for the job.
· The ‘war for talent’ is increasingly a global challenge as well as a local one, with more and more multinational companies looking for top talent to support their emerging market footprints (and vice versa, as emerging market multinationals start to create footprints in the developed economies).
Adding to the education and skills challenges faced by people (and by employers) is the long-term trend of employers decreasing their own spend on L&D / training for employees. Since 1995, less people than ever receive training and skills-development investment at their place of work.
America’s Council Of Economic Advisers, in 2015, found that the share of the USA’s workforce receving training (either paid for by their employer or on-the-job training) has been falling continuously from 1996 to 2008. While in the UK, it’s almost halved in the same period!
This hard land:
“Hey there, Mister, Can you tell me what happened to the seeds I’ve sown, Can you give me a reason, Sir, As to why they’ve never grown”
So, many people are working harder and longer for less financial reward and less job security. At the same time, opportunities are decreasing for people receiving training and skills-development at their employer, while formal tertiary education is becoming more unaffordable year on year.
As a result, across the world, the rates of inequality in society are the highest they’ve been since the 1930s.
This isn’t going to change unless we can up-skill and educate more people, more often and more effectively, so that they become more employable.
This is the BIG socio-economic challenge facing the world now.
The question is: How can we fix this BIG problem, effectively and at scale?
Unfortunately, the solution isn’t going to come from the traditional education sector. Not at the scale needed, at least.
The traditional education sector is complex and fragmented, as well as it tends to be very localized in it’s delivery footprint (which makes it hard to scale).
It’s difficult for the traditional education sector to adapt quickly enough to the changing trends in technology, consumer behaviour, the skills employers need from workers today, and the life-long learning needs of ordinary people (and students) in a cost effective way.
Added to this, traditional educational instutions are large hierarchal organizations which can be slow-moving when it comes to adapting their curriculums and teaching format to align with the fast-changing skills and knowledge trends in the vocational marketplace.
This means there’s a growing market of B2C (life-long) learners who need affordable learning solutions that are flexible and provide the sort of skills-outcomes that employers value and need. However, at present, this market segment is not being catered to properly by the traditional educational market, such as schools and universities.
So what is the answer to all these BIG learning challenges facing companies, employees and students?
Hallelujah Day:
“Can’t you see that ray of hope, Somebody finally saw the light… Somebody found the key, Somebody opened up the door.”
Happily, as mentioned above, one BIG answer to how we address the BIG socio-economic challenges facing the world is through more online learing (AKA: eLearning). And a key part of successful delivery of online learning will be the strategic use of great teachers in facilitating online courses and curriculums.
Online learning is looking like it might provide the answers to many of the socio-economic questions that need answering in today’s world, in order to help solve the complex challenges facing people in the labour market or still in education.
Not only that but it promises a BIG new growth market for business and investors. And a growth market that has many years of BIG growth still ahead of it!
Find out more about how online learning (and great teachers) will helps solve the BIG socio-economic challenges faced by governments, business, employees and students at: https://medium.com/@hello_33256/the-role-of-online-learning-teaching-english-language-in-a-globalized-world-with-a-need-for-f42d2d9cb33
online learning tenaciously solving the world’s challenges!
With a little help from my friends:
The Really Great Teacher Company knows that great online teachers are critical to providing high quality learning experiences for your students.
We are perfectly positioned to help our clients find the right teachers and teaching solutions for their business. We serve online schools and learning institutes worldwide, by ensuring that their students get the best quality English teachers.
The Really Great Teacher Company gives your company access to comprehensive and high quality teacher management solutions, including everything from finding them, to training them and to fully managing them. We’ll tailor-make your perfect online teacher solution to suit your exact need and you’ll love the results!
We know great teachers, we know how to find them and then apply them to your challenges!
Want to find out more about The Really Great Teacher Company:
Get in touch with us to find out more about transformative online teaching and learning trends, as well as for more about the power of our great teacher solutions and how we can assist you at: danie@reallygreatteachers.com
Learn more about The Really Great Teacher Company at our website: http://reallygreatteachers.com
