10 trends that are transforming education as we know it

What are the sweeping changes that are already — or should be — reshaping the way Europeans teach and learn throughout their lives in an increasingly digital society?

In today’s fast-paced, changing world, the ability of individuals to adapt, learn and re-skill will matter more than ever. Education systems must reinvent themselves to keep up with these new realities.

1) The earlier the better

Education received in early childhood often shapes life prospects

Pre-school education boosts cognitive, character and social skills. The educational impact of early childhood education is already evident in teenagers: 15-year olds who attended preschool for one year or more score higher in the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) than those who did not.

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2) Graduation is not the end of learning

Learning how to learn is the most important skill of all

• Most children entering primary school today are likely to work in jobs that do not yet exist.
• People change jobs — and even professions — much more often than a generation ago. The average European worker has gone from having a job for life to having more than 10 in a career.
• In an ageing society, with a workforce that is shrinking, Europeans will have to work longer. This means that those aged 40+ must be given substantial opportunities to update their skills.
• Less than 11% of Europeans aged between 25 and 64 are engaged in lifelong learning. On average, only 6% of older workers (aged 55 to 64 years old) currently participate in training and education schemes.

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3) Digital is the new literacy

Digital skills are becoming a core literacy. And young people are at an advantage.

• Today, 93% of European workplaces use desktop computers and there is almost no job that does not require at least basic digital skills. To illustrate, in 2016, half of European construction workers needed basic digital skills to perform their jobs.
• And yet, a vast majority of workplaces (88%) have not taken any action to tackle the lack of digital skills of their employees.
• For the first time in history, young people are more proficient at a sought-after skill than their older peers. This may have profound ramifications for labour markets that are still very much based on seniority and years of experience.
• Unequal access to digital skills and technologies often overlaps with known cracks in social protection systems. And, with the rise of e-government, online shopping, banking and smart mobility, lack of basic digital skills may lock individuals not only out of work, but also out of society.

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4) Humans are not the only ones learning

Humans will increasingly compete with machines to gain novel insights.

Advances in high-performance computing are enabling an artificial intelligence revolution whereby machines can learn and take on ever more complex tasks.

As humans may increasingly find themselves competing with robots — and no longer only on routine tasks and low-skill jobs — educational systems need to refocus on the very skills and competences that have been central to the success of the human species in the first place: creativity, problem-solving, negotiation, adaptability, critical thinking, working together, empathy and emotions, and cross-cultural communication.

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5) From standardisation to customisation

From industrial-era mass education to individualised, digitally-enabled learning paths.

• The industrial era required large numbers of workers with medium-level skills that could be acquired through standardised education systems. The rise of the knowledge-based economy saw a rise in the share of high-skilled occupations and a hollowing-out of medium-level skilled jobs.
• Modern-day economies are increasingly built around human capital(rather than industrial machines), and there is therefore a much stronger need to maximise everyone’s potential.
• One-size-fits-all is unlikely to work in this new environment. Individualised learning paths can help students and workers to develop their innate talents and capabilities.
• Personalisation of learning requires a major change in the organisation and delivery of education and on-the-job learning,recentring it around personal progress.
• Up till now, high costs were considered as an insurmountable obstacle to scaling up such approaches because introducing a truly individual approach on a wide scale would mean hiring a significant number of teachers or learning coaches. Thanks to the emergence of new technologies and resources this may no longer be the case.

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6) From silos to mash-ups

Towards interdisciplinary, technology-powered learning

• Local and global challenges, such as addressing climate change, food, water and energy security, health, or governing culturally plural societies, are increasingly complex and require interdisciplinarity.
• Multidisciplinarity is critical to bridging across silos in order to understand the causes and complexities of modern-day challenges and develop innovative solutions.
• It is at the intersection of different disciplines that novel insights emerge. Yet, in their overwhelming majority, Europe’s schools and universities remain organised in silo departments that do not sufficiently address the interconnectedness of today’s world.

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7) Many (new) fish in the education pond

Formal education provision is complemented by new entrepreneurial ventures.

• The number of actors offering new platforms and methods for training and learning has grown exponantially; it is no longer limited to formal education establishments.
• Over 800 universities already offer lectures on app stores, making it possible to learn anything, anytime and anywhere on a smartphone or tablet.
• Digital technologies are a catalyst for personalising learning and making it an increasingly active and flexible learning experience.
• Peer-to-peer platforms enable people from very diverse parts of society and the world, to engage and learn from each other.

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8) Transition, interrupted

The link between formal school education and work is increasingly broken.

• Formal education used to be a guarantee for a job. Today, this is no longer the case.
• Europe has the most educated workforce in its history. Almost 40% of Europeans aged 25–39 hold a tertiary degree; just over a decade ago it was around 25%. And yet, Europe struggles with persistently high levels of youth unemployment. Even though it has started falling, it is still more than double the overall unemployment rate, and far higher than in other developed economies.
• The transition from school to work is being jilted as young graduates have a harder time than ever to find employment and the vast majority of those who get a job do so in very different fields from what they have studied.
• Lack of skills is a common reason for entry-level vacancies. 40% of European employers report having difficulty finding people with the skills they need to grow and innovate. There is a twin crisis of high youth unemployment and shortage of skills.

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9) Media literacy wanted

Critical thinking is needed to make democracies more resilient.

• Close to 8 out of 10 middle school students cannot distinguish ‘fake’ news from real news.
• With the emergence of automated accounts (bots), the spread of disinformation has never been easier.
• Through the use of algorithms, social media can create powerful echo chambers, entrenching preexisting beliefs, views, visions and animosities, and they can also be used as platforms for the dissemination of external influence.
• The fake news phenomenon is likely not a short-lived one and requires media-literate citizens to discern fact from fiction.

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10) Growing global competition for universities

Europe may have invented universities, but now it is time to reinvent them.

• The world’s first universities were set up in Europe. But today, the highest ranking universities in the world are not European. Dominated by US-based institutions and a handful of UK universities, no EU27 university is in the top 25 worldwide.
• At a time when European universities risk falling behind, bringing more world-leading researchers to Europe could bolster European research excellence and global competitiveness.

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