Education Fast Forward Panel Included Chris Layton

Together with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Education World Forum, Imagine Education and Polycom, Education Fast Forward invited Jefferson Middle School Assistant Principal, Chris Layton to contribute to the 18^th global Education Fast Forward debate.

The event consisted of a live global audience of Ministers and Ministries of Education at the Education World Forum, which was held in London on Monday, January 23. Mr. Layton said that although he had to wake up at 4 a.m. to join the event in London, he enjoyed the opportunity to collaborate with educators in a global debate. The forum included delegates from over 100 countries and 80 Ministers of Education. The discussion group included teachers from The UK, USA, Norway, Zimbabwe, Latvia, Egypt, Poland, France and South Korea.

The panel discussed the recent Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) results from the point of view of the fourth industrial revolution. Panelists included Andreas Schleicher from the OECD, Karen Cator of Digital Promise. Summing up the debate was Dr. Mmantsetsa Marope. Mmantsetsa is currently the Director of the UNESCO International Bureau of Education (IBE).

The educators wrestled with the problem of how we can work in a world of standardized testing while sustaining student engagement in the learning. The alarming statistics of the PISA test show that there has been a global decline in student enrollment in science fields after graduation. Many educators on the panel concluded that standardized testing has marginalized the student learning experience. The “fourth industrial revolution” points to the remarkable advances in information technologies, artificial biological sciences, reproductive technologies, neuroscience and synthetic biology.  In the first industrial revolution, new skills were required to operate machinery.  In the second industrial revolution, jobs became more specialized and repetitive, while skills in managing work gained in value.  In the digital revolution, repetitive cognitive jobs became increasingly redundant and non-routine cognitive, interactive roles increased in value.  Mr. Layton summarized, “We live in a world that demands personalized learning, yet we want to quantify that learning with a standardized test. There has to be a better way to assess students to promote engagement.”