The second plenary to be announced for The 13th Asian Conference on Education (ACE2021) is a keynote titled “A Cherished Burden: To Redesign Education with Purposeful Living as Its Core Outcome” from Dr Kevin House of Education in Motion, Singapore, Durham University, UK, and Chartered College of Teaching, UK.
To participate in ACE2021 as an audience member, please register for the conference via the conference website.
The roundtable will also be available for IAFOR Members to view online. To find out more, please visit the IAFOR Membership page.
IAFOR Journal of Education (Scopus Indexed Journal)
This conference is associated with the Scopus and DOAJ listed IAFOR Journal of Education.
Abstract
A Cherished Burden: To Redesign Education with Purposeful Living as Its Core Outcome
This presentation argues that the first two decades of this century have been dominated by global policymakers and think-tanks’ repeated warnings of student learning not meeting society’s future needs. This is in large part due to a fixation on a narrow taxonomy of academic knowledge that ignores ‘soft’ skills and capabilities development. Consequently, we face a skills crisis just as accelerating technological advancement is creating an employment one. Equally as unfortunate, this approach to education has also led to a hierarchical relationship in which society values abstract, academic learning to the detriment of experiential, skills-based learning. All this is compounded by industrial-scale examinations and league tables that weaponise academic outcomes and lead young learners to become disillusioned with the purpose of education.
In this era, how do we use education to build resilient young people equipped to face the enormous uncertainties of the future? Is it possible to bring academic knowledge, experiential knowledge, soft skills, and competencies together with greater equity? This presentation attempts to answer these questions by examining a concept high school that is currently being developed by the Education in Motion school group. This model posits that young people need schooling to provide actionable, not abstract solutions to problems created by our binary approach to education. This innovative high school model argues that learning design must acknowledge systems thinking, circular economics and sustainable citizenship while balancing disciplinary knowledge with skills for the future.
Speaker Profile
Dr Kevin House
Education in Motion, Singapore
Durham University, United Kingdom
Chartered College of Teaching, United Kingdom
Kevin has spent almost thirty years in global education, and has worked in school systems in Africa, Europe and Asia. More recently he held a senior position with International Baccalaureate working on curriculum design and policy, before joining Education in Motion (EiM). He began his current role by establishing the group’s ConnectED Institute for Learning & Research and is now developing a new curriculum and credentialing model for a concept high school called SE21.
Kevin gained his doctorate in Education from the University of Bath where his thesis was awarded the Jeff Thompson Research Award. He has published academic work on such topics as educational values, pluriculturalism, teacher professional learning, curriculum & assessment design, and educational leadership.
