Running head: FUTURE OF EDUCATION 1

Future of Education

Name

Institution
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Future of Education

Education as an industry is likely to experience significant changes going into the future,

as is already evident in this 21st Century. These changes are primarily a result of technological

changes, and partly also a function of changing needs. The dynamic nature of the workplace,

industry and the broader economy is necessitating a re-evaluation of the way learners learn their

skills if they are to be competitive and useful in the future. This paper argues that the future of

education is likely to be characterized by a variety of features which include: a personalized

learning environment that enhances learner agency; a diminished role for the classroom teacher

and emphasis on competency learning as opposed to the current focus on content and credit

hours.

In the future, education will be conducted in a personalized learning environment

whereby learners will have the freedom to choose what they would wish to learn. Learners will

get the chance to study depending on their capabilities with those that are fast learners operating

in fast-paced educational environments while those that are slow learners being placed in slow-

paced learning environments (Bernard, 2017). Put differently; the quick learners will be assigned

more onerous tasks than those that are slow at grasping concepts. This mode of personalized

learning will aid the students and build the confidence of slow learners who would otherwise

have suffered a crisis of confidence in their abilities. At the same time, it will help educators to

identify difficulties easily among students and thereby offer much-needed help.

Also, education in the future is likely to be characterized by a diminished role of the

traditional classroom teacher. At present, most learning environments feature a classroom

teacher who stands in front of the classroom to either lecture, demonstrate or conduct a

monologue kind of teaching. This is likely to change in the future given the need for
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personalized learning and the advancement of technology. For instance, the rise of robotics in

technology is expected to give rise to robotic teaching assistants. There will be a shift in terms of

the learning spaces from the traditional classroom to other avenues including online

environments that will barely accommodate teachers in the conventional sense (Ortola, 2018).

Further, education in the future will be more focused on competency than content and the

credit hours that learners have been exposed to. This is mainly as a result of the increasing need

for skills that are applicable in the industry and the workplace. Most employers are loathed to

hire employees and take them through intensive and expensive training even of the most

elementary skills that they ought to have learned in school. As such, to remain competitive in the

market place, students will need to be imbued with these essential skills including other

emotional skills such as empathy, emotional intelligence, and interpersonal skills. Schools and

colleges are already adapting to this shift in market demand by investing in programs geared

towards producing such competent all-rounded students (Henny, 2016).

In conclusion, this paper has attempted to provide an answer to the question of what the

future of education is likely to be in the coming decades. Through an examination of the current

state of affairs and the technological changes that are foreseeable in the future, it has argued that

the future of education will feature a reduced role for classroom teachers, will involve

personalized learning and will focus on competency learning. Indeed, it is critical that educators,

learners, and educational institutions prepare for these critical transitions if they are not already

qualified.
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References

Bernard, Z. (2017, December 27). Here's how technology is shaping the future of education.

Business Insider, p. n.p.

Henny, C. (2016, June 1). 9 Things That Will Shape The Future Of Education: What Learning

Will Look Like In 20 Years? Elearning Trends, p. n.p.

Ortola, M. (2018, March 23). The future of learning and teaching: Big changes ahead for

education. RMIT, p. n.p.