Position Paper on Fourth Industrial Revolution (FIRe)

Rene C. Barola

Education is fundamental to any country and society and its effectiveness is gauged in a

society’s strengths and weaknesses both nationally and internationally amidst globalization. For a

society to be progressive and victorious in competing globally specifically in terms of economics,

education is fundamental and is conditioned by a wide range of interrelated elements including

economics, advances in scientific technology and industrial knowledge amongst others. Education

changed during the industrial revolution and this revolution highlighted the inadequacies of the

education system even though there were contributions to science and technology across different

countries. The term “Industrial Revolution” as coined by Auguste Blanqui and made popular by

Arnold Toynbee in the eighteenth century simply connotes, the economic and social changes arising

out of the transition of industrialism. This revolution affects every sphere of human living such as

manufacturing, production, distribution, the economy and socialization. The industrial revolutions

transformed the world with the first being the age of mechanical production and water power, the

second being the age of science and mass production, and the third being the rise of digital

technology. As declared in 2016 by Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chairman of the world

economic forum, the fourth industrial revolution is here already.

The 4th industrial revolution, commonly known as Industry 4.0 or 4IR can simply be said to

be as the current and developmental transformation in the ways human function, which is as a result

of disruptive technologies and trends such as robotics, Internet of Things (IoT), virtual reality and

Artificial Intelligence(AI). These disruptive technologies and trends have blurred the lines between

the physical, digital and biological spheres and will impact all disciplines, industries and economies.

These disruptive technologies are reshaping the world and the world at large should focus on

training students on these technologies. They include mobile internet, automation of knowledge

work, internet of things, cloud, advanced robotics, autonomous vehicles, genomics, energy storage,

3D printing, advanced materials, advanced oil and gas exploration and renewable energy.

The Philippines and the world undoubtedly conceptualized and used rapid changes and

innovation in education to seize and maximize the opportunities for productivity, growth and the
emergence of new educational innovation brought about by the fourth industrial revolution. The

extent to which the potential benefits will be realized depends on the government of one country’s

ability to overcome its capacity to aptly adapt to the global disruptions that are expected to come

along with the FIRe. This adaptation will involve greater thoughtfulness and agility in the way society

in which education landscape is an integral part balances the benefits from disruptive technologies

against the need for stability, security and social cohesion. Moreover, the effectiveness of the

adaptation will undoubtedly depend on the timeliness of its preparation and implementation.

The fourth industrial revolution is characterized by rapidly changing production and

consequently labor markets. To be responsive to this rapidly changing environment, the education

system that accompanies the fourth industrial revolution should encourage as well as enable

flexibility and modularity. Flexibility and modularity is critical to cater to the changing needs, diverse

talents, passions and interests of students. The continuing challenge will be in mixing and matching

changing needs and interests of the students who will be facing a constantly changing work

environment. Necessarily there should be continuous improvement in the learning environment. The

system should produce learners that can work alongside machines rather than compete with them

(Brown-Martin, 2017). In addition, measurability and transparency in the types and extent of learning

outcomes should be promoted to facilitate matching between learners and providers and minimize

asymmetric information that hinders the allocation function of education markets from generating

desired outcomes (Worldbank, 2003).

Learning is expected to be generated from various environments including formal, non-

formal and informal education systems. Given the expected diverse ways of generating

competencies and skills, the quality assurance and certification systems should not be limited within

systems but should facilitate movement across formal, non-formal and informal education systems.

The assessment and certification of knowledge learned outside the classroom will be an importance

source of building qualifications. In addition, it should also facilitate movements of learners across

different levels (Worldbank, 2003; Brown-Martin, 2017).

A key characteristic of education and human capital development in the current milieu and

in the the future is continuous learning. With rapidly changing technologies, rapidly changing

learning and work environments, the only way to keep up is to continuously learn, unlearn, and re-
learn. Toffler (1970) defines illiteracy in the 21st century as no longer those who cannot read and

write but those “who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.” A key skill that needs to be developed

among learners is “learning how to learn.” The system should produce students that embraces

lifelong learning, continuous training and retraining (Brown-Martin, 2017).

The pedagogy should not merely be teacher-centered or transmitting knowledge but

constructivist encouraging reconstruction of knowledge making learning experiential and promote

learning by doing (Brown-Martin, 2017; Sawyer, 2008). The objective is to develop higher order and

critical thinking skills needed to solve complex and abstract problems. It should embrace

technologies in both instruction and assessment. There should be continuous improvement in

teaching and learning environments. The teachers should embody this philosophy by being

continuous and lifelong learners and collaborative workers themselves (Brown-Martin, 2017;

Worldbank, 2003).

WEF (2015) lists and describes 21st century skills and clusters them into three groups, namely,

(a) foundational literacies, (b) competencies, and (c) character qualities. Foundational literacies

include literacy, numeracy, scientific literacy, ICT literacy, financial literacy and cultural and civic

literacy. Competencies comprises the critical thinking or problem solving, creativity, communication

and collaboration while character qualities involve curiosity, initiative, persistence or grit,

adaptability, leadership and social and cultural awareness.

With these contexts, the fourth industrial revolution is an opportunity to the trifocalized

education in the Philippines. The Department of Education, Commission on Higher Education and

Technical Education and Skills Development Authority are in a greater advantage if this FIRe will be

used appropriately.

References:

Brown-Martin, G. 2017. Education and the fourth industrial revolution.

https://www.groupemediatfo.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/FINAL- Education-andthe-

Fourth-Industrial-Revolution-1-1-1.pdf
Sawyer, K. 2008. Optimizing learning: Implications of learning sciences research. Paris, France:

Center for Education Research and Innovation, OECD.

World Bank. 2003. Lifelong learning in the global knowledge economy: Challenge for developing

countries. Washington, DC: World Bank. World Bank. 2010. Innovation policy: A guide for

developing countries. Washington, DC: World Bank.

World Economic Forum (WEF). 2015. New vision for education: Unlocking the potential of technology.

Geneva, Switzerland: WEF.