What follows is an assignment I submitted as part of the Solving Complex Problems Specialization I studied on Coursera and which resides within the Environmental Sustainability concentration of my MTA Portfolio.
This assignment is one of a number based around the concept of revamping the national education system to make it more beneficial for people and planet alike.
Aside from being a subject close to my heart, the practice of formulating a plan for revamping the education system was integral for defining my education philosophy, as it now exists within my Education Innovation final project.
The Complex Problem of the UK National Education System
The complex problem I am looking to solve concerns the Primary and Secondary levels (ages 5 – 16) of the United Kingdom’s current national compulsory education system.
Specifically, the problem to be addressed is the education system’s current curriculum outline and how that outline – both in its design and application – is a highly inefficient and ineffective means of producing proactive graduates who can fully take charge of their lives and create long-term financial stability, both for themselves and collectively as part of the national economy.
Therefore, the organisation which I will be considering in relation to this problem is the current government of the United Kingdom, the Conservative and Unionist Party as led by Prime Minister Theresa May and the Department for Education and the Secretary of State for Education, Justine Greening, will be the organisations of focus.
Specifically, the current Conservative government is not at fault for the current underperforming state of the UK’s national education system, but if the Conservative Government is serious about creating a Global Britain with a strong economy that works for all, as outlined in their party manifesto mission statement and one of their key arguments for making a success of Brexit (the UK’s exit from the European Union), then the Conservative Government would be wise to look at the reforming the national education system.
The problem identified and the solution of reformation presented here is pointing towards a hypothesis that students who possess and maintain a deep sense of wonder about the world around them and the potential of humanity in it (creative and flexible thinking), throughout all their schooling lives, are more likely to go on to lead successful careers, live fulfilling lives and be altruistic citizens in society. Ultimately, these graduates will go on to be a greatly beneficial influence on the UK’s national domestic economy and provide the UK with an incredibly positive and proactive image in the global context, which will attract foreign investment and trade.
A national education system with a reformed curriculum has the potential to produce proactive graduates who can maintain financial stability and contribute massively to the national economy and reputation of the UK through personal and professional expressions of innovation and entrepreneurship.
Evaluating the Problems of the UK Education System
The complex problem I am looking to solve concerns the Primary and Secondary levels (ages 5 – 16) of the United Kingdom’s current national compulsory education system.
Specifically, the problem to be addressed is the education system’s current curriculum outline and how that outline – both in its design and application – is a highly inefficient and ineffective means of producing proactive graduates who can fully take charge of their lives and create long-term financial stability, both for themselves and collectively as part of the large national economy.
The problem identified and the proposed solution of reformation is pointing towards a hypothesis that students who possess and maintain a deep sense of wonder about the world around them and the potential of humanity in it (creative and flexible thinking), throughout all their schooling lives, are more likely to go on to lead successful careers, live fulfilling lives and be altruistic citizens in society. Ultimately, these graduates will go on to be a very beneficial influence on the UK’s national domestic economy and provide the UK with a very positive and proactive image in the global context, which will attract foreign investment and trade.
It is clear to see from the nature of the complex problem I have presented that the approaches and key sources of information in formulating my innovative solution will be found in the disciplines of…
Education – A resource which will be invaluable for my briefing paper is the Department for Education section of gov.uk website. This is the official UK Government website which houses all government information available for public scrutiny. The website contains a wide range of information on the current compulsory Primary and Secondary education curriculums of the UK. This will be an invaluable source of information because examining the current design and structure of the curriculum will be informative about how to go about reformulating into a better design and structure.
Citation:
Gov.uk. (2017) Education, training and skills [online]. Available from: https://www.gov.uk/education [accessed 06/07/2017].
Economics – The London Economics’ Economics of Education will be another key source of information and validation for the complex problem I have identified within the UK education system. They are a research organisation which is often commissioned by the UK government and by external bodies to conduct studies into all levels of the UK education system. As their website states:
“The London Economics’ Education team has wide experience across the entire education arena, having undertaken many high-profile projects ranging from the evaluation of early years policy interventions to the analysis of further and higher education funding systems.”
All their studies and publications are available on their website and free for scrutiny.
Likewise, with the education section of the UK government website, the Economics of Education insights will give me a greater overview about how to reformulate the UK education curriculum into on that is relevant for the 21st century and which can produce proactive and informed graduates.
Citation:
London Economics. (2017) Economics of Education [online]. Available from: https://londoneconomics.co.uk/blog/practice-area/economics-of-education/ [accessed 06/07/2017].
Positive Psychology – Positive education: positive psychology and classroom interventions is paper which collects together many conclusions drawn from the Positive Psychology research and how much of an impact positive psychology has the academic success and personal wellbeing rates of graduate students of all age ranges. Positive Positive has been shown to be invaluable at not only bolstering personal and social wellbeing through its constructionist approach, but it has also been shown to be instrumental in stimulating creative and flexible thinking – essential for proactivity – and it has also been shown to greatly strengthen social ties and cross-party co-operation. Therefore, positive psychology infused throughout would be essential for a new education curriculum that produces proactive and constructionist graduates.
Citation:
Seligman, M. E. P. Ernst, R. M. Gillhamc, J. Reivicha, K. Linkins, M. (2009) Positive education: positive psychology and classroom interventions [online] Available from: http://www.aps.sg/files/GELC%202014/Pre-reading%20Articles/Keynote_5_Boniwell_Seligmans_Positive_Education.pdf [accessed 06/07/2017].
Global Citizenship – Oxfam has produced an invaluable guide about how to incorporate Global Citizenship teaching framework into the classroom and this guide would provide the groundwork of reformulating the currently establish UK education system, a reformulation in which the subject of Global Citizenship would be a key focus. A global citizen’s mindset is exactly what is required to tackle the complex problems of today’s globalised and interconnected world. Additionally, it is a subject area which teaches the student to value and fully utilise their citizenship status – both nationally and internationally. Like the applciation of Positive Psychology, an understanding of Global Citixenship is key to cultivating proactivity in the graduates of the education system.
Citation:
Oxfam (2015) Global Citizenship in the Classroom: A Guide for Teachers [online] Available from: http://www.centreforglobaleducation.org/documents/Global_Citizenship_guide_for_Teachers_WEB.pdf [accessed 06/07/2017].
Big History – The Solving Complex Problems specialization has been teaching the transdiscipline of Big History and, not only do I see Big History as being one of the new disciplines in the reformed UK education curriculum that I am going to propose for my solution, but it provides the groundwork about how to go about adopting a transdisciplinary approach and building a transdisciplinary framework from the ground up. Personally, I consider Big History to be the first fully-fledged and figured out transdisciplinary subject. To this end, it provides the perfect example about how to go about teaching a broader range of knowledge; as well as engaging and inspiring a more proactive graduate who can go out into the world ready to solve any complex problem.
Citation:
Christian, D. Bain, B. Arbor, A. Sullivan, T. Pilot Schools & Teachers (2017) Big History Project [online]. Available from: https://school.bighistoryproject.com/bhplive [accessed 06/07/2017].
Additionally, I am going to include the Solving Complex Problems Specialization as another citation:
Coursera. Macquarie University. (2017) Solving Complex Problems Specialization [online] Available from: https://www.coursera.org/specializations/solving-complex-problems [accessed 06/07/2017].
Entrepreneurship and Innovation – My main argument for reforming the UK education system are the economic benefits it will bring to the UK, and I was primary referring to how a reformed education system would be focused on producing graduates who can proactively – either individually or as part of a larger organisation – conduct innovation and entrepreneurship that would be highly beneficial to the UK economy. To this end, a research paper by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency has presented a compelling economic case for why there should be larger emphasis on using entrepreneurship and innovation focused studies to produce proactive problem-solving graduates. The paper focuses on the countries of the European Union and it even proposes a means of incorporating a larger emphasis on entrepreneurship and innovation focused studies into the established curriculums of many of the EU states, the UK included.
Citation:
Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (2012) Entrepreneurship Education at School in Europe: National Strategies, Curricula and Learning Outcomes [online] Available from: http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/education/eurydice/documents/thematic_reports/135EN.pdf [accessed 06/07/2017].
All the sources I have presented here are secondary sources because they present research and practice conducted, collected and presented by others.
Due to the complex problem I am dealing with and because my favoured solution would require a great deal of new policy reform in Government, it is highly likely that if I was employed within the Department of Education, the Government would be keen to commission some new studies to further validate the impact and benefit of the reformation and policy changes that would be required in order to sell the reformation package to the UK Parliament and the general public at large.
The Creative Innovation of the UK Education System
The complex problem I am looking to solve is concerned with the Primary and Secondary levels (ages 5 – 16) of the United Kingdom’s current national compulsory education system.
Specifically, the problem to be addressed is the education system’s current curriculum outline and how that outline – both in its design and application – is a highly inefficient and ineffective means of producing proactive graduates who can fully take charge of their lives and create long-term financial stability, both for themselves and collectively as part of the large national economy.
The Innovation I am proposing for this problem is for the UK government, and more specifically the Department for Education, to reformulate the national Primary and Secondary curriculum to bring it in line with the demands of the twenty-first century. A reformed national education system with a reformed curriculum has the potential to produce proactive graduates who can maintain financial stability and contribute massively to the national economy and reputation of the UK through personal and professional expressions of innovation and entrepreneurship.
Ultimately, the innovation I am proposing will not remove the subject areas which are currently being taught in the national education system, but rather it will just reformulate and combine the current subject areas into new subject boundaries.
For instance, one potential new subject area would be created by taking the current subject area of Citizenship and expanding it into Global Citizenship, which would focus on teaching about globalisation and different cultures; in addition to the governance, legal and citizenship system of the UK alone. Global Citizenship would combine the subject areas of Citizenship, Geography, History, Languages and incorporate any other relevant disciplinary elements.
Ultimately, what I am proposing with my innovation of reformulating the Primary and Secondary education system in the UK is not too dissimilar to what has been taught in the Solving Complex Problem specialization. The emphasis on the new curriculum would be on transdisciplinary and to get the student thinking very proactively about how to go about solving the complex problems of the world at large and within their own individual lives.
The emphasis in the new curriculum will be on cultivating a constant urge and utilisation of creative and flexible thinking in all its graduates. The Primary and Secondary levels of the national education system are being targeted because by installing these proactive and transdisciplinary mindsets in graduates at an early age, it will enable them to have a more informed and better start in their adult lives.
Additionally, it will reduce the strain the higher education system, because if all students are taught to think operate critically, transdisciplinary and proactively in the Primary and Secondary stages of the compulsory education, by the time they get to higher education, if they decide to go study higher education, then the higher education sector can place more of an emphasis back on providing subjects which allow students to specialise in specific subject areas.
The current Conservative Government of the United Kingdom is working to make a success of Brexit and to the United Kingdom out of the European Union. Furthermore, they have said in their party manifesto mission statement that they want to build a strong and stable economy which works for all. Ultimately, the UK will be in better position to make a success of these things, in the immediate and long-term future, if it is country which possess citizens who can proactively create financial stability for themselves and provide a beneficial influence on the UK’s national economy through acts of innovation and entrepreneurship. The UK will then be able to sustain itself with a strong internal economy; while also boasting its very positive and proactive image in a global context to attract foreign trade and investment.
However, the UK will only be able to produce citizens like this once it provides a compulsory education system that cultivates its citizens to be proactive and to be able to take charge of their own lives; while knowing how to make themselves an active and very significant part of the national economy.
If the UK government does decide to implement my proposed innovation for reforming the UK Primary and Secondary education curriculum, on a year-by-year basis, as the new curriculum is taught to new generations of students, the national economy, the wellbeing of individual citizens and the reputation of the UK in the global context will grow and improve.
However, if the UK government does not decide to implement my proposed innovation for reforming the UK Primary and Secondary education curriculum then we will continue to see the same results which the established curriculum has thus far produced – a shaky economy, increased poverty levels and very low wellbeing of the poorer sections of the UK’s population.
Furthermore, the Government will be weakening its stance as an independent nation, if it does decide to grow through with its exit from the European Union. A country with a weak economy, reduced specialist sectors (due to migration away from the UK due to the increasingly perceived xenophobia of Brexit) and not many exploitable natural resources would be an independent country which would not have much to offer to the global marketplace.
To make a nation strong, you must start from the foundation, and the foundation of any nation is its citizens. If the UK government provides its citizens with an up-to-date, proactive and transdisciplinary compulsory Primary and Secondary education system, through the day-to-day actions of those graduates going forward, the country will increasingly follow suite and will be transformed into an up-to-date, proactive and transdisciplinary country capable of solving any complex problem.