UAE: What skills must children develop to succeed in the future? – information

The educational journey needs to be reimagined to be child-centred and better prepare students for future realities

Educators need to reimagine educational experiences that are more relevant to the future by better equipping children with the skills they need to thrive in an unknown future, according to a New Citizen School study on future learning.

The white paper titled ‘The Future of Learning’ outlines how the UAE can play a leading role in supporting curricula that focus on developing the entrepreneurial, technological and critical thinking skills needed for the future.

The white paper analyzes how children in Dubai and the UAE are uniquely positioned with naturally diverse classrooms, future-proof government policies and access to emerging technologies. The research highlights that education today needs to adapt and evolve to accommodate outcomes not summarized in report cards, but by better equipping children with the skills they need to thrive and succeed in an uncertain future.

“As the total volume of human learning expands, the ways in which this knowledge is taught requires educators to reimagine and challenge traditions, allowing children to choose to explore topics, broaden interests, and discover new technologies to determine the pathways they want to take to develop their abilities. Full potential. We believe that today’s learners need essential entrepreneurial life skills to survive. Today’s learning experiences need to be curated to reimagine learning, contributing to a globally recognized learning framework for the future, enabling learners to thrive and enjoy a better quality of life in the future,” wrote Dr Adil Al Zarooni, founder of Dubai Civic School, in his foreword to the study.

Hisham Hodroge, CEO of Citizens School Dubai, explained the importance of reimagining the educational journey with the child at the centre. “The current education system is focused on one pathway and the exam is essentially a transfer of information from teacher to student. Considering the data shows that 40% of school-aged children today will have to be self-employed or entrepreneurs to generate any income , so this model needs to be improved. This requires a different learning philosophy that aims to improve the quality of life by building a future-oriented mindset that is ready to seize opportunities, lead change and understand that both success and failure are critical to personal growth. necessary.”

The Future of Learning white paper explores the history and evolution of education, global education trends, the leading role of the UAE’s future-focused government, and the findings of a survey of more than 1,200 Emirati parents on how they perceive the quality of education.

According to the study, 69% of parents believe that AI and virtual reality will have the greatest impact on their children’s future, followed by cryptocurrencies and the Metaverse (54%). At a time when Dubai is moving in a direction led by rapid technology and multifaceted job roles, the white paper speaks to the importance of helping children develop the skills and abilities to make them better equipped for tomorrow’s realities.

Speaking about what this means for educators, Kephren Sherry, Primary Principal at Dubai Civic School, added: “We must encourage our students to take ownership of their learning, enabling them to explore their passions and experience success and deal with failure, see failure is a meaningful step towards subsequent success.Today’s teacher is not the sole source of knowledge, the teacher’s role must be to guide, facilitate and support students to acquire knowledge from myriad sources, extract key information and make sense of it; The what, what, how and why, especially in the complex real and virtual worlds we all live in together.”