Education transforms lives
Education
lights every stage of the journey to a better life, especially for the poor and
the most vulnerable. Education’s unique power to act as a catalyst for wider
development goals can only be fully realized, however, if it is equitable. That
means making special efforts to ensure that all children and young people –
regardless of their family income, where they live, their gender, their
ethnicity, whether they are disabled – can benefit equally from its
transformative power. Education empowers girls and young women, in particular,
by increasing their chances of getting jobs, staying healthy and participating
fully in society – and it boosts their children’s chances of leading healthy
lives.
To unlock the
wider benefits of education, all children need the chance to complete not only
primary school but also lower secondary school. And access to schooling is not
enough on its own: education needs to be of good quality so that children
actually learn.
Having concluded
that education should help students develop the skills they need to best take
action in the world, I think we must also consider what we, as educators, think
these skills should be. In doing this, I also feel we must be respectful of the
wishes of our students and communities, and consider what is most beneficial
for our society. I think most would agree that we should help our students
develop their skills in areas like communication, critical thinking,
collaboration, and problem-solving. In fact, part of my research focuses on how
to best develop students’ problem-solving skills, a skill which has been
identified as one of the fundamental qualifications for Science, Technology,
Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields. Problem-solving can include things like
the ability to identify obstacles, to devise innovative and effective
solutions, to implement the solutions appropriately, and to persevere with
challenging problems. However, it is often far from clear how we can best
provide our students with these skills.