Disrupting the educational narrative

These are lofty goals and can only be attained through a global educational renaissance. The traditional approaches to education thus far have not even been able to treat with the technological innovations in communication, population mobility, climate change or economic globalisation .

It is time for our educators to play an active and leading role in the educational transformation process by overcoming the challenges that confront us. The revolution in thinking must begin with a new narrative among us that will inspire the revolution necessary for the emergence of the knowledge society we desire .

Antiquated notions of education rooted in a colonial legacy will not carry our society to a point that will enable the realisation of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda .

The revolution in thinking must come from the educators — those professionals operating at the level of direct student interaction, where the needs and realities of the clients are discerned and confronted on a first-hand basis .

Educators have never before had the opportunity to learn from each other on a global scale as presented in the 21st century. Collaboration and the sharing of information amongst educators and policymakers is no longer a challenge. With this global educational imperative beckoning us to rethink education with a deeper sense of purpose and integrity, we are compelled to alter the narrative that guides our practice. The whole human being as the object of education must be the focus. Skill development and employability with its emphasis on wealth generation and accumulation cannot continue to define the education dialogue .

Citizens of the future are charged with the awesome responsibility of undoing the ecological damage inflicted by an education system that placed emphasis on greed, exploitation and wealth generation by a few at the expense of the majority .

It perpetuated social injustice as a norm and inequity as par for the course. It relegated critical thinking to the domain of the few, purging the masses of its capacity to think .

Education became a tool of social stratification that enabled elite minorities to rule with monarchical power over citizenry armed with the delusion of democracy and empowerment .

The challenge confronting educators to engineer a revolution in education thinking will not be an easy proposition indeed, for we are products of exploitation .

However, given the urgency of the challenge, with misinformation eating away at the minds of a na?ve public that is not empowered to discern between education and indoctrination, human existence is now being torn between the forces of capitalism and greed on the one hand and bigotry and fanaticism on the other .

Our challenge as teachers is to inspire young people to harbour aspirations to uplift themselves and others to reach their full potential .

How can we motivate them to be more than knowledge workers, but rather agents of social change driven by a moral code that places emphasis and premium on humanity rather than self? How can we ensure that all our schools are truly inclusive and embracing of all races, religions and cultures? How do we discontinue the factory model of education and truly teach children how to learn rather than what to learn so that empowerment of the individual results in true liberation of the mind? It is time for us educators and education reformers to aspire to a broader vision and hope for education — one that takes into serious account the social, ecological and economical quagmire we confront .