- Future of Learning white paper outlines the need for all education stakeholders to collectively re-imagine a more future relevant learning experience
- Creative thinking, mental wellbeing and confidence are the top skills parents believe are important to a child’s future success
- 87% believe digital literacy is critical for the future success of children, while resilience and entrepreneurship rank at 84%
- Resilience, inclusivity and entrepreneurship identified as areas for schools to focus on to better prepare future-ready children
Dubai, United Arab Emirates; March 14 2023: Educators need to re-imagine a more future relevant education experience by better equipping children with the skills they will need to thrive in an unknown future, according to a new Citizens School study on the future of learning.
The white paper titled ‘Future of Learning’ outlines how the UAE is taking a leading role supporting a curriculum that focuses on the development of entrepreneurial, technological and critical thinking skills needed for the future.
The white paper analyses how children in Dubai and the UAE are in a unique position given the naturally diverse classrooms, future-forward government policies and access to emerging technologies. The research highlights that today’s education needs to adapt and evolve to outcomes that are not summed up in a report card but by better
equipping children with the skills they will need to thrive and succeed in an uncertain future.
“As the sum of human learning expands, the means of imparting this knowledge requires educators to re-imagine the traditional and challenge the conventional by giving children choices to explore themes, expand interests and discover new technologies to determine the routes they want to take to reach their full potential. We believe that today’s learners need essential entrepreneurial life skills to survive. Today’s learning experience needs to be curated to re-imagine learning, contributing towards a globally recognised future learning framework enabling learners to thrive and enjoy a better quality of life in the future,” writes Dr. Adil Al Zarooni, Founder, Citizens School Dubai in his foreword to the study.
Hisham Hodroge, Chief Executive Officer, Citizens School Dubai charts the importance of reimagining educational journeys with the child at its centre. “The current education system focuses on one pathway, the examination which is essentially a transfer of information from teacher to student. This model needs to evolve when considering that data suggest 40% of nursery-aged children today will have to be either self-employed or entrepreneurs to generate any income. This requires a different learning philosophy aimed at enhancing quality of life by building future-ready mindsets that are ready to seize opportunities, lead change and understand that success and failure are necessary for personal growth.”
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 survey results of over 1,200 UAE parents on how they perceived the quality of education.
According to the study, 69% of parents believe artificial intelligence and virtual reality will have the largest impact on their children’s future, followed by cryptocurrency and the metaverse (54%). At a time when Dubai is evolving in a direction led by rapid technologies and multi-faceted job roles, the white paper touches upon the importance of helping children develop skills and competencies that make them more adaptable to the realities of tomorrow.
Speaking about what this means for educators, Kephren Sherry, Head of Primary, Citizens School Dubai adds, “We must encourage our students to take ownership of their learning, empower them to explore their passions and to experience success and to deal with failure, seeing failure as a meaningful step to subsequent success. The teacher today is not the only source of knowledge, and the role of the teacher must be to guide, facilitate, and support the student in accessing knowledge from a myriad of sources, extracting key information and making sense of it; to be able to navigate and make decisions of the who, what, how, and why of the information, particularly in the complex real and virtual worlds that we all inhabit.”
Survey Methodology:
- 1,243 online interviews were conducted
- Survey was administered in both English and Arabic as per respondent’s preference
- Length of the survey: 10 close-ended questions
- The survey was conducted between 1st to 9th June 2022
- Respondents were 18+
- Sample was representative of the adult national, Emirati and expat parents with kids (K-12) in UAE
- 56% of the sample were female and 44% comprised of males
White Paper Methodology:
- The white paper study covered the UAE
- Study was conducted by White Paper Media Consulting
About Citizens
Citizens is a visionary new school in Dubai, designed and developed by Al Zarooni Emirates Investments. At its core, Citizens focuses on each child’s unique needs, empowering them with choices to explore themes, expand interests, and determine the routes that they want to go on to reach their full potential, without compromise.
Influenced by some of the world’s leading cognitive scientists and researchers on education, motivation and mindsets, Citizens’ custom-built curriculum is tailored for each child’s unique strengths and approach to learning, with the UK National Curriculum as its framework. The 43,000-square-meter school campus has capacity for 2,600 children between the ages of three and 18 and features almost 3,000 square meters of open playing space. This includes a multi-purpose performing arts and activity hall, a six-lane swimming pool, and football and rugby pitches adhering to FIFA and World Rugby standards. Learn more at http://citizens.me/