Characteristics Of Traditional Education In The 21st Century

To define 21st century learning we first need to accept that many of the traditional methods of teaching are no longer relevant in our high tech, super-connected fast paced society. The recent rapid pace of change has been such that the term itself may no longer be relevant taking into account it was coined in the later part of the 20th century. Considering this and the fact that we are halfway through the second decade of the 21st century is it merely describing the current learning practices and not looking far enough into the future for the needs of students, teachers and educational institutions? As was discussed by Bolstad, Gilbert, McDowell, Bull, Boyd & Hopkins (2012) does a new term such as ‘future learning’ need to be adopted to adequately

This was a time of great growth in large scale factories where large production lines were being implemented and developed to meet the needs of society. The governments of the time saw fit to model schools on these same industrialised production line methodologies as that is what they saw as efficient and effective. It was believed that by structuring the institutions in such a manner would turn out students with the necessary skills to not just work in the factories, but also to succeed in life in this industrialised world. Some key features of this traditional style of education

A major change and new practice is the move to student centric learning. This involves the students taking an active role in their learning, teachers are facilitators of information not merely there to talk at and lecturer the learners. There is an increased focus on each individual student’s abilities, learning styles and needs. As discussed by Mascolo (2009) this has been shown to increase learning outcomes for students. In addition to these points collaboration is encouraged with the role of the teacher being to guide students letting them learn through discovery and