#TheFeed Issue 8 | Page 12

“ A teacher ’ s job is that of preparing the learners and citizens of the future ; to get it right tomorrow , today ’ s job involves imagining the world that will exist at these points in time .”

A 22- year old starting teaching in 2010 could work until retirement in 2055 . The last children / young people that he / she would encounter are likely to live to 80 or more , that is until 2135 and beyond .
A teacher ’ s job is that of preparing the learners and citizens of the future ; to get it right tomorrow , today ’ s job involves imagining the world that will exist at these points in time . Technology in schools is not simply about replacing tasks , it is about opening new frontiers in terms of enhanced learning , creativity and innovation .
Digital awareness is as important as literacy and numeracy and at the same time enhances pupil outcomes in these and other areas of learning .
Teachers need to plan carefully to support the growing autonomy ceded to children and young people through technology ; this is effectively achieved by placing greater emphasis on the deployment of cognitive knowledge ( understanding ) and metacognitive skills ( i . e . understanding through self-reflection and understanding the ‘ how ’ of learning ).
Jedeskog and Nissen ( 2004:37 ) investigated features of technology practice in Swedish
schools . Their research examined the growing moves in education , from content to form and the dissolution of educational boundaries in terms of room , time and activity ( i . e . learning which uses face-to-face teaching and e-learning , referred to as ‘ blended learning ’, thus dispensing with the need for a fixed room , time and activity ).
Their findings , presented in the paper- “ Is doing more important than knowing ?”, suggested that the shift in many Swedish classrooms
to placing greater emphasis on the development of pupil autonomy carried with it an inherent danger , that pupil understanding would fail to develop .
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