Teachers face major challenges to prepare pupils for jobs that do not yet exist yet, a UAE minister has said.
Jameela Al Muhairi, Minister of State for Public Education, said youngsters were living in a hugely disruptive era of the “fourth industrial revolution” with smartphones, video games, tablets and artificial intelligence radically reshaping the world.
Speaking on Tuesday at Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, Ms Al Muhairi said that in the classrooms of today, the chalkboard had been replaced by digital smart boards and that teachers needed to help pupils to gain confidence, think independently and take risks to benefit from the opportunities this era brings.
“Looking at Google Trends for the year 2021, the youth of today belong to a time where 5.6 billion Google searches are carried out every day,” she said.
“We need to carefully examine our current reality, learning from global success and deeply understand what works, when, in education. Only then we can identify what is likely to be needed for the school of tomorrow.”
Ms Al Muhairi, who was speaking in a pre-recorded video address, oversees the Emirates Schools Establishment. The entity was created in 2019 to raise standards at public schools throughout the country.
She also touched on educating youngsters about sustainability, new teaching methods and why the social setting of the school is important. First, she said, schools had been improving teaching methods and placing more focus on science.
“In schools across the UAE, there have been efforts to improve teaching strategies, support Stem [science, technology, engineering and maths] subjects and engage pupils more in problem-solving and project-based work,” she said.
“Real learning will only happen when students are confident to criticise, examine and express their thoughts ... and when they address real issues that matter to them.”
Ms Al Muhairi also spoke about the environment and said it was important for schools to put it at the heart of their decision-making.
“Schools need to be sustainable spaces ... and contribute to an environmentally-friendly ecosystem,” she said.
“We believe that serious investments need to be directed towards the development of school physical environments.
“Pupils, today and in the future, will require personal interaction and more personalised learning that is relevant to their needs and to their real life,” she said.
Schools around the world have embraced online learning since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic but Ms Al Muhairi said schools would continue to be the natural, social and culture environments in which holistic learning would take place.
“Learning within a social community helps children develop empathy towards others, make friends, discover the value of tolerance and learn to care for their environments and community,” she said.
“School is where the values of citizenship and belonging develop.”
The minister said teachers required very advanced technological skills and a deep understanding of brain research and cognitive science, and would have to adapt their teaching strategies.
She called for a collective approach to a changed education system involving tertiary institutions, businesses, governments, and non-government organisations.
“They will also need to help pupils to make informed decision about their dreams, job and career choices,” said Ms Al Muhairi.
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Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
Bloomberg
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- Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
- Create new "instrument" providing €150 billion of loans to member countries for defence investment
- Use the existing EU budget to direct more funds towards defence-related investment
- Engage the bloc's European Investment Bank to drop limits on lending to defence firms
- Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
