The future of high school education

[Burt Macklin]

The future of high school education

I’ve recently become interested in high school education and its role in providing us young people with the skills for the future workforce (whatever that may be). There is currently some concerns about youth unemployment, demand for 21st century skills from employers, declining numeracy and literacy standards (although, not sure if this is true), disengagement with STEM subjects etc. that are linked to a fundamental question:

Are high schools adequately preparing students for the jobs of the future?

While we know that is not the sole role of high schools (or education in general), it’s an important component. Your schools have probably gone on about/or you may have noticed there is a lot of talk about “future-proofing” education in terms of equipping us with “21st century skills” (you’ve probably heard of them… problem-solving, digital literacy, critical thinking..) and transitioning to more “inquiry-based learning” and assessments that will allow young people to perform well in the workforce and in life in general.   

I’m eager to hear your thoughts about the topic (agreements/disagreements are welcome!), so here are some questions to get you thinking: 

1) Do you think high school education would benefit from either completely removing tests/exams OR modifying them to assess skills such as critical thinking, problem solving etc.?
- Has this already happened in your school?
- What would this mean for teachers? Would assessing be more difficult, subjective, take longer?
- Let’s say Year 11/12 exams for science/humanities become less focused on content/memorisation and more on assessing skills. Would they be harder to study for then content-driven exams?

2) Do you think high school is too content-focused? Has this been your experience?

3) In your experience, with tasks that have focused explicitly on developing skills such as problem-solving - were they enjoyable, intellectually stimulating OR were they poorly-planned, confusing etc.?
- Were they well-delivered by competent teachers?

4) What are the current pros and cons of your high school education IN TERMS OF preparing you for whatever the future workforce will look like?

[Joseph41]

Interesting thread, Burt. My very quick thoughts to get the thread rolling:

1) Do you think high school education would benefit from either completely removing tests/exams OR modifying them to assess skills such as critical thinking, problem solving etc.?

I think these are very different questions. Do I think high school education should completely remove tests/exams? No, certainly not. I think there's great value in such assessments - the preparation, performing under pressure, and so on. Do I think they should be modified to assess skills such as critical thinking and the like? I'm not sure that they don't already, but I certainly see less value in straight definition questions and the like.

There's no doubt in my mind: 'deeper' assessments would be more beneficial overall, but as you point out, they may not be as straight forward.

2) Do you think high school is too content-focused? Has this been your experience?

Possibly. I know that my school actively tried to address this, though, with great focus on 'life skills' or whatever. I think they did a pretty good job, too, and I know that this has been an even greater focus since I left in 2012. High school education is IMO in a state of transition (for the better).

3) In your experience, with tasks that have focused explicitly on developing skills such as problem-solving - were they enjoyable, intellectually stimulating OR were they poorly-planned, confusing etc.?

Both and varied.

4) What are the current pros and cons of your high school education IN TERMS OF preparing you for whatever the future workforce will look like?

I'm sure this will vary a lot from school to school, so I'm interested in other people's thoughts, here. IMO there's a lot that I'm currently facing that I have no idea about (largely financial stuff), and I don't see why this couldn't be better taught in schools.

[Burt Macklin]

I think these are very different questions. Do I think high school education should completely remove tests/exams? No, certainly not. I think there's great value in such assessments - the preparation, performing under pressure, and so on. Do I think they should be modified to assess skills such as critical thinking and the like? I'm not sure that they don't already, but I certainly see less value in straight definition questions and the like.

There's no doubt in my mind: 'deeper' assessments would be more beneficial overall, but as you point out, they may not be as straight forward.

You make a good point that exams do seem to be assessing those type of skills anyways. It's interesting how over the years (generally speaking), VCE exams have transitioned from questions that test recall of facts/knowledge to questions that require application, critical thinking, problem-solving etc.

I guess another question to ask is: Are exams the only valid and feasible option for end-of-year assessments? What about portfolios, project presentations, interviews etc. These types of assessments would have the same value that exams bring (students learning how to work under pressure, meeting deadlines, preparation) AND have the added benefit of mimicking the type of work you could be doing in the future/building skills that are demanded by employers.

Are there more nuanced options out there (perhaps a combination of both an exam+other assessments)? Is  standardisation the major issue if other options were looked at?

Possibly. I know that my school actively tried to address this, though, with great focus on 'life skills' or whatever. I think they did a pretty good job, too, and I know that this has been an even greater focus since I left in 2012. High school education is IMO in a state of transition (for the better).

Completely agree about it being in a state of transition. Over the years and since I left high school, there has been a concerted effort (at least in my school) to engage us and move away from just teaching content exclusively (and instead focus on skill development). Interested to hear if it has been the same for others.

When you say your school tried to address the issue, how exactly did they focus on skills more?