SOME weeks ago, the Federal Directorate of Education and Professional Training organised a wonderful summer fiesta for schoolchildren, with a wide range of skill-based workshops, seminars, lectures and activities. This kind of immersive experience with creative writing, financial literacy, digital technology and so forth, is the urgent need for students who haven’t got much exposure to global skills.

Sadly, these children will go back to teacher-led classrooms and traditional teaching after the summer break. Many precious steps forward, but some unfortunate leaps backwards too. It may be time to revisit what they are learning in classrooms and whether the curriculum and teaching methods support the skill development we must envision for a progressive, holistic application of knowledge.

Skill development starts in early years with knowledge of the world around us, roles and responsibilities, creative and critical thought, and strong foundations in numeracy and literacy. If we begin to benchmark the skills taught in our classrooms to global standards, we may hope to target the aims of the SDGs for education.

How far have our ways of teaching and learning evolved?

This includes reflective teaching practices that only equip........

© Dawn