Future-ready learning: Can schools help build a toolkit for life?

Today's school pupils are growing up in a world that is changing faster than ever before. "Young people have to deal with a variety of challenges. In addition to stress at school, performance pressure and parents' expectations, they must also navigate the world of social media, information overload and emerging technologies while simultaneously coping with multiple major global crises," says family sociologist Ulrike Zartler, describing the world experienced by today's children and adolescents.

Yet at the same time, this complex world also offers opportunities and new freedoms, such as the ability to acquire knowledge independently and directly contribute to society. Students can rapidly build technological and social skills while building connections around the globe. "It was the younger generation that took to the streets with Fridays for Future to make it clear that they are demanding change and want to play an active role," says educational psychologist Marko Lüftenegger. "The question is: how can schools promote this commitment and impart the necessary skills that will help young people successfully master the challenges of their time?" 

Martin Rothgangel, an expert on subject-specific didactics, adds: "in today's connected and information-rich world, schools have a greater responsibility than ever to enable students to critically assess sources and understand fundamental connections." Alongside climate change and social inequality, dealing with disinformation is likely to be one of the major educational challenges of the coming decades. Rothgangel heads the Centre for Teacher Education at the University of Vienna, where around 11,000 students are training to become teachers.

Confidence as a skill of the future

A recently completed participatory project by Ulrike Zartler showed that students will need much more than specialist knowledge. As part of this project, adolescents addressed their experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic and compiled a 'Survival Guide' comprising concrete advice and practical tips for times of crisis. 

"The developed guidelines range from 'create structure' and 'develop self-care routines' to the notion that 'even the worst crisis will pass'," says Zartler and concludes that "confidence is a skill that is closely linked to self-efficacy and trust in one's own abilities. I believe it is a key role of schools today to promote this skill and to teach students that they can make a difference even in difficult situations."

Learning as a skill in itself

No matter how fast times may be moving, school remains a constant in the lives of young people. It was already well known before the pandemic how important school is as a social space and a place where relationships develop. From their first day at school to their exit exams at age 18, children spend around 11,000 hours at school. According to Lüftenegger, the fundamental responsibility of schools has not changed significantly. "It is always about teaching skills for life." 

A central – and timeless – skill is self-regulation, i.e. the ability to control one's own learning process, to organise and to pursue goals independently. This skill does not become irrelevant when students leave school, but remains important in later life and in their professional careers. The experts from the University of Vienna agree that the ability to remain flexible and capable to act is very useful in a world characterised by crises and change. 

According to Lüftenegger, self-regulation is also the key competence that enables learners to remain motivated in the long term. Autonomy, i.e. the feeling of being able to act in a self-determined way, also plays a decisive role. "Especially the school years are also a time of youthful exploration, during which you try things out and break away from your parents," says the educational psychologist. "If the school manages to promote children and young people's sense of competence and self-efficacy, as well as their autonomy, it can prepare them for many potential stumbling blocks in their future development."

From research into the classroom

Do we need a new school subject for this? "No," says Ulrike Zartler, "these are educational goals that can be addressed and promoted in every school subject." For example, teachers could give learners the space to define their own learning goals and find ways to achieve them. Zartler advocates for a participatory approach in schools. "It is important to take children and adolescents seriously in the way they experience their environment, allowing them to bring topics they encounter on social media into the classroom," she mentions as an example.

"It is also important to demonstrate the value of a task and to integrate it into the students' lived realities: Why do I need this? Why am I learning this?" Lüftenegger adds. Teachers should tap into young people's drive and encourage their students to develop their own solutions instead of presenting them with ready-made answers – that is one tip the psychologist has for teachers. 

Martin Rothgangel adds, "subject didactics research shows that it is important for students’ learning success to take their prior knowledge into account. Take physics lessons, for example: We know that students learn much better when, for example, they can relate the physical formula for force to their everyday experiences (e.g. muscle strength)." 
 

"The teacher will sort it out..."

However, teachers also need motivation to remain willing to continue their education and training, and to experiment with new approaches. "During the lockdowns, many parents have developed a new appreciation and understanding for the daily work of teachers," says Ulrike Zartler about her research findings on the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on family life. Mutual recognition and good cooperation between parents and teachers are crucial for the success of school students and for a functioning school system. A positive working atmosphere and constructive dialogue in the teachers’ room are equally important. "It is the school management’s responsibility to ensure this," adds Martin Rothgangel.

Success stories can also motivate by showing that new approaches work and achieve positive results. "There are many great examples of evidence-based approaches being successfully implemented in primary schools, general secondary schools and academic secondary schools, and their success does not depend on resources or the type of school," says Lüftenegger. On the other hand, many good ideas and valuable experiences come from practice, Ulrike Zartler is keen to emphasise. This is why she advocates for further promoting the exchange between academic research and practice. 
 

"We need evidence-based educational policy"

The experts agree that the exchange with academic research and practice is particularly important with regard to educational policy measures and reforms. "Educational policy is initiating one school reform after another, which are usually not evidence-based," criticises Rothgangel. Zartler emphasises the need to clearly address the socio-political goal of education again, saying that "we need schools that offer equal opportunities for all students, because as a society we cannot afford to leave any children behind."

Whether it is the introduction of digital devices in schools, German language support classes or reforms such as the introduction of the new secondary school – measures need to be well-planned, monitored and evaluated before they are implemented across the board. It is also essential that all stakeholders, ranging from teachers and school management to parents, are involved in reform processes.

The interdisciplinary research at the University of Vienna covers more than the building of teaching, learning and digital competencies. Researchers are also concerned with the rationale behind education policy measures and how they actually work. An on-going large-scale, multi-perspective study on German language support classes, for instance, aims to inform education policy, such that policy-makers can make decisions that are evidence-based, sustainable and equitable.

AI – a hot topic in schools

While the digital natives are usually more experienced in the use of digital devices than their parents and teachers, there are concerns regarding the use of ChatGPT and comparable tools. Are our children becoming too lazy to think? Will they still be able to do anything properly? 

The experts agree that the education system needs to challenge the topic of AI, saying that AI is a 'new reality', as Lüftenegger puts it. Ulrike Zartler emphasises that students must learn to interact critically with content generated by AI. "This also includes an awareness of what is actually my personal contribution", because it can feel as if a text created 'together' with an AI tool was written by oneself. She refers to the danger of 'tertiary illiteracy', as the writer Clemens J. Setz describes it – meaning the loss of the ability to write texts ourselves or even to differentiate whether a text was written by us or for us.

Research is being conducted at the University of Vienna in various areas, including the Digitalisation in Education Research Group, to determine how AI can be meaningfully integrated into teaching. Martin Rothgangel, Ulrike Zartler and Marko Lüftenegger agreed during the roundtable discussion that it can be a helpful addition and a useful tool. However, where it replaces human abilities, it becomes a problem in the medium term.

So, what should we learn when everything is changing? Follow our experts as they provide answers and ideas in the Rudolphina, on YouTube and on other communication channels of the University of Vienna.