Trends Shaping Education 2016

                   Many researches and reports have shown the relation of education with other areas, Education has the potential and should improve the students, communities and the country as a whole, now more one book showing this complexity. This post is a summary of the book with the title above published in 2016 at  http://www.keepeek.com/Digital-Asset-Management/oecd/education/trends-

              Trends Shaping Education  examines major trends affecting the future of education. This work does not give conclusive answers: it is not a analytical report nor it is a statistical compendium, and it is not a statement of OECD policy. It is a stimulus for thinking about major tendencies that have the potential to influence education. The material is organised in five main chapters focused on globalisation, the nation-state, cities, modern families and technologies. The future is inherently unpredictable. Yet everyone, including policy makers and leaders in education, needs to take the future into account. Looking at trends informs our ideas about what might happen as we better understand what is already changing. Using trends is not straightforward. Opinions differ on historical developments even when there is a agreement. The trends in this book start with global changes before honing in on societies and cities, and then turn to families and children. Chapter 1 Globalisation - In essence, globalisation is the widening and speeding up of connections across national borders, facilitated by technology and decreasing transport costs. Economically, this is reflected in the rise of international trade, foreign direct investment and the spread of multinational companies with a truly global reach. The magnitude of global inequality, the gap between richer and poorer world regions is increasing. All of these global trends- economic integration, migration, climate change and rises in inequality are projected to continue in the near and medium term future. As global challenges, they do not stop at national borders and can not be solved by the actions of a single government. Tackling challenges that require co-ordinated and co-operative responses requires a new commitment to global governance and multilateralism. Education has role to play in providing the skills and competencies needed to operate in this new world. Education is a powerful tool to reduce inequality. It can also help in the integration of migrants, teaching skills as well as instilling values. Some of the ways education can affect and be affected by global trends are obvious and immediate, for example through the teaching of foreign language, global competencies for business and trade, and science. Chapter 2 The Future of the Nation-State - Urgent global challenges of the 21th century, such as climate change and growing inequality, require global solutions. However the nations still play a central role in ensuring the well-being and security of its citizens as well as developing the labor market and economic productivity. The OECD countries face a series of new challenges: population is aging, a thriving economy demands constant innovation and fewer citizens report being willing to fight for their own countries. Entrepreneurship and R&D levels are good indicators of innovation in a nation. Governments are moving to streamline procedure required to start a business, lightening the administrative load and incentivising entrepreneuship. Additionaly, international scientific collaboration is rising as global networks of researchers become increasingly important. Educators need to be aware of the advanced skills their students will need to flourish in more knowledge-intensive and international labour markets without neglecting the development of other important competencies, such as citizen engagement and social skills. The nations are charged with establishing healthcare spending and priorities. Being able to identify and treat new threats to public health and well-being is an important aspect of that responsibility. Education has a role to play in preventing and treating health conditions. Due to improved tech, better awareness and shifts in lifestyles, the major causes of death in OECD countries are changing. The fastest growing new causes of death are diabetes and dementia. The obesity epidemic is real. Education can help by stimulating physical activity and healthy eating patterns. Chapter 3 Are Cities the New Countries? Some have argued that cities are now the most relevant level of governance, small enough to react swiftly and responsively to issues and large enough to hold economic and political power. Today, more than half of the world's population lives in cities and this ratio is projected to increase to seven out of ten by 2050. Urban areas attract people searching for better economic prospects and easier access to piblic services such as education and healthcare, as well as a wider variety of cultural institutions. However, they can also confronted with a paradox: they concentrate wealth and employment opportunities, but they can also host high levels of poverty and labour-market exclusion. These conditions can contribute to more tenous social networks and disconnection from family and community, which can engender social alienation and violence. Citizen involvement is an important element of governance. Social media and the internet help to spur citizen engagement within communities. Cities attract talented innovators, reseachers and educators. This concentration of human capital stimulates development, making cities a regional nucleus for growth and innovation. Education can and contribute to this by ensuring that students have the skills and competences needed to succeed in an innovative world. It also underlines the role of the universities as centres of R&D. The liveability of a city often influences where people choose to settle down. Improving public transportation systems, for example, can decrease time spent commuting as well as reduce pollution and noise. Crimes and threats to safety come in many forms and trust between residents and police can help establish peace of mind. Schools can not only teach children about citizenship but also stimulates trust and engagement in their communities. A lack of green space and a greater intensity of people, traffic and industry are linked to physical and mental health challenges. Chapter 4 Family Matters The dominant family model in the 20th century has changed. Over the past 50 years the number of reconstituted families and single parent household has risen, families have become smaller and individuals are deciding to have children later in life, or not at all. Numbers of divorce are rising even as marriage rates are declining. These trends do not exist in isolation. As our concept of family transform, so too have the opportunities and challenges that families face. Public spending on family benefits has increased across most OECD countries. In the last decades personal health has improved due to better medicine, awareness and individual choices. Citizens are increasingly searching for healthier options. Education can play a role by teaching healthy lifestyles, recognising harmful tendencies and providing resources to combat unhealthy behaviour early on. Child well-being is increasing across OECD countries and indeed in much of the world, due to advances in medicine, better nutrition and healthier lifestyles. Physical and mental health is being more carefully nurtured. Still, there is a worry that the modern world has created new stresses for children. Child obesity, cyber-risks (such as online bullying) have all increased in the last decade. While there are a number of concerns, there is some good news: the time students spend on homework is declining. Schools have a responsibility to be safe places for learning, and teachers are on the front line of monitoring and ensuring their students well-being. Household poverty and debt have a large impact in families. Children living in low-income households perform more poorly in school on average due to a lack of resources including books, access to computers and sometimes even proper meals. Good quality education can be an important tool to reduce inequality and narrow the gap between low and high income students, but it can not act alone. Chapter 5 A Brave New World  In contrast to many of the trends in this book that are gradual and often linear, the pace of technological development is exponential and its impact often unpredictable. New technologies have changed the way we communicate, work and even socialise. And they have the potential to do more: innovation in biotechnology, for axample in genome sequencing, have the potential to revolutionise our lives. New tech bring new opportunities as well as new risks, the trends themselves are interralated and influence each other, sometimes in unpredictable ways. The continuing evolution of the internet has had an enormous impact on our daily lives. We can now buy our groceries, pay our bills, watch films and attend meetings without even leaving our homes. We tend to trust the information online, using virtual searches to better understand a phetora of complex information. These tech developments have opened up new markets for the education sector, including online courses and distance learning. The internet has become an integral part of our lives, especially with the development of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Internet users are more and more likely to be on line every day. The extent of these changes has given rise to concerns about decreasing attention spans, digital withdrawl and even a new syndrome: the "fear of missing out". These changes in our social and work lives challenge the education system to take advantage of the tools and strengths of new tech, while at the same time addressing concerns regarding the use of information and privacy. Once used only by the tech-savvy, social media has pervaded all aspects of modern life in just a few short years. World leaders and international organisations have increasingly taken advantage if social media as a channel of diplomacy, communication and engagement. Businesses have created their own websites and social media profiles as a form of interacting with customers. Schools and universities are stepping up their game, creating institutional pages. Education systems need to prepare their students to process the mass of information available on line and judge fact from fiction. New tech can be a double-edged sword: despite its positive impacts, it can also lead to previously unknown dangers. Cyberfraud, hacking, cyberbullying and identity theft are only some examples of new risks that have emerged. One of the most difficult challenges for governments will be staying abreast of the evolution of tech and human behaviour, for example, with an increase in the ease of uploading information and large online audience, more countries are enacting laws against revenge porn. There has been also an increase in the number of cybersecurity certificates and courses offered. Schools and teachers are increasingly faced with the challenges of education and guiding students through the advantages and disadvantages of the virtual world. Technological advances are not exclusive to the internet. Although it might still seem like science fiction, major developments in biotech have already changed our lives in dramatic ways. Biotech is used to combat disease, to produce higher yields and resistent crops, and to develop clean energy.