WB SingaporeAfrica, Jun 22, 2006

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• WB Singapore-Africa, Jun 22, 2006

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Education for TomorrowChallenges of the
Post-industrial Society

• Kai-ming Cheng
• University of Hong Kong
• World Bank African Study Tour
• Singapore
• June 22, 2006

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• Starting with Hong Kong
• ( but where is Hong Kong?)

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• Hong Kong...
• One country, two systems
• Population 7.2M
• Area 1,000 km2
• GDP 37,400 p.c. (PPP) (9th)
• GDP 88 in service sector
• (82 employment)

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• Hong Kong...
• Education
• Primary Secondary universal
• 68 higher education
• (Korea, Taiwan oversupply)
• (Japan nearly oversupply)

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• How are HKs education achievements
• faired in the international arena?

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Mean Reading Literacy of 15-year-olds
Source OECD, UNESCO (2003) Literacy skills for
the world of tomorrow, Fig. 2.5, p.76
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Mean Mathematical Literacy of 15-year-olds
Source OECD, UNESCO (2003) Literacy skills for
the world of tomorrow, Fig. 3.2, p.100
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Mean scientific literacy of 15-year-olds All
Source OECD, UNESCO (2003) Literacy skills for
the world of tomorrow, Fig. 3.5, p.109
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at each reading proficiency level
Level 5
Level 4
Level 3
Level 2
Level 1
Below Level 1
Source OECD, UNESCO (2003) Literacy skills for
the world of tomorrow, Table 2.1a, p.274
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• Then, Hong Kongs education
• should be perfectly all right
• However

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Unemployment Trends
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Hong Kong As it is!

• 19 (15-19 yr-olds) double-disengaged
• 100K (40s-50s) newly unemployed

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Questions

• Isnt it true that EFA promises a good society?
• Is this unique to Hong Kong, which is after all a
  small city?
• Is there any significance to other parts of
  China, particularly those less developed?

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• The Hong Kong case begs a question
• Education for All!
• but for What?

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• Change in society workplace

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• Hong Kong
• Around 291,000 registered companies (June 2005)
• 99 under 100 (SME)
• 69 of employees
• 94 under 20
• 40 of employees
• 86 under 10
• 33 of employees

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• Hong Kong
• Free-lancers 220,000 estimated
• vis-à-vis 2,200,000 in registered companies

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• The United States
• Business Enterprises
• 98 under 100
• 86 under 20
• National Bureau of Economic Research, 2002

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Post-industrial Workplace
Project Groups/Task Forces Small
Enterprises Free-lancers The Civil Service
(Traditional)
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• Why have work units
• become smaller?

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• Mobile phones
• CEO of Samsung
• We are not producing telephones.
• We are producing fashion!

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Restaurants Maxims
Cantonese Cuisine Chaozhou Cuisine Peking
Cuisine Other Chinese Cuisines Miso, Kiko m.a.x.
concepts mezz, EXP, café Landmark, thai basil,
can.teen, little basil, the basil, fresh basil,
rice paper, Café Express, Deli and Wine, Curtain
Up, Concerto Bar Cafe Starbucks Coffee
Over 320 shops
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• G2000 (fashion retail)
• Michael Tien
• When it works, Its obsolete!
• Customers dont know what they want!

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Industrial Scale Production
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Post-Industrial Customized Products
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• Products Services
• Customised rather than uniform
• Benchmark
• Quality rather than scale
• Market Customers
• Unpredictable rather than stable

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• Three examples
• of the workplace .

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Example I Manufacturing
Then
Design
Production
Now
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Example II Insurance
Traditional sales of policies
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Examples II Insurance
Agents customised policies
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Example II Insurance
Brokers personalised services
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Example III Investment Banks
Client
TASK FORCE
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Post-industrial Large Organisations
Project Groups Task Forces Production
Teams Client Groups Accounts Deal Team
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Task Force
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Post-industrial SMEs
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Function of SME/Task Forces

• Client-oriented rather than department centred
• Total solutions rather than divided services
• Target-specific rather than expertise-based

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• The changes are fundamental

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Industrial Society the Pyramid
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Industrial Institutions
Engineers
Degrees
Diplomas
Technicians
Vocational Training
Craftsmen
Operatives
Basic Education
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Organisations

• Industrial
• Large pyramids
• Producer-centred
• Departments
• Hierarchy
• Tight structure
• Design at the top
• Assigned procedures
• Rules regulations

• Post-industrial
• Small companies
• Client-centred
• Project teams
• Flat organisations
• Loose fluid systems
• Design at front-lines
• Improvised actions
• Fit-for-purpose acts

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Working Modes

• Industrial
• Division of labour
• Individual tasks
• Specialist duties
• Administrative links
• Credential-based appointments
• Appraisal by seniors

• Post-industrial
• Total solutions
• Team work
• Integrated expertise
• Human interactions
• On-demand, just-in-time learning
• 3600 appraisal

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Individual Lives

• Industrial
• Lifelong career
• Long-term loyalty
• Occupational identity
• Work-study consistency
• Org membership
• Stable employment
• Escalating salaries
• Upward mobility
• Foreseeable retirement
• Constant networks
• Stable relations
• Security, certainty

• Post-industrial
• Multiple careers
• Multiple jobs
• Blurred identity
• Work-study mismatch
• Possible free-lancing
• Frequent off-jobs
• Precarious incomes
• Fluctuating status
• Unpredictable future
• Varying networks
• Changing partners
• Insecurity, uncertainty

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Work Activities

• Industrial
• Paper work
• Circulars
• Minutes
• Documents
• Instructions
• Meetings

• Post-industrial
• Communications
• Brainstorming
• E-mailing
• SMS
• Seminars
• Debates
• Conferencing
• Negotiation
• Presentation
• Confrontation
• Lobbying
• Retreats

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Expected abilities

• Industrial
• Special skills
• Planning implementation
• Navigating the bureaucracy
• Following the heritage

• Post-industrial
• Communications
• Team-working
• Human relations
• Problem-solving
• Design innovations
• Personal responsibility
• Self-management
• Ethics, values, principles

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In particular

• Industrial
• What have they learnt in the past?
• Post-industrial
• How much are they able to learn in the future?

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After all

• Industrial
• analytic, regulated, structured, clear-cut,
  uniform, convergent, normative, neat, assertive
  and reducible to parameters

• Post-industrial
• holistic, flexible, loose, fuzzy, plural,
  divergent, liberal, complex, speculative and
  tolerant of multiplex concepts

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• Implications for Education

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Implications for Education

• Three basic questions
• Preparing young people for jobs?
• Teaching them specific skills?
• Preparing for next level of education?

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Implications for education

• Preparing young people for jobs?
• Yes, for a living
• But not for a changing future ahead
• They have to be prepared beyond jobs!

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• Hong Kong
• Department Heads of leading department stores in
  1960s and 1970s
• Reengineering English, National Language,
  Technologies
• Sunk to second tier shops
• New demands again
• Become domestic helpers for the deprived

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Implications for education

• Teaching them specific skills?
• Yes, on-demand
• But not as the aim of education
• They need generic capacity for life!

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Key competencies

• Interacting in socially heterogeneous groups
• Acting autonomously
• Using tools purposively and interactively
• OECD The Definition and Selection of
  Competencies Theoretical and Conceptual
  Foundations Project (DeSeCo)

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Key competencies (OECD)

• Interacting in socially heterogeneous groups
• The ability to relate well to others
• The ability to cooperate
• The ability to manage and resolve conflicts
• Acting autonomously
• The ability to act within the big picture
• The ability to form and conduct life plans and
  personal projects
• The ability to defend and assert ones rights,
  interests, limits, and needs
• Using tools purposively and interactively
• The ability to use language, symbols, and text
• The ability to use knowledge and information
• The ability to use technology

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Curriculum as Subjects
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Curriculum as KLAs
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Diverse Learning Experiences
International Exchange
Visits to Rural, Deprived Communities
Community Services/NGO
Internship, Placement, Mentorship
Design, Music, Drama, Sports
Executives of Organisations
Student Organisations, residence
Study
Classes
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Diverse Learning Experiences
Learning across Cultures
Learning to Care
Learning to Serve
Creativity Learning
Workplace Learning
Leadership Learning
Alternative Learning
Academic Knowledge
Classes
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Implications for education

• Preparing for next level of education?
• Yes, as a matter of survival
• But depriving them lifelong preparation
• They have to develop attributes for life!

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Vertical Subjects
Baseline Competence
Social/Moral Dimension
Creativity
Numeracy
Literacy
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Lifelong attributes

• Optimism about life
• Passion about nature
• Commitment to society
• Commitment to nation
• Perseverance amidst odds
• Readiness to expand ones capacity
• Broad base experiences
• Experience in organising
• Appreciation of arts and music
• Attitude of helping and caring
• Seriousness about the details

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Lifelong attributes

• Eagerness to interact with people
• Love for peace
• Sense of justice
• Consciousness of equity
• Awareness of the deprived
• Comfort with other cultures
• Basic understanding of sex and family
• Understanding and facing moral dilemmas
• Rudimentary analysis and synthesis
• Belief in rationality
• Tolerance of diversity and plurality

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Lifelong attributes

• Many of these are achievable
• only during the secondary years!
• And most are independent of
• the economic status of the nation!

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KG
Secondary
Primary
Tertiary
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• All these are perhaps true in your society, but
  are too remote to my society .
• Well, ..

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After all

• The core business of education
• is to prepare young people for a changing future
• is not only about more scientists and
  technologists
• is to liberate and empower them to create and
  master their own future!

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Trends

• Education policy concerns
• 1960-70s Systems planning
• 1980s School management
• Since 990s Students learning
• It is now the capacity of
• learning
• that counts above all!

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• Thank you
• Contact
• kmcheng_at_hku.hk

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• Extra
• about learning

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Learning

• New understanding of Learning
• Learning as Knowledge Construction
• Learning through Experience
• Learning through Applications
• Learning from Co-learners
• Learning as Improvement

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Learning

• Corollaries about Learning
• Learning takes place through meaningful human
  activities
• Understanding and application of knowledge are
  necessarily intertwined
• Everybody can learn
• Individuals learn differently
• Teachers role in scaffolding

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• End