Learning About Learning:
Preparing Our Children for a Future We Can’t Predict
For many years, education has talked about “future-proofing” children by teaching them the skills they will need for the jobs of tomorrow.
There is just one problem: we don’t actually know what those jobs or those skills will be.
A good example is coding. A decade ago, countries around the world rushed to teach children coding because it seemed certain to be an essential skill for the future. Today, one of the things artificial intelligence is remarkably good at is writing code.
That doesn’t mean learning to code was a mistake, but it does remind us how difficult it is to predict what our children will need 10, 20, or 30 years from now.
Perhaps we need a different question.
Instead of asking, “How do we future-proof our children?”, we should ask, “How do we prepare them to flourish in a future we cannot predict?”
Back to basics, but not backwards.
At Western Heights, this strengthens rather than weakens our commitment to the fundamental skills:
Children need to be able to read deeply, write clearly and confidently, understand mathematics, think critically, and communicate their ideas.
AI makes these things more important, not less.
AI can produce an answer in seconds, but children need enough knowledge and understanding to ask:
Is that actually correct?
Does it make sense?
What might be missing?
Can I explain it myself?
If a machine can calculate something for us, we still need enough mathematical understanding to recognise when the answer is ridiculous. If AI can write an essay, we still need to be able to think, reason and communicate for ourselves.
Teach both
There is an interesting parallel with calculators.
When calculators became widely available, people worried children would stop learning mathematics. Education eventually found a sensible balance. Children learned mathematics without calculators, and also learned how to use them to tackle more complex problems.
Perhaps AI requires the same approach.
Learn without AI. Learn with AI. Know when each is appropriate.
Our children need opportunities to struggle productively, remember things, practice, read books, write, calculate, create, discuss and think for themselves. But they should also gradually learn how powerful technologies can extend their thinking, creativity and curiosity.
A screen used passively for endless entertainment is very different from a child using technology to investigate a question, create something, practice mathematics, compose music, explore another culture or receive an explanation in a different way.
The most important skill may be imagination
AI can already do things that seemed impossible only a few years ago. By the time our five-year-olds leave school, its capabilities will have changed enormously again.
So alongside strong foundations, our children will need curiosity, creativity, judgment, adaptability, empathy and imagination.
They will need to know how to work with others, solve important problems, recognise when something is wrong, and how to keep learning as the world changes around them.
That connects strongly with what we believe at Western Heights.
Our task is not to prepare children for particular jobs. It is to grow capable, caring, curious young people who can contribute to whatever world they inherit.
Our Children. Our Land. For Our Future.
The future may be uncertain. Our responsibility to prepare children well for it is not.