Prof Paul Kelly, Dean, University of London Programmes, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), urged educators to future-proof the students in the wake of new-age technologies disrupting the global job markets. He was speaking at the fourth ISBF and LSE Annual Teachers’ Symposium held in Mumbai.
The ISBF and LSE Annual Teachers’ Symposium, a collaborative effort between LSE and their featured teaching institution, the New Delhi based Indian School of Business and Finance (ISBF), was organised around the overarching theme of “Empowering post-millennials by future-proofing learning and counselling”.
‘Automation will dominate’
The symposium deliberated on how automation is changing the face of the labour force and technologies such as artificial intelligence are bound to play a major role in the creation of new jobs.
Dr James Abdey, Assistant Professorial Lecturer, LSE, said, “Automation is going to be a dominant challenge in the labour force. We have heard stories about AI destroying jobs. It is estimated that in the future, for every 20 jobs destroyed due to AI, approximately 13 will be created, so there will be new jobs created but fewer than those that are being lost. Even though that is just future guessing, there will certainly be disruption and trial.”
About creating future-proof graduates, he said, “This leads us —the educators — to a crucial challenge. The hurdle is not to predict what the future is like, but future-proofing our students, so that we don’t have to give them the right kind of content or knowledge of the future, but the skills to continue to be learners and adaptive to the rate of change they are going to face.”
Future-proof students
Chiraag Mehta, Associate Director, ISBF, said, “It is very evident from such conversations that high school educators were very keen to be part of these discussions about pedagogy and enriching our teaching practices. After all, we are dealing with students of similar age groups, similar challenges and similar aspirations. We, as educators, must acknowledge that teaching our students what exists today is only a part of their journey; what is instrumental is to future-proof whatever we are doing, a lot of which lies in the softer aspects of the delivery.”
Education directors, counsellors, and academic coordinators from leading academic institutions such as Utpal Sanghvi Global School, Hiranandani Foundation School International, SM Shetty International and Ecole Mondale World School participated.