Hello and welcome back to another episode of Blooming Curious.
Can you believe that today is episode 50?
I have shown up here every single week for the past 50 weeks to serve you, my
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Today I want to talk about trends in education.
We are hurtling towards the close of 2024.
Can you believe it?
And of course, all over the internet, I have been seeing trends.
Things that experts are predicting for the future of education.
And let me just add here what I think about trends.
Trends are just that, they're just trends.
It's the latest and greatest and most fashionable thing right now,
and sometimes people get on the bandwagon and sometimes they don't.
And before you know it, very often the trend passes.
It's a bit like shoulder pads or ripped jeans.
Across the board, there are a few trends that I have seen several
sites mention, and so perhaps they will be the trends that stick.
Only time will tell.
I've been looking at these trends and curated what I think are
the five most important trends going into 2025 and beyond.
Number one, virtual and online learning.
In an article in Forbes magazine, they predict that brick and mortar schools
will stay, but that by 2035, so that's in 10 years time, online virtual
schooling will be well established for those that either cannot or don't want
to attend actual school buildings.
And as technologies continue, to become more sophisticated, it'll
be pretty easy for children and adults to engage in online learning.
And of course, virtual learning will include learning through augmented
reality and virtual reality, and this will mean that students can
have experiences like virtual field trips and simulating experiments.
And one of the benefits of online and virtual learning is that it makes
learning accessible to just about everyone, provided you actually have
a internet connection, of course.
And technology also makes it easier for learners with diverse needs
to access education and learning that actually suits their needs.
And honestly, I think that COVID really started this
shift and it's not going away.
More and more of us are engaged in online learning, which we can do from
the comfort of our very own homes.
Of course, with an increase in technology.
comes the increase in social isolation, not to mention an increase in mental
health concerns and negative behavior, which we're seeing in children as a
result of screen addiction and the impact of too much screen time on the
developing brains of young children.
And I think that having access to really good online and virtual learning is
amazing for children and adults, but we must make a distinction as parents
and teachers that Online learning and simply spending mindless hours
either scrolling, surfing or gaming online is really not the same thing.
I would really encourage teachers and parents to put some serious limits
on the use of technology by children whose brains are still developing.
We will need to ask ourselves who this really is for.
Who is benefiting from having a device in a child's hands?
Because I would argue that most of the time, the child is
not in fact benefiting at all.
I know that many people don't agree with me, and that's okay,
but the proof is in the pudding.
The increased time and access that children are having to electronic devices
is in fact not doing them any favours.
So I think the one trend that we will see increasing is poor mental health
and a decline in children's curiosity.
And personally, if schools really want to be trendsetters and be looking
towards the future, I I would say be brave enough to buck the trend and do
what is right for our children, give them more time to play outdoors, focus
on teaching them life skills, to be curious, to be creative, and to be able
to problem solve and to read and write and do arithmetic with confidence.
Getting back to basics and giving children that basic level of respect
to do what is right for them should be embedded in everything we do,
despite what the latest trend is.
Number two is artificial intelligence.
I really think that artificial intelligence is going to
make a teacher's life easier.
When it comes to lesson planning, differentiating for different needs
in our classrooms and for assessment.
Already we have such tools like Lexia, for example, which I've used in my
very own classroom, which targets the needs of individual students.
And as a teacher, you can go in and you can see which part of the language and
text students really struggled with.
And then you can actually give them mini lessons that you can teach in small groups
of children who have those similar needs.
There are lots of other programs that do similar things for teachers like
Toddle, AI that provides personalized learning for students and provides
teachers with tools for learning.
they need not just to provide targeted learning experiences for children's
specific learning needs, but also to help them get their admin done
in a faster and more productive manner will be very welcome.
And my guess is that AI is here to stay.
Number three is a shift towards non traditional models of schooling.
You no longer just have a choice of sending your kid to either a
public school or a private school.
We have non traditional schools like the Montessori and Waldorf and green
schools, and you have homeschooling, and you have micro schooling.
Micro schooling is actually a really interesting model where up to 10 kids
learn together in a way that is so much more innovative, it's personal,
it's flexible, with a goal of nurturing a love of learning in children.
These types of models also focus on shorter bite sized lessons which improve
comprehension and understanding and help kids better retain information.
They move at a slower pace without the constant pressure
of that heavy curriculum.
These alternative models of education are growing at a rapid rate.
In Australia alone, homeschooling is the fastest growing education
demographic in the country.
In the US, the latest figures show that there are 3.
7 million homeschooled children.
I think it's safe to say that this is an upward trend.
The whole one model for all is no longer viable.
Teachers have to plan for individualized learning.
This is one of those areas that makes teaching so demanding.
Can you imagine planning for 25 different learning experiences in a class?
It's not sustainable and it's no wonder that there's burnout.
This is why non traditional pedagogies like project and inquiry based learning
are so great because they allow students to learn what they're interested in,
to an extent and at their own pace.
I created a resource that breaks down in simple steps how teachers
can integrate curiosity inspired lessons into their existing lessons.
If you go to resources.
bloomingcurious.
com forward slash inquiry underscore one on one.
I'll leave a link for you in the show notes to get your free guide there.
If traditional schools want to hold on to student numbers, then they will have to
seriously rethink not just what they're teaching in terms of content, but also
how they are delivering that content.
Schools that are brave enough to move towards more flexible models that perhaps
align with real world experiences in terms of partnering with businesses in the local
community and providing opportunities for students to learn outdoors.
And really value play, which is one of the reasons really why homeschooling
is on the rise, is because parents want greater flexibility and they want their
children to play outdoors in nature.
And we also need things like future learning with things like coding.
Number four is retaining teachers and preventing burnout.
Teachers are leaving education at unprecedented rates for a variety
of reasons and the trend is between 25 and 35 percent of teachers are
leaving over five years and typically roughly half of new teachers
leave within the first five years.
In order to retain teachers, schools will need to do more.
And the answer really lies in schools doing more to provide
teachers with the support they need and to feel empowered and valued.
Schools can do this in three different ways.
Firstly, by not overburdening teachers with workloads that do not add to
any student learning and achievement.
Paper trail to keep track on teachers really isn't making the best use of their
professional expertise and it simply adds to the already massive workload.
So perhaps investing in those AI models that can help teachers reduce their
workload, that might be the answer.
Secondly, giving teachers autonomy to use the strategies that they
know is best for student engagement.
This is one of the reasons I started Blooming Curious and
resources for teachers around curiosity inspired learning.
Lucky for me, I had a principal that recognized the impact that my teaching
was making and because I saw how effective it was, I really wanted more
teachers and students to experience that.
So I created this guide to help educators integrate this methodology
into their existing lessons.
Just go to resources.
bloomingcurious.
com forward slash inquiry underscore one on one to download your free
guide and I'll leave the link for you in the show notes so you don't
have to worry about remembering it.
Thirdly is providing teachers and educational assistants with the
resources, the training and the support.
That mean that teachers will feel more empowered and more valued.
Investing in professional development for teachers and educational assistants
is something that I spoke about in episode 46 as a result of that report
that came out by Lego Education, where they found that the more engaged teachers
were the more engaged students were.
So it makes sense for schools to prioritize teacher engagement, support
and professional development if they want engaged students and want to
retain teachers in the profession.
And number five is to focus on social and emotional learning.
This is our fifth trend.
As we all know, learning isn't any more just about academic results.
Learning is about nurturing the whole child.
Social emotional learning focuses on developing emotional intelligence
and empathy and interpersonal skills.
This type of learning is now part of schools' health curriculum.
Just another thing that teachers have to do.
Teaching children how to resolve conflict, how to manage their emotions, being
able to collaborate with others and take care of their own mental well being.
The strange thing is that the more exposure and time children have on
electronic devices, the more the need for social and emotional support.
Going forward, this is something both parents and schools are going
to have to take a long, hard look at.
If we are going to continue with one on one iPad programs
and an increased reliance on technology to complete lessons.
Then let's face it, children aren't just using technology for learning.
And this is of course, which leads to many other problems.
Parents also have the job of policing time spent on devices.
And let's be honest, how many do?
I'll give you an example.
A colleague of mine recently asked her class of 24 students, how
many of their parents actually limited their time on devices.
How many out of 24 do you think put their hands up?
I'll let you know.
Four.
A whole four parents out of 24 families put limits on their children's iPad use.
And then we wonder why our children have increased mental health issues,
behavioral issues and problems with sleep.
OK, so that's my curated version of the five education trends for the future.
What do you think of them?
Let me know.
You can drop me a line at contact at bloomingcurious.
com Listen, before I go, I want to ask that if you're a teacher in a
non traditional setting or perhaps you're an expert in a particular
field of education, I would love to chat to you on the podcast.
If this is you, then also email me at contact at bloomingcurious.
com and let's see if we can organize a chat on the podcast.
Thanks so much for tuning in and spending this time with me.
If you've got value here today, then please leave a review.
And also don't forget to go to the show notes and download your free guide, how
to integrate curiosity inspired learning into existing lessons with inquiry 101.
Thanks again for being here.
I'll see you again next week.
Same time, same place.
And until then, stay blooming curious.