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Episode
515

The Future of Education

Nov 15, 2024
How Stuff Works
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20
minutes

What will education look like in the future?

From AI-driven personalised pathways to virtual classrooms, we'll explore the future of education and the role technology might (or might not) play in transforming learning.

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Transcript

[00:00:04] Hello, hello hello, and welcome to English Learning for Curious Minds, by Leonardo English. 

[00:00:11] The show where you can listen to fascinating stories, and learn weird and wonderful things about the world at the same time as improving your English.

[00:00:20] I'm Alastair Budge, and today is part three of our three-part mini-series on the theme of education.

[00:00:28] In case you missed them, part one was on the UK university crisis. 

[00:00:32] Part two was on private tutoring and the decline of genius, and in part three, today’s episode, we are going to talk about the future of education.

[00:00:43] In this episode, we’ll look into a crystal ball and talk about some theories on what education will look like 10, 20, and 50 years from now.

[00:00:53] In case you hadn’t listened to it yet, I would recommend listening to part two before this one, as we will talk about some of the ideas from the episode here, so now is the time to press pause and go back and listen to that one in case you haven’t done so already.

[00:01:09] OK then, let’s not waste a minute, and get right into it.

[00:01:15] Throughout much of the twentieth century, there have been bold predictions about new technologies or systems that would “revolutionise” education.

[00:01:26] The invention and mass production of TVs was heralded as the start of a new educational revolution, where anyone, anywhere, could get access to the best possible teaching, right there on their screen.

[00:01:41] In the 1960s there was a lot of talk about the idea of a teaching machine, with which students could learn at their own pace and get personalised feedback from a specially programmed computer.

[00:01:55] Then there were correspondence courses, where people would receive new materials–textbooks, videos and audio lectures–every week or fortnight, and they could learn at their own pace.

[00:02:09] There were new designs of schools, new ideas about learning styles, increased use of IQ testing.

[00:02:16] And with the mass-adoption of computers and later the Internet, many people believed that this would be the real game-changer, allowing anyone, anywhere to access a modern-day library of Alexandria.

[00:02:31] And then came the MOOCs, the massive open online courses, where you could follow a Harvard course on philosophy and then take a computer science course at the University of Oxford. 

[00:02:44] There was virtual reality, which was trumpeted as yet another tool that would revolutionise education and have us all learning in the metaverse.

[00:02:55] None of these, I think it is perfectly fair to say, have had the revolutionary impact that many people thought they would.

[00:03:04] We humans are awful at predicting the future, and the future of education is clearly no exception.

[00:03:13] So, with that in mind, let’s talk about some of the most prominent ideas today about what education will look like in the future.

[00:03:24] I read a bunch of different reports on the subject, from Google, the UN, Unesco, the World Economic Forum, and more. As you might imagine, there is a lot written about the subject, as the education of the children of today is ultimately what will decide the future.

[00:03:44] There are a lot of buzzwords in all of these reports, a lot of talk about synergy, best practices, personalisation, and student-led learning.

[00:03:54] And of course, every single one dedicates a sizable portion to AI, to artificial intelligence.

[00:04:02] So, I will try to wade through the fluff, jargon and buzzwords and talk about some of the more interesting themes of these reports.

[00:04:14] The first key theme that’s particularly interesting, especially when thinking back to the last episode and the importance of an inspiring private tutor, is that most predictions still have a human teacher at the centre of the learning experience.

[00:04:32] I say that’s interesting, because many previous predictions of the future of education removed the teacher, the teacher was completely replaced by a robot or a TV screen or some form of technology.

[00:04:47] The future in many past predictions was human-free.

[00:04:52] We now have enough experience to know that this doesn’t work, at least not in this format.

[00:04:59] MOOCs, Massive Open Online Courses, were particularly demonstrative here. 

[00:05:05] You could have the best lecturers in the world, record their lectures and make them available to anyone, anywhere in the world for free, yet a tiny proportion of the world’s population has ever taken a MOOC, and typically only 7-13% of people who start the course complete it.

[00:05:27] Now, this might not be surprising, especially to those of you who are teachers, or those of you who have started a MOOC and given up.

[00:05:37] Or to those of you who struggle to motivate yourself with your English studies.

[00:05:42] Not only is it hard to motivate yourself to do the work required, but it is also hugely beneficial to have a teacher who can help and guide you along the way.

[00:05:56] You might remember the essay we talked about in the last episode, by Erik Hoel, where he wrote about the decline of genius.

[00:06:05] In one of his follow up essays, he researched the inputs that went into “creating genius”, and the first two he mentions are:

[00:06:16] [a] “the total amount of one-on-one time the child has with intellectually-engaged adults” 

[00:06:24] And [b] “a strong overseer who guides the education at a high level with the clear intent of producing an exceptional mind.”

[00:06:36] Yes, he was talking about what created genius in the 18th and 19th century, before any of this kind of technology was available, but it is clear that having as much possible direct contact with a teacher is fundamental, not just to create “genius” but to give the best possible education to a child.

[00:06:59] So, perhaps counterintuitively, given that we are talking about predictions of the future of education, the conclusion is that the teacher is going nowhere.

[00:07:11] However, and this is moving onto the second prediction, it is that the role of the teacher will change drastically, and in some ways it will become more similar to the private tutors of the 18th and 19th centuries that Hoel discussed.

[00:07:30] According to the Google report, this means “teachers shift from being ‘gatekeepers of knowledge’ to ‘choreographers of learning.’”

[00:07:41] Now, that probably sounds like a lot of jargon, so let’s simplify it.

[00:07:48] The idea is that a teacher’s role changes from being someone who stands in front of a class and imparts information to their students to more of a guide and helper, someone who gives them the tools and encouragement to learn on their own, someone who helps and inspires them to pursue their intellectual curiosity.

[00:08:11] Now, I’m sure that many current and former teachers listening to this will think “I already do this as much as I can, it’s just not feasible for me to be a personal guide and helper to 30 plus different students, there simply isn’t enough time and it would be completely impractical”.

[00:08:29] Of course, you’re right, but this Google report does emphasise ways in which teacher time can be freed up.

[00:08:38] Specifically, by AI, artificial intelligence. 

[00:08:42] According to the report, between 20-40% of the tasks teachers spend time on currently — in areas such as grading, lesson planning, and administration — could be outsourced to technology.”

[00:08:58] If this time is retrieved from teachers, then this opens up a not insignificant amount of time that can be spent more effectively on guiding and helping students.

[00:09:11] But this brings up an important question: Can AI really replace these tasks effectively? 

[00:09:18] Will it actually free up enough time for teachers to focus on more meaningful interaction with students?

[00:09:25] The optimists would say yes, and of course AI has made significant strides in recent years. 

[00:09:33] I imagine that many of you will have experienced this first hand, from the user’s perspective, with things like ChatGPT.

[00:09:41] But also behind the scenes there has been remarkable progress made in education. 

[00:09:47] Automated grading systems already exist and are being improved, algorithms can personalise lesson plans, and administrative tasks can certainly be streamlined

[00:10:00] If teachers no longer have to spend hours marking papers or filling out forms, then perhaps more of their time could be spent engaging directly with students, guiding their intellectual growth and development.

[00:10:14] This leads us to the third prediction for the future of education: personalised learning pathways. 

[00:10:23] The idea here is that instead of a one-size-fits-all model where students all learn the same subjects at the same time, technology such as AI will help create individualised learning paths for each student. 

[00:10:39] Every child’s strengths, weaknesses, interests, and learning speed will be taken into account, with algorithms designing lessons just for them.

[00:10:50] In theory, this could transform education into a much more tailored and effective experience. 

[00:10:57] Imagine a world where a student who struggles with maths but excels in art spends more time building their strengths in creative subjects while receiving targeted help in areas where they need it. 

[00:11:09] The goal is to ensure that students can learn at their own pace and reach their full potential, so they aren’t waiting for others in subjects that they are strong in and always struggling to follow in subjects that they are weaker in.

[00:11:24] But again, there are challenges. 

[00:11:27] Who creates the learning pathways, and how? 

[00:11:30] Who decides what’s important for a child to learn? 

[00:11:34] With the example of the child struggling in maths but who is excellent at art, should greater weight be given to improving their mathematical skills or their artistic skills?

[00:11:46] And will this hyper-personalised approach further widen the gap between students who thrive in traditional subjects and those who don’t?

[00:11:56] There’s also the concern that too much reliance on AI-driven personalisation might inadvertently reduce the exposure students have to new ideas or areas they haven’t considered. 

[00:12:10] Education is not just about mastering skills—it’s also about discovery, about encountering things you didn’t know you were interested in. 

[00:12:19] A rigidly personalised pathway could potentially limit that kind of intellectual exploration. The student becomes reliant on AI recommendations rather than pursuing their own curiosity and intellectual development.

[00:12:36] The fourth prediction concerns the physical space where learning takes place.

[00:12:42] The pandemic forced a global experiment with virtual learning, as school closures pushed hundreds of millions of children around the world to join classes online.

[00:12:53] From a technical perspective, it worked: a teacher can start a Zoom meeting, send a link, and students can join from anywhere.

[00:13:02] But from every other perspective, it was a failure. 

[00:13:06] Early studies show students falling behind academically, struggling with mental health, and facing social issues. The full impact of these closures will only become clear in the coming years, but these early signs are pretty discouraging.

[00:13:23] For those people before COVID predicting that learning could seamlessly move online, and this would be the future of education, the experience of COVID clearly showed that an online-only experience can’t replace the social interaction and connection that come from being in the same space as teachers and peers.

[00:13:44] So the prediction about the physical space of learning—somewhat like that of the role of the teacher—is that it will remain essential. 

[00:13:54] To quote this Google report again, tools like virtual classrooms or even virtual reality won’t replace classrooms, they’ll enhance them, allowing teachers to, as it states, “fulfill an unmet student need or unlock new learning experiences that would otherwise be impractical or impossible.”

[00:14:16] The final prediction I’ll mention today is perhaps the most transformative and, depending on your perspective, the most controversial. 

[00:14:25] It’s the idea that education will become increasingly detached from formal institutions like schools and universities.

[00:14:33] With the wealth of knowledge available online, from coding boot camps to YouTube tutorials, and the fact that self-directed learning is easier than ever, several of these reports asked questions about the role, purpose, and even existence of traditional schools and universities.

[00:14:53] Will they cease to exist, at least in their current form, in 50 or 100 years from now?

[00:15:01] This movement already exists in the form of self-directed learning, where students take control of their own education. 

[00:15:09] In some cases, parents are opting for unschooling, a form of homeschooling where the child’s learning is entirely self-directed with no formal curriculum.

[00:15:22] If knowledge becomes truly democratised and available at the click of a button, if a student’s ability can be measured without a traditional exam, the historical gatekeepers of education—schools and universities—may have less relevance in the future. 

[00:15:39] Students could build their own learning journeys with the help of online resources, AI-driven tools, and personal curiosity.

[00:15:48] And AI would have access to all of their work and the questions that they had asked, it could have a better understanding of their ability and knowledge of a subject than anyone could do after having read a short essay or marked an exam paper.

[00:16:04] But there’s a big “if” here. 

[00:16:07] Self-directed learning requires a certain level of motivation, discipline, and access to resources that not every child will have. 

[00:16:17] And, as we’ve seen with MOOCs, simply providing access to information doesn’t mean everyone will use it or benefit from it equally.

[00:16:28] In fact, this future could widen educational inequalities even further.

[00:16:33] There’s one fear that wealthier students with access to the best technology and resources would flourish, while those without such advantages fall further behind.

[00:16:45] But with the diminishing cost of technology, the bigger question is around motivation.

[00:16:52] If learning becomes increasingly self-directed, will this lead to a greater gap between students who are able to motivate themselves and those who cannot?

[00:17:03] Now, we’ve asked a lot of questions in this episode, not provided a huge amount of answers, and you could rightly say not provided very many weird and wacky predictions of the future of education.

[00:17:17] That’s on purpose, this was a recurrent theme of all of these reports.

[00:17:23] Almost all of them were surprising in this respect. 

[00:17:26] Rather than saying that education would be completely revolutionised by a particularly technology, or that there was going to be some seismic, step change, they focussed on how technology might augment, not revolutionise the learning experience.

[00:17:44] Clearly, if the past has taught us anything, and as the authors of these reports clearly kept in mind when writing them, it’s that we often overestimate the revolutionary impact of technology. 

[00:17:57] From TVs to teaching machines, to MOOCs and virtual reality, none of these have truly transformed education in the way many thought they would. 

[00:18:08] And while AI and personalised learning pathways certainly hold promise, there is a long track record that suggests technology alone isn’t enough.

[00:18:20] Is this because the technology hasn’t been advanced enough? 

[00:18:24] Perhaps, but it seems overly optimistic to think we’re just waiting for the right tool that will magically ignite a lifelong love of learning in every student.

[00:18:36] As all of these reports underline, the heart of any effective education system is human connection between teacher and student. 

[00:18:47] As we’ve seen throughout history, it’s the direct interaction with an engaged and dedicated educator—whether that’s in a classroom or through private tutoring—that helps unlock the full potential of a student, no matter whether they are the next Einstein or just a regular Joe Bloggs. 

[00:19:06] And as all teachers listening to this, past and present, will be glad to hear, all of these reports most firmly predict that the role of the teacher of the future is only going to get more important.

[00:19:22] OK then, that is it for today's episode on the future of education, and with that comes the end of this mini-series on the theme of education.

[00:19:32] As always, I would love to know what you thought of this episode. 

[00:19:35] I know we have loads of teachers, current and former, so I’d love to get your thoughts.

[00:19:41] What will school look like in 50 or 100 years from now?

[00:19:45] How will it be different, and perhaps more importantly, how will it remain the same?

[00:19:51] I would love to know, so let’s get this discussion started.

[00:19:54] You can head right into our community forum, which is at community.leonardoenglish.com and get chatting away to other curious minds.

[00:20:02] You've been listening to English Learning for Curious Minds, by Leonardo English.

[00:20:07] I'm Alastair Budge, you stay safe, and I'll catch you in the next episode.

Continue learning

Get immediate access to a more interesting way of improving your English
Become a member
Already a member? Login

[00:00:04] Hello, hello hello, and welcome to English Learning for Curious Minds, by Leonardo English. 

[00:00:11] The show where you can listen to fascinating stories, and learn weird and wonderful things about the world at the same time as improving your English.

[00:00:20] I'm Alastair Budge, and today is part three of our three-part mini-series on the theme of education.

[00:00:28] In case you missed them, part one was on the UK university crisis. 

[00:00:32] Part two was on private tutoring and the decline of genius, and in part three, today’s episode, we are going to talk about the future of education.

[00:00:43] In this episode, we’ll look into a crystal ball and talk about some theories on what education will look like 10, 20, and 50 years from now.

[00:00:53] In case you hadn’t listened to it yet, I would recommend listening to part two before this one, as we will talk about some of the ideas from the episode here, so now is the time to press pause and go back and listen to that one in case you haven’t done so already.

[00:01:09] OK then, let’s not waste a minute, and get right into it.

[00:01:15] Throughout much of the twentieth century, there have been bold predictions about new technologies or systems that would “revolutionise” education.

[00:01:26] The invention and mass production of TVs was heralded as the start of a new educational revolution, where anyone, anywhere, could get access to the best possible teaching, right there on their screen.

[00:01:41] In the 1960s there was a lot of talk about the idea of a teaching machine, with which students could learn at their own pace and get personalised feedback from a specially programmed computer.

[00:01:55] Then there were correspondence courses, where people would receive new materials–textbooks, videos and audio lectures–every week or fortnight, and they could learn at their own pace.

[00:02:09] There were new designs of schools, new ideas about learning styles, increased use of IQ testing.

[00:02:16] And with the mass-adoption of computers and later the Internet, many people believed that this would be the real game-changer, allowing anyone, anywhere to access a modern-day library of Alexandria.

[00:02:31] And then came the MOOCs, the massive open online courses, where you could follow a Harvard course on philosophy and then take a computer science course at the University of Oxford. 

[00:02:44] There was virtual reality, which was trumpeted as yet another tool that would revolutionise education and have us all learning in the metaverse.

[00:02:55] None of these, I think it is perfectly fair to say, have had the revolutionary impact that many people thought they would.

[00:03:04] We humans are awful at predicting the future, and the future of education is clearly no exception.

[00:03:13] So, with that in mind, let’s talk about some of the most prominent ideas today about what education will look like in the future.

[00:03:24] I read a bunch of different reports on the subject, from Google, the UN, Unesco, the World Economic Forum, and more. As you might imagine, there is a lot written about the subject, as the education of the children of today is ultimately what will decide the future.

[00:03:44] There are a lot of buzzwords in all of these reports, a lot of talk about synergy, best practices, personalisation, and student-led learning.

[00:03:54] And of course, every single one dedicates a sizable portion to AI, to artificial intelligence.

[00:04:02] So, I will try to wade through the fluff, jargon and buzzwords and talk about some of the more interesting themes of these reports.

[00:04:14] The first key theme that’s particularly interesting, especially when thinking back to the last episode and the importance of an inspiring private tutor, is that most predictions still have a human teacher at the centre of the learning experience.

[00:04:32] I say that’s interesting, because many previous predictions of the future of education removed the teacher, the teacher was completely replaced by a robot or a TV screen or some form of technology.

[00:04:47] The future in many past predictions was human-free.

[00:04:52] We now have enough experience to know that this doesn’t work, at least not in this format.

[00:04:59] MOOCs, Massive Open Online Courses, were particularly demonstrative here. 

[00:05:05] You could have the best lecturers in the world, record their lectures and make them available to anyone, anywhere in the world for free, yet a tiny proportion of the world’s population has ever taken a MOOC, and typically only 7-13% of people who start the course complete it.

[00:05:27] Now, this might not be surprising, especially to those of you who are teachers, or those of you who have started a MOOC and given up.

[00:05:37] Or to those of you who struggle to motivate yourself with your English studies.

[00:05:42] Not only is it hard to motivate yourself to do the work required, but it is also hugely beneficial to have a teacher who can help and guide you along the way.

[00:05:56] You might remember the essay we talked about in the last episode, by Erik Hoel, where he wrote about the decline of genius.

[00:06:05] In one of his follow up essays, he researched the inputs that went into “creating genius”, and the first two he mentions are:

[00:06:16] [a] “the total amount of one-on-one time the child has with intellectually-engaged adults” 

[00:06:24] And [b] “a strong overseer who guides the education at a high level with the clear intent of producing an exceptional mind.”

[00:06:36] Yes, he was talking about what created genius in the 18th and 19th century, before any of this kind of technology was available, but it is clear that having as much possible direct contact with a teacher is fundamental, not just to create “genius” but to give the best possible education to a child.

[00:06:59] So, perhaps counterintuitively, given that we are talking about predictions of the future of education, the conclusion is that the teacher is going nowhere.

[00:07:11] However, and this is moving onto the second prediction, it is that the role of the teacher will change drastically, and in some ways it will become more similar to the private tutors of the 18th and 19th centuries that Hoel discussed.

[00:07:30] According to the Google report, this means “teachers shift from being ‘gatekeepers of knowledge’ to ‘choreographers of learning.’”

[00:07:41] Now, that probably sounds like a lot of jargon, so let’s simplify it.

[00:07:48] The idea is that a teacher’s role changes from being someone who stands in front of a class and imparts information to their students to more of a guide and helper, someone who gives them the tools and encouragement to learn on their own, someone who helps and inspires them to pursue their intellectual curiosity.

[00:08:11] Now, I’m sure that many current and former teachers listening to this will think “I already do this as much as I can, it’s just not feasible for me to be a personal guide and helper to 30 plus different students, there simply isn’t enough time and it would be completely impractical”.

[00:08:29] Of course, you’re right, but this Google report does emphasise ways in which teacher time can be freed up.

[00:08:38] Specifically, by AI, artificial intelligence. 

[00:08:42] According to the report, between 20-40% of the tasks teachers spend time on currently — in areas such as grading, lesson planning, and administration — could be outsourced to technology.”

[00:08:58] If this time is retrieved from teachers, then this opens up a not insignificant amount of time that can be spent more effectively on guiding and helping students.

[00:09:11] But this brings up an important question: Can AI really replace these tasks effectively? 

[00:09:18] Will it actually free up enough time for teachers to focus on more meaningful interaction with students?

[00:09:25] The optimists would say yes, and of course AI has made significant strides in recent years. 

[00:09:33] I imagine that many of you will have experienced this first hand, from the user’s perspective, with things like ChatGPT.

[00:09:41] But also behind the scenes there has been remarkable progress made in education. 

[00:09:47] Automated grading systems already exist and are being improved, algorithms can personalise lesson plans, and administrative tasks can certainly be streamlined

[00:10:00] If teachers no longer have to spend hours marking papers or filling out forms, then perhaps more of their time could be spent engaging directly with students, guiding their intellectual growth and development.

[00:10:14] This leads us to the third prediction for the future of education: personalised learning pathways. 

[00:10:23] The idea here is that instead of a one-size-fits-all model where students all learn the same subjects at the same time, technology such as AI will help create individualised learning paths for each student. 

[00:10:39] Every child’s strengths, weaknesses, interests, and learning speed will be taken into account, with algorithms designing lessons just for them.

[00:10:50] In theory, this could transform education into a much more tailored and effective experience. 

[00:10:57] Imagine a world where a student who struggles with maths but excels in art spends more time building their strengths in creative subjects while receiving targeted help in areas where they need it. 

[00:11:09] The goal is to ensure that students can learn at their own pace and reach their full potential, so they aren’t waiting for others in subjects that they are strong in and always struggling to follow in subjects that they are weaker in.

[00:11:24] But again, there are challenges. 

[00:11:27] Who creates the learning pathways, and how? 

[00:11:30] Who decides what’s important for a child to learn? 

[00:11:34] With the example of the child struggling in maths but who is excellent at art, should greater weight be given to improving their mathematical skills or their artistic skills?

[00:11:46] And will this hyper-personalised approach further widen the gap between students who thrive in traditional subjects and those who don’t?

[00:11:56] There’s also the concern that too much reliance on AI-driven personalisation might inadvertently reduce the exposure students have to new ideas or areas they haven’t considered. 

[00:12:10] Education is not just about mastering skills—it’s also about discovery, about encountering things you didn’t know you were interested in. 

[00:12:19] A rigidly personalised pathway could potentially limit that kind of intellectual exploration. The student becomes reliant on AI recommendations rather than pursuing their own curiosity and intellectual development.

[00:12:36] The fourth prediction concerns the physical space where learning takes place.

[00:12:42] The pandemic forced a global experiment with virtual learning, as school closures pushed hundreds of millions of children around the world to join classes online.

[00:12:53] From a technical perspective, it worked: a teacher can start a Zoom meeting, send a link, and students can join from anywhere.

[00:13:02] But from every other perspective, it was a failure. 

[00:13:06] Early studies show students falling behind academically, struggling with mental health, and facing social issues. The full impact of these closures will only become clear in the coming years, but these early signs are pretty discouraging.

[00:13:23] For those people before COVID predicting that learning could seamlessly move online, and this would be the future of education, the experience of COVID clearly showed that an online-only experience can’t replace the social interaction and connection that come from being in the same space as teachers and peers.

[00:13:44] So the prediction about the physical space of learning—somewhat like that of the role of the teacher—is that it will remain essential. 

[00:13:54] To quote this Google report again, tools like virtual classrooms or even virtual reality won’t replace classrooms, they’ll enhance them, allowing teachers to, as it states, “fulfill an unmet student need or unlock new learning experiences that would otherwise be impractical or impossible.”

[00:14:16] The final prediction I’ll mention today is perhaps the most transformative and, depending on your perspective, the most controversial. 

[00:14:25] It’s the idea that education will become increasingly detached from formal institutions like schools and universities.

[00:14:33] With the wealth of knowledge available online, from coding boot camps to YouTube tutorials, and the fact that self-directed learning is easier than ever, several of these reports asked questions about the role, purpose, and even existence of traditional schools and universities.

[00:14:53] Will they cease to exist, at least in their current form, in 50 or 100 years from now?

[00:15:01] This movement already exists in the form of self-directed learning, where students take control of their own education. 

[00:15:09] In some cases, parents are opting for unschooling, a form of homeschooling where the child’s learning is entirely self-directed with no formal curriculum.

[00:15:22] If knowledge becomes truly democratised and available at the click of a button, if a student’s ability can be measured without a traditional exam, the historical gatekeepers of education—schools and universities—may have less relevance in the future. 

[00:15:39] Students could build their own learning journeys with the help of online resources, AI-driven tools, and personal curiosity.

[00:15:48] And AI would have access to all of their work and the questions that they had asked, it could have a better understanding of their ability and knowledge of a subject than anyone could do after having read a short essay or marked an exam paper.

[00:16:04] But there’s a big “if” here. 

[00:16:07] Self-directed learning requires a certain level of motivation, discipline, and access to resources that not every child will have. 

[00:16:17] And, as we’ve seen with MOOCs, simply providing access to information doesn’t mean everyone will use it or benefit from it equally.

[00:16:28] In fact, this future could widen educational inequalities even further.

[00:16:33] There’s one fear that wealthier students with access to the best technology and resources would flourish, while those without such advantages fall further behind.

[00:16:45] But with the diminishing cost of technology, the bigger question is around motivation.

[00:16:52] If learning becomes increasingly self-directed, will this lead to a greater gap between students who are able to motivate themselves and those who cannot?

[00:17:03] Now, we’ve asked a lot of questions in this episode, not provided a huge amount of answers, and you could rightly say not provided very many weird and wacky predictions of the future of education.

[00:17:17] That’s on purpose, this was a recurrent theme of all of these reports.

[00:17:23] Almost all of them were surprising in this respect. 

[00:17:26] Rather than saying that education would be completely revolutionised by a particularly technology, or that there was going to be some seismic, step change, they focussed on how technology might augment, not revolutionise the learning experience.

[00:17:44] Clearly, if the past has taught us anything, and as the authors of these reports clearly kept in mind when writing them, it’s that we often overestimate the revolutionary impact of technology. 

[00:17:57] From TVs to teaching machines, to MOOCs and virtual reality, none of these have truly transformed education in the way many thought they would. 

[00:18:08] And while AI and personalised learning pathways certainly hold promise, there is a long track record that suggests technology alone isn’t enough.

[00:18:20] Is this because the technology hasn’t been advanced enough? 

[00:18:24] Perhaps, but it seems overly optimistic to think we’re just waiting for the right tool that will magically ignite a lifelong love of learning in every student.

[00:18:36] As all of these reports underline, the heart of any effective education system is human connection between teacher and student. 

[00:18:47] As we’ve seen throughout history, it’s the direct interaction with an engaged and dedicated educator—whether that’s in a classroom or through private tutoring—that helps unlock the full potential of a student, no matter whether they are the next Einstein or just a regular Joe Bloggs. 

[00:19:06] And as all teachers listening to this, past and present, will be glad to hear, all of these reports most firmly predict that the role of the teacher of the future is only going to get more important.

[00:19:22] OK then, that is it for today's episode on the future of education, and with that comes the end of this mini-series on the theme of education.

[00:19:32] As always, I would love to know what you thought of this episode. 

[00:19:35] I know we have loads of teachers, current and former, so I’d love to get your thoughts.

[00:19:41] What will school look like in 50 or 100 years from now?

[00:19:45] How will it be different, and perhaps more importantly, how will it remain the same?

[00:19:51] I would love to know, so let’s get this discussion started.

[00:19:54] You can head right into our community forum, which is at community.leonardoenglish.com and get chatting away to other curious minds.

[00:20:02] You've been listening to English Learning for Curious Minds, by Leonardo English.

[00:20:07] I'm Alastair Budge, you stay safe, and I'll catch you in the next episode.

[00:00:04] Hello, hello hello, and welcome to English Learning for Curious Minds, by Leonardo English. 

[00:00:11] The show where you can listen to fascinating stories, and learn weird and wonderful things about the world at the same time as improving your English.

[00:00:20] I'm Alastair Budge, and today is part three of our three-part mini-series on the theme of education.

[00:00:28] In case you missed them, part one was on the UK university crisis. 

[00:00:32] Part two was on private tutoring and the decline of genius, and in part three, today’s episode, we are going to talk about the future of education.

[00:00:43] In this episode, we’ll look into a crystal ball and talk about some theories on what education will look like 10, 20, and 50 years from now.

[00:00:53] In case you hadn’t listened to it yet, I would recommend listening to part two before this one, as we will talk about some of the ideas from the episode here, so now is the time to press pause and go back and listen to that one in case you haven’t done so already.

[00:01:09] OK then, let’s not waste a minute, and get right into it.

[00:01:15] Throughout much of the twentieth century, there have been bold predictions about new technologies or systems that would “revolutionise” education.

[00:01:26] The invention and mass production of TVs was heralded as the start of a new educational revolution, where anyone, anywhere, could get access to the best possible teaching, right there on their screen.

[00:01:41] In the 1960s there was a lot of talk about the idea of a teaching machine, with which students could learn at their own pace and get personalised feedback from a specially programmed computer.

[00:01:55] Then there were correspondence courses, where people would receive new materials–textbooks, videos and audio lectures–every week or fortnight, and they could learn at their own pace.

[00:02:09] There were new designs of schools, new ideas about learning styles, increased use of IQ testing.

[00:02:16] And with the mass-adoption of computers and later the Internet, many people believed that this would be the real game-changer, allowing anyone, anywhere to access a modern-day library of Alexandria.

[00:02:31] And then came the MOOCs, the massive open online courses, where you could follow a Harvard course on philosophy and then take a computer science course at the University of Oxford. 

[00:02:44] There was virtual reality, which was trumpeted as yet another tool that would revolutionise education and have us all learning in the metaverse.

[00:02:55] None of these, I think it is perfectly fair to say, have had the revolutionary impact that many people thought they would.

[00:03:04] We humans are awful at predicting the future, and the future of education is clearly no exception.

[00:03:13] So, with that in mind, let’s talk about some of the most prominent ideas today about what education will look like in the future.

[00:03:24] I read a bunch of different reports on the subject, from Google, the UN, Unesco, the World Economic Forum, and more. As you might imagine, there is a lot written about the subject, as the education of the children of today is ultimately what will decide the future.

[00:03:44] There are a lot of buzzwords in all of these reports, a lot of talk about synergy, best practices, personalisation, and student-led learning.

[00:03:54] And of course, every single one dedicates a sizable portion to AI, to artificial intelligence.

[00:04:02] So, I will try to wade through the fluff, jargon and buzzwords and talk about some of the more interesting themes of these reports.

[00:04:14] The first key theme that’s particularly interesting, especially when thinking back to the last episode and the importance of an inspiring private tutor, is that most predictions still have a human teacher at the centre of the learning experience.

[00:04:32] I say that’s interesting, because many previous predictions of the future of education removed the teacher, the teacher was completely replaced by a robot or a TV screen or some form of technology.

[00:04:47] The future in many past predictions was human-free.

[00:04:52] We now have enough experience to know that this doesn’t work, at least not in this format.

[00:04:59] MOOCs, Massive Open Online Courses, were particularly demonstrative here. 

[00:05:05] You could have the best lecturers in the world, record their lectures and make them available to anyone, anywhere in the world for free, yet a tiny proportion of the world’s population has ever taken a MOOC, and typically only 7-13% of people who start the course complete it.

[00:05:27] Now, this might not be surprising, especially to those of you who are teachers, or those of you who have started a MOOC and given up.

[00:05:37] Or to those of you who struggle to motivate yourself with your English studies.

[00:05:42] Not only is it hard to motivate yourself to do the work required, but it is also hugely beneficial to have a teacher who can help and guide you along the way.

[00:05:56] You might remember the essay we talked about in the last episode, by Erik Hoel, where he wrote about the decline of genius.

[00:06:05] In one of his follow up essays, he researched the inputs that went into “creating genius”, and the first two he mentions are:

[00:06:16] [a] “the total amount of one-on-one time the child has with intellectually-engaged adults” 

[00:06:24] And [b] “a strong overseer who guides the education at a high level with the clear intent of producing an exceptional mind.”

[00:06:36] Yes, he was talking about what created genius in the 18th and 19th century, before any of this kind of technology was available, but it is clear that having as much possible direct contact with a teacher is fundamental, not just to create “genius” but to give the best possible education to a child.

[00:06:59] So, perhaps counterintuitively, given that we are talking about predictions of the future of education, the conclusion is that the teacher is going nowhere.

[00:07:11] However, and this is moving onto the second prediction, it is that the role of the teacher will change drastically, and in some ways it will become more similar to the private tutors of the 18th and 19th centuries that Hoel discussed.

[00:07:30] According to the Google report, this means “teachers shift from being ‘gatekeepers of knowledge’ to ‘choreographers of learning.’”

[00:07:41] Now, that probably sounds like a lot of jargon, so let’s simplify it.

[00:07:48] The idea is that a teacher’s role changes from being someone who stands in front of a class and imparts information to their students to more of a guide and helper, someone who gives them the tools and encouragement to learn on their own, someone who helps and inspires them to pursue their intellectual curiosity.

[00:08:11] Now, I’m sure that many current and former teachers listening to this will think “I already do this as much as I can, it’s just not feasible for me to be a personal guide and helper to 30 plus different students, there simply isn’t enough time and it would be completely impractical”.

[00:08:29] Of course, you’re right, but this Google report does emphasise ways in which teacher time can be freed up.

[00:08:38] Specifically, by AI, artificial intelligence. 

[00:08:42] According to the report, between 20-40% of the tasks teachers spend time on currently — in areas such as grading, lesson planning, and administration — could be outsourced to technology.”

[00:08:58] If this time is retrieved from teachers, then this opens up a not insignificant amount of time that can be spent more effectively on guiding and helping students.

[00:09:11] But this brings up an important question: Can AI really replace these tasks effectively? 

[00:09:18] Will it actually free up enough time for teachers to focus on more meaningful interaction with students?

[00:09:25] The optimists would say yes, and of course AI has made significant strides in recent years. 

[00:09:33] I imagine that many of you will have experienced this first hand, from the user’s perspective, with things like ChatGPT.

[00:09:41] But also behind the scenes there has been remarkable progress made in education. 

[00:09:47] Automated grading systems already exist and are being improved, algorithms can personalise lesson plans, and administrative tasks can certainly be streamlined

[00:10:00] If teachers no longer have to spend hours marking papers or filling out forms, then perhaps more of their time could be spent engaging directly with students, guiding their intellectual growth and development.

[00:10:14] This leads us to the third prediction for the future of education: personalised learning pathways. 

[00:10:23] The idea here is that instead of a one-size-fits-all model where students all learn the same subjects at the same time, technology such as AI will help create individualised learning paths for each student. 

[00:10:39] Every child’s strengths, weaknesses, interests, and learning speed will be taken into account, with algorithms designing lessons just for them.

[00:10:50] In theory, this could transform education into a much more tailored and effective experience. 

[00:10:57] Imagine a world where a student who struggles with maths but excels in art spends more time building their strengths in creative subjects while receiving targeted help in areas where they need it. 

[00:11:09] The goal is to ensure that students can learn at their own pace and reach their full potential, so they aren’t waiting for others in subjects that they are strong in and always struggling to follow in subjects that they are weaker in.

[00:11:24] But again, there are challenges. 

[00:11:27] Who creates the learning pathways, and how? 

[00:11:30] Who decides what’s important for a child to learn? 

[00:11:34] With the example of the child struggling in maths but who is excellent at art, should greater weight be given to improving their mathematical skills or their artistic skills?

[00:11:46] And will this hyper-personalised approach further widen the gap between students who thrive in traditional subjects and those who don’t?

[00:11:56] There’s also the concern that too much reliance on AI-driven personalisation might inadvertently reduce the exposure students have to new ideas or areas they haven’t considered. 

[00:12:10] Education is not just about mastering skills—it’s also about discovery, about encountering things you didn’t know you were interested in. 

[00:12:19] A rigidly personalised pathway could potentially limit that kind of intellectual exploration. The student becomes reliant on AI recommendations rather than pursuing their own curiosity and intellectual development.

[00:12:36] The fourth prediction concerns the physical space where learning takes place.

[00:12:42] The pandemic forced a global experiment with virtual learning, as school closures pushed hundreds of millions of children around the world to join classes online.

[00:12:53] From a technical perspective, it worked: a teacher can start a Zoom meeting, send a link, and students can join from anywhere.

[00:13:02] But from every other perspective, it was a failure. 

[00:13:06] Early studies show students falling behind academically, struggling with mental health, and facing social issues. The full impact of these closures will only become clear in the coming years, but these early signs are pretty discouraging.

[00:13:23] For those people before COVID predicting that learning could seamlessly move online, and this would be the future of education, the experience of COVID clearly showed that an online-only experience can’t replace the social interaction and connection that come from being in the same space as teachers and peers.

[00:13:44] So the prediction about the physical space of learning—somewhat like that of the role of the teacher—is that it will remain essential. 

[00:13:54] To quote this Google report again, tools like virtual classrooms or even virtual reality won’t replace classrooms, they’ll enhance them, allowing teachers to, as it states, “fulfill an unmet student need or unlock new learning experiences that would otherwise be impractical or impossible.”

[00:14:16] The final prediction I’ll mention today is perhaps the most transformative and, depending on your perspective, the most controversial. 

[00:14:25] It’s the idea that education will become increasingly detached from formal institutions like schools and universities.

[00:14:33] With the wealth of knowledge available online, from coding boot camps to YouTube tutorials, and the fact that self-directed learning is easier than ever, several of these reports asked questions about the role, purpose, and even existence of traditional schools and universities.

[00:14:53] Will they cease to exist, at least in their current form, in 50 or 100 years from now?

[00:15:01] This movement already exists in the form of self-directed learning, where students take control of their own education. 

[00:15:09] In some cases, parents are opting for unschooling, a form of homeschooling where the child’s learning is entirely self-directed with no formal curriculum.

[00:15:22] If knowledge becomes truly democratised and available at the click of a button, if a student’s ability can be measured without a traditional exam, the historical gatekeepers of education—schools and universities—may have less relevance in the future. 

[00:15:39] Students could build their own learning journeys with the help of online resources, AI-driven tools, and personal curiosity.

[00:15:48] And AI would have access to all of their work and the questions that they had asked, it could have a better understanding of their ability and knowledge of a subject than anyone could do after having read a short essay or marked an exam paper.

[00:16:04] But there’s a big “if” here. 

[00:16:07] Self-directed learning requires a certain level of motivation, discipline, and access to resources that not every child will have. 

[00:16:17] And, as we’ve seen with MOOCs, simply providing access to information doesn’t mean everyone will use it or benefit from it equally.

[00:16:28] In fact, this future could widen educational inequalities even further.

[00:16:33] There’s one fear that wealthier students with access to the best technology and resources would flourish, while those without such advantages fall further behind.

[00:16:45] But with the diminishing cost of technology, the bigger question is around motivation.

[00:16:52] If learning becomes increasingly self-directed, will this lead to a greater gap between students who are able to motivate themselves and those who cannot?

[00:17:03] Now, we’ve asked a lot of questions in this episode, not provided a huge amount of answers, and you could rightly say not provided very many weird and wacky predictions of the future of education.

[00:17:17] That’s on purpose, this was a recurrent theme of all of these reports.

[00:17:23] Almost all of them were surprising in this respect. 

[00:17:26] Rather than saying that education would be completely revolutionised by a particularly technology, or that there was going to be some seismic, step change, they focussed on how technology might augment, not revolutionise the learning experience.

[00:17:44] Clearly, if the past has taught us anything, and as the authors of these reports clearly kept in mind when writing them, it’s that we often overestimate the revolutionary impact of technology. 

[00:17:57] From TVs to teaching machines, to MOOCs and virtual reality, none of these have truly transformed education in the way many thought they would. 

[00:18:08] And while AI and personalised learning pathways certainly hold promise, there is a long track record that suggests technology alone isn’t enough.

[00:18:20] Is this because the technology hasn’t been advanced enough? 

[00:18:24] Perhaps, but it seems overly optimistic to think we’re just waiting for the right tool that will magically ignite a lifelong love of learning in every student.

[00:18:36] As all of these reports underline, the heart of any effective education system is human connection between teacher and student. 

[00:18:47] As we’ve seen throughout history, it’s the direct interaction with an engaged and dedicated educator—whether that’s in a classroom or through private tutoring—that helps unlock the full potential of a student, no matter whether they are the next Einstein or just a regular Joe Bloggs. 

[00:19:06] And as all teachers listening to this, past and present, will be glad to hear, all of these reports most firmly predict that the role of the teacher of the future is only going to get more important.

[00:19:22] OK then, that is it for today's episode on the future of education, and with that comes the end of this mini-series on the theme of education.

[00:19:32] As always, I would love to know what you thought of this episode. 

[00:19:35] I know we have loads of teachers, current and former, so I’d love to get your thoughts.

[00:19:41] What will school look like in 50 or 100 years from now?

[00:19:45] How will it be different, and perhaps more importantly, how will it remain the same?

[00:19:51] I would love to know, so let’s get this discussion started.

[00:19:54] You can head right into our community forum, which is at community.leonardoenglish.com and get chatting away to other curious minds.

[00:20:02] You've been listening to English Learning for Curious Minds, by Leonardo English.

[00:20:07] I'm Alastair Budge, you stay safe, and I'll catch you in the next episode.