EDUCATIONAL CHANGE: TRANSFORM NOT REFORM
EDUCATIONAL CHANGE: TRANSFORM NOT REFORM

Summary/Abstract: In this article we base our ideas on four assumptions related to the preparation of our students for their future lives: 1. Education was developed for different age (the Industrial Revolution) and it has to be transformed into a new and more relevant system. 2. The skills that students need are skills that many, if not most, schools do not concentrate on today: communication, critical thinking, curiosity, creativity, collaboration, and abilities to work in diverse jobs with diverse people. 3. We can no longer afford to lose the talents and skills of any students by allowing them to fail in school. 4. To accomplish the first three assumptions, we must move our schools to become more student-centered. Students will need to be independent life-long learners and to do that, they need to be actively engaged in and own their learning. Schools and educators have to help students take more authority and responsibility for their educational careers. That means the roles of teachers and principals will change, and educators will have to be willing to adapt their pedagogical techniques to accommodate those changes. This is an urgent call for educators to take the lead in this transformation process before it is too late.

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