With all the talk about robots soon taking over the pr o duc t ion processes presently carried out by humans, questions arise: what kinds of knowledge, skills and abilities will jobseekers need in future? What kind of experience will guarantee success when the babies of today grow up, and what should they be taught now?
More than a few educators lose sleep over this problem, admitting that change and development is so fast today they simply don’t know how best to prepare their students for the future.
The Canadian Fairchild Junior Academy of pre-school learning, recently launched in Hong Kong by the Fairchild Group, a Vancouver- based business conglomerate founded by Thomas Fung, has wrestled with this very problem.
They concluded that it was most important to build children’s creativity, perseverance and critical thinking. Doing this will nurture a young generation of innovators, thinkers and lifelong learners who are flexible, and have the stamina and tenacity to face new problems and plan developments.
Dave McMaster, head of school and Kathy Nutting, director of learning at Fairchild Junior Academy, who have more than 60 years of teaching experience between them, settled on the mission of “Cultivating curiosity, creativity and confidence with enquiry-based learning”.
“The children learn to love to learn. Great innovators don’t stop learning,” Nutting says.
