Education now compared to Victorian Times.

What were schools like in Victorian times? Schools were undoubtedly different from the schools we have today.

Education in Victorian classrooms
Lessons were basic and focused on the 3 R's of Reading, wRiting & aRithmetic (Maths) with the introduction of religion and usually involved copying down what the teacher wrote on the chalkboard. Furthermore, children were expected to chant things out loud until they did so without mistakes.

​The timetables were commonly done this way; children were expected to do this smoothly. The importance of developing a delicate hand in writing was high, and alongside numbers, this was seen as a crucial part of Education.

Morning lessons run from 9 am until 12 pm. Following this was a lunch period when children usually went home. Afternoon classes began at approximately 2 pm and finished at 5 pm. Children of a very young age were always expected to maintain their best attention and adhere to the school's rules.

The most famous piece of equipment was how children were expected to write on slate instead of paper. In addition, it was standard for the teacher to walk around the classroom to check the pupils' work.

Once this was checked off, they cleared their slate for the next lesson. But, again, work was not saved, and children were expected to memorize the information they had taken in.

For the teachers, the essential equipment was the chalkboard and easel.

The main task of any lesson was for children to copy information from the chalkboard onto a slate board. Then, the older children would begin to write in a book using a dip pen with black ink from an inkwell. There was a designated 'Ink monitor' whose job was filling the inkwells every morning.

Victorians used a device called an Abacus for arithmetic which was their version of the modern-day calculator. The abacus enabled the children to conduct sums quickly and effectively.

Now step back and look at our classrooms. Perhaps we have the PowerPoints, the focus on literacy, and the introduction of skills, but how many classrooms are still Victorian - which was very effective then?
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Are we developing our youth to drive our future? Our young people expect more and do not live in Victorian times. Education needs to evolve.

We know that Education and work are shifting with technological advances affecting every business and industry and where humans and machines work alongside each other. As a result, Victorian values are no longer relevant.

Schools and curriculum managers such as the IB are speaking about adapting their curricula so that we can unleash skills that will prepare for this shift in skills required by the employment market. The curricula can be adapted and innovated; however, what happens in the classroom is essential. In many ways, the Victorian Children had to copy information from the chalkboard onto a slate board, write in a book using a dip pen with black ink from an inkwell, and have a designated 'Ink monitor' whose job was to fill the inkwells every morning - are probably using more skills than copying from a PowerPoint or making notes on their laptop.

Meaningful Work
We are all aware that employees who feel involved in 'meaningful work' are more likely to be engaged and more likely to 'love their jobs' as a result, be more motivated, inspired, productive, and creative. In Victorian times Education was meaningful. Memorization was vital as this was the only way knowledge could be transmitted.
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Education now and beyond
Education and retraining or reframing are required to create an effective merging of new technologies and to sustain the human experience, with continuous development adapted to the individual student or employee rather than adopting a 'one size fits all' strategy - still very much a vital feature of the examinations and curriculum systems, very Victorian in Style, where even inspection authorities look for 'consistency' across classes, and 'preparing students with exam skills to pass the test" - one size fits all approach. And if you don't fit - you fail.

Human Centric
​Human-centric, or 'soft,' skills are based on human qualities and knowledge often gathered through shared social experiences and interactions.
Soft skills are essential in any classroom or any business environment. However, human stimulation has changed since Victorian times.

Machines cannot learn human-centric skills.

These include creativity, persuasion, collaboration, adaptability, and emotional intelligence.

Technology can increase productivity by taking care of repetitive tasks more efficiently, providing rapid knowledge, and solving problems, but solving real complex problems, and being innovative, requires creative and critical thinking, cognitive reflection, and the ability to work as a team.
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Do we want Technology to replace the teacher at the front of the class?

What is different from Victorian times?

Human Skills
Human skills are where skilled human analysis is required to develop the proper questioning to find a solution based on emotion, understanding, empathy, foresight, and human intelligence. This is the difference.
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Robots operate without empathy or social perceptiveness.

Teams
When working in teams, social and emotional intelligence is required to read other people, pick up on nuances and adapt communication to consider feelings and behavior. Being adaptable is based on this, which is something that Technology can't do. This is the change.

Culture
Most important to success is developing a work culture based on empathy, creativity, and the vision of the business.

Empathy, genuinely caring about employees, is the human element that will drive the passion, motivation, and inspiration a computer lacks.

Ways Forward for Education
Interconnected, complex, and interdisciplinary thinking skills are vital in preparing our youth.

Collaboratively working experience where students can create solutions to real-life problems and focus on using their talents, strengths, and passions using oracy skills to communicate solutions is real-life learning.

We must stop worrying about curriculum delivery and testing - even reducing content. Instead, the quantity and quality of the content and knowledge will become more relevant - and more profound to real-life learning.
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This learning is cross-disciplinary, as all learning areas are connected and linked.

Immersed in this learning is developing key leadership skills - impacting change and innovation using creative mindsets, allowing students to get excited and articulating passion!

Assessment - our biggest worry!
The assessment should be both skills and authentic application of knowledge and impact. Based on human skills, not repetitive skills that a robot can replicate.

Learning outcomes, project design, initiatives, innovations, and authentic life learning.

We know we have the understanding, but we are still set deeply in concrete with Victorian Education, which worked at the time - is no longer relevant.
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How do we take the next step? What is lovely is to see the IB begin to ask the right questions and create an empowering philosophy.

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Dr. Tassos Anastasiades
Passionate about real-life learning