The world is changing rapidly so does we but is that change being managed by our educational institutes or not? This daunting question shall be answered by this article. The need of hour is to develop the character of our youth so that they can become useful citizens of tomorrow. The jobs available in 2030, when most of our youth will be graduated, those jobs are not yet invented. Majority of scholars are of the view that certain skills are needed among the individuals including critical thinking, resilience, creativity, systems thinking and empathy. Educational institutes shall take a lead in preparing students for tomorrow by following certain practices. These practices are divided into three phases as mentioned below:
Preparation Phase
The responsibility of the first phase shall be to develop a deep understanding of themselves including strengths, interests, skills and passions. The strengths can be assessed while using scores and performances in various subjects. Teachers shall pay attention in confirming from students that what they love to do so that their interests can be known. The schools shall conduct a brainstorm session in which students shall be involved in the discussion. It will have multiple benefits of boosting confidence, encouraging public speaking and knowing the areas of interest. Various projects assigned to students or a group of students shall also be discussed in a class gathering.
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Beginning Phase
Teachers shall facilitate the students and then leave on their own for completion of projects. Although, all projects shall be assigned on practical basis because more attention shall be paid to them rather than giving conceptual projects. Students be guided with a growth mindset, even if their projects or performances are not up to the required standard, they shall be briefed that this was a learning curve for improving their mistake. Students shall be advised to write down three good things that they observe, feel or experience in every single day as this will give them a feeling of joy and moving out all depression. Teachers can be source of inspiration for the students as they shall discuss what certain feelings they experience when they are stressed so that those causes can be eliminated. Importance of ethics is to briefed by the institutes as in this real world, we are faced with lot of ethical challenges. Especially with the ever changing standards of ethical, it is important to understand morality and practice decision making on those morals which automatically makes it an ethical decision.
Reflection
Once a task, project or an assignment is completed, the self-assessment shall be practiced. This is often the time of celebration or regret as the things have been concluded and students are either in joy or awe. This is the time when one has to recognize the importance of reflecting on oneself by asking simple questions, like, for what reason was this project being done, what was learned from this project, what will be the takeaways of this project and lastly, what memories will be carried forward. This will facilitate the students in integrating their experience into the next project. As a result of that, planning and its expected outcomes will be done in a manner which shall be improved from the previous ones.
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These three phases can be followed by teachers of our educational system in which the educational time they spend or the tasks which students have are defined as projects. Firstly, the students shall be prepared, then phase of working by their own hand starts and lastly, they need to reflect on it. Life is all about these three phases, one has to get himself well prepare, perform to the highest levels and then conclude it by assessing the rights, wrongs, achievements, regrets etc. This model can be replicated by our institutes as they are the most important social institution in our country. The adoption of these practices will help us in transforming the young students into adulthood.
