EDUCATION: A NEW GENERATION OF TEACHERS, STUDENTS, AND PARENTS

Jean-Yves Charlier – Promethean CEO

www.prometheanworld.com

INTRODUCTION

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen.

Thank you for inviting me to this Predictions and Broadband Summit. It is a pleasure to
be here with you today to provide my insights on the challenges facing the education
systems around the world and the enormous potential that digital technologies and next
generation networks represent for the transformation of education.

As the chief executive of one of the leading education technology companies in the
world, Promethean, I hope you will my insights informative and perhaps thought
provoking.

Whilst it is clear that digital technologies will provide enormous potential for the learning
of today’s and tomorrow’s generations, technology is certainly not an end-game in it’s
own right and should only to be considered as one of several key foundations for new
education systems. Furthermore, the implementation of digital technologies in the
classroom and in the education systems will be a never-ending evolutionary process.

THE CHALLENGE

There is clearly significant pressure in every country for education to change.

Globalization, economic cycles, changes in the competencies needed for new and
changing occupations, to name a few, as well as the new generation of digital natives
who are learning in new ways – all these dimensions are fast changing expectations of
how to equip the future generations for the world of tomorrow.

Most education systems around the world are being reformed. But reform isn’t
sufficient and transformation of education is a must for countries to develop the talents
and skill-sets required for the 21st century.

And in the Western world, if we don’t challenge and transform ourselves our education
systems, others will. Just imagine, five percent of the most gifted students in China
today is greater than the total population of Portugal. So for Portugal to compete
tomorrow, just like any other Western country, it is essential to have a powerful
education system.

In the 19th century, the education systems around the world evolved to meet the
requirements of industrialization. Our education curriculums are very linear as a result
with a hierarchy of subjects based on a set of old programs of math, science,
geography, history and language.

We must ask ourselves whether these structured curriculums can meet the
requirements to create 21st century talents and skill-sets and whether they can motivate
our digital native students.

THE PURPOSE OF EDUCATON

Before, we investigate how our educations systems should be transformed and the
value of technology and next generation networks, we should reflect on the purposes of
education overall.

In the modern world, the education systems need to meet five main purposes. The first
is an economic purpose. There is no doubt that education needs to teach the students
of today for the occupations of tomorrow, in what are more global, faster and more
competitive economic conditions. The old economic models are out and innovation,
talent, and technology will be essential in creating the economic models of tomorrow.

The second is a society purpose. Education needs to ensure that students leave the
system equipped with the skill-sets to live in harmony as citizens in an ever-changing
society. With higher drop-out rates than ever in most Western education systems, and
particularly in the United States, this is a matter than needs urgent attention by
governments alike.

The third is a social purpose through the importance of creating systems whereby
students learn to work together, learn with teachers, and hopefully in the future, learn
more-and-more with external experts to the education system. Tomorrow’s education
systems will see lecture-style classes we have today complemented with collaborative
learning. In the 21st century classroom, teachers will no longer be at the front of the
classroom but much more in the centre.

Education also serves a fourth purpose and that is a cultural one. We expect that
education will enable our students to engage with culture through their sense of
personal identity and be part of culture in a global sense, even if that might be
appreciating rap culture and an artist such as 50 Cents.

The final major part of education is a personal purpose. Education has to focus on
personal capacity and what makes us distinct. Our current education systems have
little time for anything else than a standard approach. This will have to change as
personalized learning will be essential for the education systems of tomorrow.

Any attempt to transform education has to take these five main purposes into account.

TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION

Today’s generation of students are radically different than any other generation of the
past century; they spend most of their day, except at school, immersed in technology.
They are listening to music on MP3 devices, using their mobile phone, playing
interactive games in a variety of formats including mobile devices and using computers
to learn and interact with a stream of new social networking applications. Our digital
natives expect information to be on tap, up to the minute and delivered in engaging,
interesting and interactive ways. The TV is out and the internet is clearly in.

Only when our digital natives attend school do they find often they are required to
digest knowledge which they perceive as irrelevant and hard to understand, delivered
in a slow and less engaging manner. In a recent survey in the UK, 98 percent of 12-
year olds indicated that they want to do well in school, yet only 38 percent look forward
to going to school.

Technology should not be a cause of strain on our education systems but a source of
tremendous potential to transform teaching and learning. In today’s world, technology
delivers the skills needed for the future and can make learning more relevant as well as
increase the attention and interest of students. This in turn can lead to increases in
student achievement.
As part of the investment of governments to transform education systems, next
generation networks, and particularly the internet, are critical building blocks to provide
today’s and tomorrow’s students with access to information on demand. They can
enable teachers to prepare and manage digital lessons and assess student
performance on a daily, lesson-by-lesson basis. This leads to endless possibilities.
Each child could pursue the subjects best suited to them delivered in interactive ways
which suit their learning styles and at a pace which is right for them.

This can be achieved today by providing schools with fast, high bandwidth connectivity
to the web. Internally, schools need high quality connections to classrooms and other
learning spaces. This is what I call a “21 st century learning network”. Ultimately, the
learning network will need to extend to the home offering students endless learning
possibilities and options. Next generation networks will enable us to bring education
everywhere.

But a 21st century learning network is not enough for success. Significant attention
needs to be devoted to what happens in the classroom, and in the future, the virtual
classroom, by focusing on the teaching and learning interfaces. High-quality classroom
technology is a critical foundation for the 21st century classroom enabling the power of
the network to be deployed in everyday lessons through large interactive displays
together with student devices such as handheld response devices or student
notebooks.

Promethean certainly applauds the initiatives of the Portuguese government to provide

these important foundations for the transformation of the education system. Our
company focuses solely on education providing feature-rich interactive displays and
some of the most innovative response technology in the world today.

As an example of the innovation that Promethean provides to the education world, we

released last week a transformational software enabling students personalized learning
through self-paced assessment services. Imagine students being able to learn at their
own levels of curriculum and at their own pace. This brings some of the functionality of
gaming platforms students love to the classroom environment leading to student
achievement.

But platforms and services are not enough we believe. We have strengthened our
offering to Ministries of Education across the world by developing the largest portal for
teachers to access both teacher-generated and publisher-generated digital content. As
of today, some 350,000 teachers share over 12,500 pieces of content over the world
on Promethean Planet.

TECHNOLOGY IS NOT ENOUGH

But technology won’t transform alone any education system. An adapted curriculum to
the requirements of the 21 st century is always a major foundation for a new successful
education system. A new curriculum, students can better relate to and find more
relevant, a new curriculum better aligned to the jobs of tomorrow, is mandatory.

Furthermore, teaching methodologies will need to evolve in the 21 st century classroom.

Personalized learning as well as putting the teacher at the centre of the classroom
rather than in the front will be essential. Teachers will need to become coaches and
facilitators in the future.

But technology, a new curriculum and new teaching methodologies won’t transform
alone any education system. All the technology in the world will not change schools if
significant attention is not paid to those who are responsible for the quality and learning
on a student-by-student, class-by-class basis. The skills and competences of teachers
and their managers, the school leaders, need to be developed to enable the great
potential that technology represents for education’s future.

Beyond the significant training required for teachers to enter into this new era, greater
recognition needs to be provided by all governments on the importance of teachers. A
great deal of independent research has shown that the biggest decisive factor in the
relative performance of different education systems is the quality of the teaching
workforce. Teachers have to be at the centre of a successful transformation of
education and the creation of the 21 st century classroom.
CONCLUSION

In conclusion, we, at Promethean, welcome the debate on the transformation of

education and are excited about the immense possibilities that next generation
networks and digital technologies bring in creating the 21st century classroom.

Achieving a vision for a new education system is important for all our children’s futures.
We, at Promethean, look forward to implementing this vision not tomorrow but as of
today with the broader education community across the world.

Thank you for your attention.

Lisbon, July 8, 2009

Predictions & Broadband Summit

www.apdc.pt

See the video here:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xb50k4_jean-yves-charlier-promethean-ceo-i_tech

Mr. Jean-Yves Charlier, born November 29, 1963 in Belgium, holds a Master of Business
Administration (MBA) in strategy and marketing from the Wharton Business School. In
1987, Jean-Yves Charlier joined the Wang group in France and served in several different
sales and marketing positions. From 1993 to 1995, he was responsible for the integration
services division in Europe based in London, before becoming Vice-President of Wang
International in 1995. In 1996, he was appointed President of the Equant group first for
the integration services division and then for all worldwide group marketing, sales and
services operations.
In 2002, Jean-Yves Charlier joined the BT group, with responsibility for Europe and
operations within the Global Services division. In 2004, he joined the Fidelity
International group as Vice President and was appointed Chairman and CEO of Colt
Telecom Group with responsibility for restructuring the European telecommunications
operator.
Since 2007, Jean-Yves Charlier has served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of
Promethean, a company that specializes in interactive educational products and
educational media for teachers.