Education 5.0  

Marmar Mukhopadhyay

10 January 2024

Global warming and climate change, increasing pollution, discrimination and subjugation of women and the poor, ruthless exploitation of 80% residents of the Earth by 20% (Pareto principle),  unabashed consumerism, double-edged scientific inventions and proliferation of nuclear and chemical warfare technology in many countries when the UN Security Council is being undermined, as pronounced by the  UN Secretary-General in 2022, the world is on the brink of a potential catastrophe with consequences that are so far unknown and unimaginable. The only solution to sustain human civilisation is to shape a new generation of one-world citizens, leaders,  managers, and knowledge creators.  

Education has come a long way from Generation 1.0 to Education 4.0, shaped partly by Technology Revolution 4.0. Education 1.0 was teacher-centred. The teacher was the sole source of knowledge and for knowledge dispensing. “Empty-headed” Students were the passive recipients. There is no place for technology. The teacher decides what the students should learn, how, when and where. Students’ individual needs or interests were of no concern. Students’ role was rote learning for examination, and teachers' role was teaching, evaluating and grading students.

With steady technology integration in education, we arrived at the Education 4.0 station. Education 4.0 emphasises project-based and hands-on learning methods, both inside & outside classrooms; evaluation is based on student’s work and learning outcomes. Extensive use of interactive media platforms such as YouTube, Google Meet, and Zoom,   connecting students to experts worldwide;  using  AI  and chatbots to respond to students' inquiries quickly. There is a shift from teacher-centric to student-centric education, from traditional "Learning Plans" to "Creativity Plans”, and from what Paulo Freire called the ‘banking system of education’ to learners as autonomous self-regulating learners.

 In   Education 4.0, teachers’ roles change, as Tharp & Gallimore (1988) and   Bonk  (2023) identified as the concierge, cultivator, curator, counsellor, consultant, caregiver, orchestra conductor,   coach, learning leader, change catalyst,   creator of a cognitive apprenticeship, and co-constructor of meaning. Teachers open educational possibilities for learners as resource providers, thought supporters, and community builders,  shifting the role from instructor to a guide and learning facilitator, adapting these various roles and responsibilities as the situation demands. Teachers challenge learners. They provide content, tools and artefacts, often open educational resources (OER), to supplement or aid learners in meeting those challenges.

The movement from 1.0 to 4.0 has helped sharpen the cognitive prowess of the learners - from muted to unmuted walking robots without the complementary emotive, ethical, or spiritual components. The movement has failed to change one-dimensional learners into multi-dimensional, complete human beings. The only guarantee for sustainable life on the planet and human civilisation is educating individuals for complete humanness with enriched emotive life and spirituality; indeed, “Manifestation of perfection is already in man” (Swami Vivekananda).

Benjamin Bloom’s (Bloom) five-layer affective taxonomy - Receiving, Responding, Valuing, organisation, and characterisation is good enough for interpersonal relationships and maybe career success. There must be a place for affiliation and empathising beyond the immediate and known. There is a need to construct Education 5.0 to develop one-world citizenship for global peace and harmony.   

Education 5.0 for global peace and harmony would develop confident,  self-regulated,  emotionally stable,  peaceful and happy,  empathic,    morally rich global patriots, physically active and skilled,  tech-savvy and resilient learners concerned about others and ready to extend help and share resources with the needy,  respectful and appreciative of different socio-cultural and religious beliefs and practices, and men and women with the courage for truth.

Academic learning must be complemented and balanced with health and physical education,  emotional learning, prevocational skills, ICT skills,   hobby and life skills education, social-cultural-moral education, and peace and happiness education; not as desirable but as necessary components of education where progress and performance in all these areas are credited for progression in schools.  

The learning strategy will be technology-integrated,  cooperative and group learning, service-based experiential learning, social problem solving, and co-creative research-based learning. Teachers’ roles will change to coaching,  guiding,  counselling,  inspiring, and cocreating knowledge,  experience, and feelings to help nurture growth and an empathic mindset.  

Peace education is the foundation of peace-building. As The Bhagavat Gita says, ‘How can there be happiness without peace?’   Education 5.0 stands for humanising education, integrating technology to do what it can better than average human instructors. However, the technology-dominated cognitive learning experience must be robustly capsulated within an emotive life of empathy, affiliation, and unity with Total Consciousness.   Peace, happiness and harmony are the ultimate goals of Education 5.0.

 References

Bonk, C. J. (2023). Foreword (i.e., “Searching for Education 3.0 and 4.0 in Thailand”). In K. Enomoto, R. Warner, & C. Nygaard (2023). Enhancing student outcomes in higher education (pp. vii-xxvii). LIBRI Publishing.

Tharp, R. G., & Gallimore, R. (1988). Rousing minds to life: Teaching, learning, and schooling in social context. Cambridge University Press.

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