https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5O5PK6LsymM

Education as if people mattered, is a great TED talk by Jeff Hopkins, who is a former Welsh international football defender and … just kidding that’s the wrong wikipedia. Jeff Hopkins is the principle educator and founder of The Pacific School of Innovation and Inquiry, in Victoria, BC.

Hopkins’ goal is to have an exceptional education system. One that distinguishes between knowing and knowing about, meaning students are not just given a bunch of information, but instead teachers facilitate learning at a deeper level. Knowledge that sticks with you and becomes a tool, skill, or competency for later in life.  My education over the years has provided me with tuns of “knowledge” that I forgot only days after the final exam. I think it is safe to say most people have forgotten more than they remember.  We need to help students build competencies that are going to help them overcome problems of the future; social issues, automation, and climate change.

Jeff explains that much of his talk is already well known by educators, but the status quo is largely upheld out of convince and tradition.  It can be difficult and requires creativity to adapt to a lesson style that serves this deeper, sometimes more abstract way of learning.  But as Hopkins points out, the world is changing so fast, if we truly believe students matter we need teach competencies, not facts.