EDUCATION
By Michelle Zeidler, Director of Professional Development and Performance, Hurst College
THE TEACHER IS DEAD. LONG LIVE THE TEACHER? The rise of digital technology and increased pupil access to educational platforms has created a growing movement of those who forecast the demise of the teaching profession as we know it. Indeed, the future predicted by Yuval Noah Harari in his book, Homo Deus, where computer algorithms can outperform humans in assessing and
responding to individual needs - the core skills of the teaching profession – conjures up a world in which children will receive all of their education sitting at home in front of a screen interacting with educational programmes rather than other human beings. And yet, our most recent experience with remote teaching and learning would suggest that this projection about the automation of education, cutting out the middle man/ woman, has been shown to be flawed. Putting aside the divisions that the pandemic has highlighted between those who have access to technology and those who do not, and whether it will ever be possible to eradicate this digital injustice to level the playing field; online learning has, for many, reinforced what teachers, those on the inside, have always known. There is more to education than the mere transmission of facts, high quality education is also about relationships. The best teachers not only impart their knowledge in an effective and efficient manner, but in the relation-
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