Yatharth Gautam details the reasons for reskilling and upskilling for the ‘new normal’ of education

“We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn.”

— Peter Drucker

Shifting demographics, along with the rise of technology and automation, are changing the way we work and the way we learn. The 21st century demands the reskilling and upskilling of the academic force. A reskilling of new knowledge, mindsets, and skills will need to occur across all positions to develop a more agile workforce that is mentally and emotionally prepared to succeed in the transforming educational arena.

As a new school year approaches and the global pandemic remains, educators are bracing for these unforeseen changes. The abrupt shift to distance learning has directly challenged the knowledge, mindsets, and skills of our teaching workforce. Skills that were just ‘nice-to-have’ in digital integration have become ‘must-haves,’ and the traditional classroom management and instructional design methods which no longer applied have turned outdated. Educators are now required to embrace a high level of ambiguity as guidelines and expectations shifted weekly.

With so much happening, teaching and learning will not look the same again regardless of in-person, hybrid, or virtual learning models thus making upskilling and reskilling initiatives once considered prudent as now essential.

In the education sector, the need to identify upskilling within the existing competencies of the existing workforce of teachers, counsellors and other staff is important.

Schools need to help the staff attain digital competency and help them become adept in handling digital platforms, enhancing their technical skills and familiarising them with the virtual norms. Reskilling for new competencies will have to be considered with the advent of LMS platforms, use of virtual instruction software, polling, and digital formative assessment tools, technical troubleshooting for hybrid and virtual learning.

The academic staff would also have to be trained in the health and safety-related protocols concerning the classroom management, class sizes, seating arrangements, clear and consistent routines and procedures and even instructional strategies about handling a virtual session, in class session and even a hybrid session. Classroom management training about the expectations for camera use, chat and headphones, screen and digital monitoring FAQs etc will also be needed.

The instructional design will also have to undergo major changes and the workforce will need to be reskilled upskilled to design new models of teaching and learning such as the gradual release model, new tactics about to formative assessments, the models of teaching and instructions for small groups, no contact collaborative exercises and differentiated tactics to address learning gaps.

Counsellors and teachers would have to upskill to handle students who have experienced learning and/or trauma that will affect their readiness to learn and handle social situations.

Parents too could receive training on leading guided or independent practice with students at home. Counsellors might need to be trained to take daily small-group instruction on health and wellness to ease classroom sizes. Even bus drivers might play a role in providing basic in-person technical support for virtual students and teachers.

In fact, HR too will need to recalibrate hiring and development by identifying the present and future state of skill development and removing barriers and building bridges along with new and existing competencies.

Last, even at the district and state level, there will be a need to examine how coaching and evaluation processes align and support revamped expectations.

Given new conditions, our education system faces the monumental task of aligning the entire academic force to the present scenario. Schools will have to ensure an ‘all-hands-on-deck’ pandemic response across every area of expertise and train their staff accordingly. It is rightly said that, “the illiterate of the 21st Century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.”

(The author is the CMO, Birla Edutech.)