By Tare Youdeowei

THE Principal, Olashore International School, Mr Derek Smith, has canvassed the change of habits and habitats of schools and students in order to increase creativity.

Speaking on The Future of Education at the recently held 2016 Africa Outstanding Primary School Awards in Lagos, Smith said the habits of our institutions and the habitats they occupy have ways of influencing what students think and do.

“We need to consciously change our habits and habitats so as to increase creativity. Teaching is more than having teachers stand in front of willing recipients, as critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity help students to learn better. The world is changing very fast and every child is an opportunity. We don’t need to copy the developmental stages of any country, rather think of how to move ahead. The greatest challenge when you are good at something is how to keep being the best.

“The solution to make students successful is to engage our learners, transform our schools, employ efficient and easy use of tools and connect to the real world. There’s no right way to do this than to introduce the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK), Technological Pedagogical Knowledge (TPK), Technological Knowledge (TK), Technological Content Knowledge (TCK), Content Knowledge (CK), Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK).

“The three legs of the school’s 21st century learning are pedagogy, content and technology, if and when we are going to create a revolution in education.”

He pointed out that teachers need to be trained on the use of technology so they can impact the children. He said, “Learning will be effective with technology, however training teachers should be a perequisite for one on one e-learning project. Do not put technology in any school until teachers are trained in order to give them the confidence to train the students. Let them know how to combine pedagogical and technology in teachers whether they are Ph.D holders or not. Technology can make teaching real.”