Gita Subrahmanyam

Gita Subrahmanyam

International Education Expert *

Research and Consultancy

Closing Keynote Presentation

Dr Gita Subrahmanyam combines an academic role at various University of London institutions with international development research and consultancy in the fields of education and employment. In 2020, she conducted the UNESCO-UNEVOC Trends Mapping Study on the Future of TVET Teaching, which examined the implications of global disruptions on the future of teaching and learning (focusing mainly on technical and vocational education and training, or TVET), with recommendations for steps that education and training systems should take to prepare teaching staff to deliver the skills learners need in the 21st century and beyond. Dr Subrahmanyam will present some of these findings at ICET 2021.

Abstract:
Global disruptions – including digitalisation, the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the current COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, demographic change and migration – are having an unprecedented impact on our lives, the world of work and the world of learning. The resulting transformations call for parallel shifts in the content, format and methods of delivering education and training programmes. Teaching staff need to continuously upgrade their knowledge, skills and competences to provide learners with relevant, future-focused skills, while educational systems and institutions need to provide a supportive and hospitable environment for these changes to occur. A new mindset is also required – one in which teachers and educational leaders no longer see themselves as equipping learners with knowledge and skills in particular academic subjects, but instead as high-level professionals building the human capital required for their country’s social, economic and political development in an increasingly complex and globalised world. This keynote speech will summarise some of the key findings of the UNESCO-UNEVOC Trends Mapping Study on the Future of TVET Teaching to offer insights on what skills will be most demanded over the next 10 years as well as the impacts of these shifts on the future of teaching and learning.