Marjo Kyllönen is the head of Helsinki's General Education Division of the city of Helsinki. Having a PhD in Education, she defended a thesis on the future of education and learning. H
er aim is to develop future school concepts as she believes that education is the most powerful thing we have to create and build the future.
“Do we need a revolution in education systems to achieve responsible business” welcomed her. She has strengthened the point that the way we are learning has known a shift today : people have access to an unlimited source of information. Thus she asks : What will be the school of tomorrow? Will we still need schools in the future? To those questions she strongly answers yes, thus we wanted to know even more !
How do you picture the school of the 21st century?
We started to make a frame for the 21st century. There is a good basis for our education system but what we did in the past was not preparing our kids for the future. I did my PhD on future school learning and with my colleagues we quieried: what is the future of our society? What are the competences that will be needed in this future? In this new world with digital solutions, if we repeat what has been done previously, in terms of education, we will get lost as information is now everywhere. Everyone can access it and be the producer of the information so we have to think about what crucial competences will be needed.
During your presentation you said that learning by heart was not an efficient method, which methods would you recommend?
In the past, the amount of information was limited so the solution was to learn by heart. But nowadays, instead of knowing by heart, you have to understand it. Information is accessible to everyone, everywhere. Thus, the key is now about understanding. It requires a totally different approach.It is a process of constructing your own knowledge.
Helsinki aims to be “the most impactful place to learn”. There is an impact on the learning at every age. It’s not only about to remember but it’s also about the experience of learning. It is a real pleasure to learn in this city [Helsinki]. That is part of the meaning for learning. Knowledge makes sense, and emotions are also a big part of this process.
What do you expect from your 3 days here at the World Forum for a Responsible Economy ?
Today has been a very interesting day. I believe that we, educators, should interact, be in contact with the business side. This morning was really interesting when we discussed the future of work and what are the needs for the future labour market because it is always connected to education!
13 C - Justine Moynat & Lorraine Desforges
