The death of the classroom teacher may have been greatly exaggerated, but their role is going to change, according to the head of the one of the largest international education groups.
Technology has long been seen as undermining the traditional teacher’s role. Whether it is adapting teaching methods and content to each student’s needs through personalized learning, or the mass dissemination of courses through MOOCs and the like, technology is both helping transform the way children learn and threatening to make teachers obsolete.
For some, this is a welcome development. It may even solve one of our most intractable problems, in making the teacher recruitment crisis go away.
But if the skills and knowledge that a teacher traditionally imparts are available elsewhere, does that mean teachers will soon be obsolete?
Not according to Jay Varkey, executive director of GEMS Education, a global K-12 education leader with 240 schools across 19 countries, employing 20,000 teachers and educating 250,000 students.
Far from teachers being diminished by technology, he sees technology enhancing their role, making teachers more important than ever.
The first myth to tackle is that technology means there is no need for schools at all. In this fantasy, students will learn all they need to know online, from the comfort of their own homes.
The reality is that in a society where both parents work, that is not going to happen. Young children need adult supervision, while leaving teenagers to their own devices is asking for trouble.
But this doesn’t mean schools will effectively be turned into créches, with teachers becoming over-qualified child-minders.
Instead, they will become more like mentors to their students, said Mr. Varkey, who is also chairman of the Varkey Foundation, the organization behind the $1 million annual Global Teacher Prize.
"The role of the teacher will change, but they will not be replaced," he said. "Their role might be in the form of a mentor of values."
In this role, as someone whose primary role is to guide students in orientating their moral compass, teachers may be more vital than ever, helping them navigate their way through an era of "fake news" and uncompromising ideologies.
Schools themselves will be crucial for bringing students together, not just from across their neighborhood but from around the world. Mr. Varkey cites one example where students at a GEMS school in Chicago hold regular Skype chats with their counterparts in Delhi.
"That is so powerful in showing how people live and those kinds of experiences are so valuable," he said. "The social aspect of school, where people come together, and the structure of school, is so important."
But the problem still remains of where to find these teachers, with an estimated global shortfall of 69 million teachers by 2030.
For Mr. Varkey, one of the keys is to raise the status of teaching, so it becomes a more desirable profession and a destination for the best graduates, rather than for those who are struggling to think of an alternative career.
It was to this end that he helped create the Global Teacher Prize, but he acknowledged there is much work still to be done.
"Teaching does not have the nobility that it used to have and is often regarded as second rate, especially in the western world," he said. "We’re trying to build the status of teachers through celebrating teaching, and show that teaching is a phenomenal profession."
And all this suggests that while the role of the teacher has never been more important, we need to make sure more people audition.
