The manner in which education and training is now accessed, delivered, and structured has changed based on the available technology and current societal needs and requirements. It is a multibillion-dollar industry and is growing all the time. As those in the sector continue to innovate and adapt to meet the contextual needs and learner requirements, the sector will continue to offer business and career development opportunities. This article looks at some of the current issues in education and briefly touches on how you too can become involved and where.
The increased global demand for education
The rise in education as a global business giant has not been a sudden and unexpected process. The demand for knowledge and for all in society to benefit from an improved education has been preached as gospel for decades, and with one of the millennium goals being the provision of education to all has set in motion a trend towards and from education that resulted in one of the biggest businesses and money-making sectors in the world. The internet is full of advice and suggestions for career development through easy steps, but all of these will include some form of study or training. It is accepted across the globe that study and education are the easiest way to improve lifestyle and create sustainable life choices.
Education management and leadership
The only way that such a fast-growing sector can remain professional and continue to produce quality graduates and trainees is through professional management and leadership. This has seen the rise in the educational leadership certificate as businesses look for ethical leaders to drive the next steps in the progression of education. It must be driven for the good of the many and global improvements rather than simply as an industry.
Education needs leaders not managers or administrators
There is thus a train of thought that argues for the improvement in educational leadership and not management or administration. In order to direct education and ensure that it is focused on the planet and people rather than profits requires solid leadership.
If in the education field and looking to move upwards, then a terrific way to distinguish your skills from the other managers out there is to ensure that you have a professionally recognized educational leadership certificate.
The education sector is ripe for further disruption and improvements, and as technology improves further, there will be scope for just this. However, the sector as a whole has begun to realize that there needs to be a change in the direction education has taken. The Massive Open Online Course, or MOOCs, were supposed to forever change the manner in which people could access and use education. But these have not seen the impetus for the required impact, and as such, education still needs to transform and to democratize further to allow the technology to benefit all who need to be educated and developed.
Any involvement in the changing faces of education must be to make it more humane and less focused on the profit margins and how to capture the biggest slice of the growing market.
