Roger Stack's latest posting - http://hent.blogspot.com/ - (Knowledge and Slowness in Learning) throws into such a sharp focus the need for education to be able to adapt better, faster, deeper because of the speed of changes in the wider community:

Knowledge workers need to know how to use tools and frameworks to do their jobs according to Charles Jennings, Global Head of Learning at Reuters UK. Jennings painted

a clear picture of the way workplaces have changed over the last 20 years on day 2 of the Global Summit 2006 in Sydney:

* 70% of jobs created in the USA since 1998 have been for "knowledge workers"

* "knowledge worker"jobs now make up 41% of all jobs in the USA (2005)

* only 20-30% of workplace performance is knowledge/skills related (2005)

* people learn 80% of what they need to know informally on-the-job

He cited Kelley's longitudinal study showing how the amount of knowledge that we need to know in our own minds to do our jobs has changed: 1986 - 75% ... 1997 - 15-20%

... 2006 - 8-10%

Jennings spoke of the need to shift from training to learning; of the need to know less and learn more; of the need for workers to have tools and frameworks to locate and

process what they need to know when they need to know it.

However this reality also serves to remind us to have a clear vision of what shouldn't change, of what is perennial.

One of the dimensions of my own attempt to model education includes the change-don't change dimension. The balance has to be struck, and sometimes re-adjusted,

between the need for change and the need to have clear on-going values. The headlong pursuit to keep up with the latest technology, which is now almost a daily challenge,

can easily rob us of an appropriate investment in what should be the still centre.

The summary versions of my model are to be found here http://www.sunwalk.org.uk/_sgg/m7_1.htm

How do you think the need to change and not-change should be balanced - in the curriculum, the processes, the defining of roles for teacher, school and other institutions?

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