What if… we really wanted to prepare young people for the age of artificial intelligence?

IOE Public Debates: There’s a lot of talk at the moment about robots and artificial intelligence and how they are bringing about a ‘fourth industrial revolution’ in which occupations and the labour market, right up to the top professions like medicine and law, will be transformed. In this context, what kind of education will young people need to prosper, and can our current curriculum and testing regime deliver it? The debate over whether schools should focus first and foremost on developing pupils’ knowledge or pupils’ skills is a long-running one; do current technological advances add a new dimension to that debate? Is it time for a more radical rethink of what and how we teach, or can a classic ‘liberal education’ – introducing children to ‘the best that has been thought and said’ in science and culture – continue to conquer all? Speakers include: - Rose Luckin, Professor of Learner Centred Design, UCL Knowledge Lab - Gi Fernando, Founder, Freeformers - Professor Mark Bailey, High Master, St Paul’s School - Baroness Sally Morgan, Chair, Ambition School Leadership and Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust - Chair: Becky Francis, Director, UCL Institute of Education #IOEDebates