Policymakers must act now to facilitate education opportunities afforded by technology revolution, according to lessons learned from new European survey

Today’s children will face a workplace augmented by technology and should benefit from an education that prepares them for it, yet new research from Epson suggests that system failures threaten the ability of teachers to ready their pupils and that successful learning outcomes across the board will depend on governments, institutions and individuals surpassing some significant barriers. 

The research, which pooled the insights of 17 global industry experts and put them to 7,000  employees from selected sectors across Europe found that despite a high level of positive sentiment towards technology in education, the greatest threats to future education quality are financing (47%), teacher training (40%), and outdated technology (34%). Furthermore, 61% within education believe teachers are not equipped to train students with the necessary skills required to use the technology that will become commonplace over the next 10 years, despite  60% saying they are willing to retrain.

Get it right, and we will enter an era  in which creative collaboration and meta learning  will reign, where teachers will be freed from many tasks to focus on the essential role of guide or ‘life coach’, according to 70%. In fact, 67% of respondents currently in the education sector believe educational objectives will become more about information management, replacing today’s focus on knowledge retention, as we learn to harness and better use the information available at our fingertips. Further, 71% believe that blended learning will make education more dynamic and teachers more efficient.

“Our research suggests both enthusiasm and concern about how technology could help shape the future of education, and there is real fear that we could get things wrong,” says Epson Global President, Mr. Minoru Usui. “If our education systems are to reap the benefits of new technologies – from interactive projectors and augmented reality to robots – and lead the next generation of students into a future where the world is their classroom, then governments and educational institutions must invest where it matters.”

Technology offers significant opportunities, but these will require change, according to 78% of respondents who agree that technology in education will challenge the traditional way of doing things. The research also saw four dominating trends that will shape and define education in the coming ten years:

• Learning will become tailored even within a shared classroom, according to 72% of respondents. This is reinforced by the type of technology expected to transform education, with collaborative technology (for example, projectors) enabling blended and meta learning, as well as wearable devices, Augmented Reality and 3D printing ranking as the top, most influential technologies

• Meta learning, where students are more responsible for their own learning, will become the new norm; say 57% of education professionals with 55% agreeing it will have a positive impact on the sector.

• More dynamic educational content will be the result of technologies such as augmented reality (AR) and collaborative technologies like interactive projectors (70% of respondents agree). 60% of respondents agree that the collaborative education trend will have a positive impact on the sector; and 49% believe the same is true for collaborative technologies.

• Creative collaboration will grow and be expected, as classrooms become more of a workshop for collaboration and group work, according to 67% of respondents.

“Our learning centres will become increasingly interconnected, and technology will further transform how students are taught and how they learn in order to meet demands of the future workplace,” says Epson Global President, Mr. Minoru Usui. “As a company, Epson is dedicated to facilitating a positive technological shift by developing solutions that will make environments more efficient and productive. Our core technologies – wearables, robotics, visual imaging and printing technologies – are poised to deliver with this vision of the future in mind.”

About the study

The two-phase research project was conducted by FTI Consulting. Phase one consisted of qualitative telephone interviews with 17 global futurists and European experts from various sectors from 22nd September-19th October 2016 to gain insights and develop hypotheses on the future of the workplace and the changing roles of the workforce leading up to 2025. Phase two consisted of a quantitative online survey conducted by FTI Consulting’s Strategy Consulting & Research team from 2nd-13th December 2016. Respondents included full-time employees across five major sectors (corporate, manufacturing, education, healthcare and retail) in workplaces across the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Spain in their local languages.

A total of n=7,016 full-time employees completed the survey. The breakdown of the respondents who completed the survey in each country are as follows: United Kingdom (1,329), France (1,308), Germany (1,427), Italy (1,526), Spain (1,426). The breakdown of the respondents who completed the survey in each industry sector are as follows: corporate (2,051), manufacturing (1,519), education (1,090), healthcare (1,215), retail (1,139).

The n=7,016 completes yields a 3% +/- margin of error with an industry standard 95% confidence interval. Please note that the standard convention for rounding has been applied and consequently some totals do not add up to 100%.

For further information on the research methodology or FTI Consulting’s market research services: Market.Research@fticonsulting.com

Global futurists and European experts interviewed

• Jonathan Reynolds, Academic Director of the Oxford Institute of Retail Management (OXIRM), Associate Professor in Retail Marketing and Deputy Dean at Said Business School

• Howard Saunders, Retail Futurist, Twenty Second & Fifth

• Dave White, Head of Technology Enhanced Learning, University of the Arts London

• Russel Stannard, Education Technologist and founder of www.teachertrainingvideos.com

• Professor Darwin Cadwell, Research Director, Italian Institute of Technology in Genoa and Chair of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Chapter (UKRI)

• Professor Alain Bernard, Research Director, Laboratoire IRCCyN; Vice-President, AFPR; Vice-Chairman, WG5.1 of IFIP; and member of CIRP Council in France

• Clive Hickman, Chief Executive, Manufacturing Technology Centre

• Christopher Barnatt, Futurist, ExplainingTheFuture.com

• Gerd Leonhard, Futurist, The Future Agency

• Ben Hammersley, Journalist, Technologist, Futurist

• Brice Le Blévennec, CEO at Emakina

• Clinton Wingrove, HR Futurist

• Dr. Bertalan Mesko, Futurist, Founder of The Medical Futurist

• Giuliano Noci, Professor

• Richard Webber, Professor

• Dr. Tobias Gantner, Healthcare Futurist, HealthCare Futurists GmbH

• Mariano Corso, Scientific Officer