Book review by Dr. Punchi Nilame Meegswatte, former Secretary-General of UNESCO and former Head of Educational TV SLRC

I have been reading hundreds of books on education since I was working at the Educational Television Unit at the National Television in Sri Lanka, SLRC, later as the Secretary General of UNESCO under the Ministry of Education, and as a member of the Presidential Task Force on educational reforms in Sri Lanka.

I was deeply worried and unhappy about the education system in Sri Lanka, which was taken from the British system. In ROTE LEARNING, the higher-order learning outcomes and skills required by a student are neglected. On top of that, the moral values component is badly treated.

So, I was wondering what action to take and how to solve this vital issue in the education system to bring about active learning, replacing passive learning in the classroom and school. Under the atmosphere, I got a book on education, and this resembles me getting a water bottle into the hand of a man who is walking alone in the Sahara Desert.

The name of the book is “Education Meeting Knowledge Economy”. The author is a well-known educationist locally and globally; he is Dr. Upali M. Sedere.

In this book, he has clearly explained the poor rote learning system and proposed a solution to this.

The first few chapters articulate the changing knowledge and the ways and means of learning. This is of high importance for all educators to understand.

In rote learning, the teacher tries to impart knowledge (explicit knowledge) by himself. That means it is a teacher-centred process. But for a better education system, it should be student-centred with implicit knowledge. Dr. Sedere advocates that no teacher can teach everything; therefore, what is important is to prepare the learner to become a learning individual who seeks knowledge and skills through self-learning and exploration. He presents several 21st-century learning frameworks and the new developments in the classification of educational objectives, where learning culminates in the learner demonstrating creativity as the outcome of learning.

To overcome this poor system, he introduces the authentic learning system, which incorporates authentic instruction and evaluation. His main focus is to develop the human capital among the workforce of a country and help support the economic growth of a nation. That may be the reason why Dr. Sedere has chosen the name of the book as “Education Meeting Knowledge Economy”.

He explains the two main knowledge components, the Explicit and the Implicit. By making use of implicit knowledge, the number of skills required by a student could be enhanced. He highlights the importance of transferring knowledge into skills during the learning process.

By analysing education systems in many developed nations, he stresses the point that the learning process should be student-centred and authentic.

In this way, Dr. Sedere expects the learner/student to develop various types of skills, including soft skills, generic skills, life skills, and many more.

These will help anybody to lead a successful life. In this book, he explains the value and importance of emotional intelligence.

As a solution to the poor education system, he introduces the five main domains of the learning outcomes. These are:

• Social and Emotional Skills
• Employability Skills
• Genetic Skills
• Eco-Friendliness
• Creativity

Through these learning outcomes he wishes to develop the human capital and finally to support the social and economic growth of a nation.

After reading this book several times, I strongly recommend this book to any person who is interested in education since it has covered most vital areas in education with many research findings.