Sufficient evidence from diverse scholarly work is available to support the argument that the world’s education system is subject to multifaceted issues. Fortunately, being part of the CTLL team is an excellent opportunity to explore and resolve some of the complex problems that exist in the education system. Although scholars can investigate and solve many challenges in today’s education sector, a critical interest should focus on the existing methods of teaching, which appear to lower knowledge retention and application of acquired skills in the real-world setup.
Problem of Practice
The nature of today’s lessons limits knowledge retention and application in real-world scenarios. Based on previous research, it is only about a fifth of students in OECD countries can reflect, analyze, and resolve real-life situations (“21st Century Learning,” n.d). From such findings, it is evident that a large portion of students exhibits inadequate problem-solving skills. Notably, such statistics are alarming, considering that some of the students who record low levels of knowledge retention and application are graduates in critical fields, such as health and nursing, which require practical training and capabilities. Since classroom lessons are becoming less applicable in the real world raises a concern in practice; thus, necessitating more research into the matter.
The challenges on the transfer of knowledge raise questions regarding the existing curriculum and its capacity to facilitate the acquisition of abilities required in society. Notably, researchers observe that the system of education is reliant on specific curricula as a measurement of achievement (“21st Century Learning”, n.d). Hence, a possibility that the curriculum may be a contributing factor to the problem of knowledge acquisition and application in real-world exists. While some scholars may dissent from this opinion, it is convincing that memorization of theories, facts, and procedures is the dominant model of tackling tests, and a way of ranking student’s performance, which is an ideal illustration of specificity of the curriculum. Unfortunately, such a study approach becomes a problem in practice because it inhibits knowledge retention and application in the real world, by limiting creativity among students.
While the above information points to the aspect that the education curriculum is flawed, other underlying issues linked to the problem exist, including deterioration of lesson standards and inadequate individualized learning. As observed in previous studies, tutors play a critical role in establishing innovations in teaching to ensure that the learning process makes sense and lasts a lifetime among their students (Price, Dornan & Quail, 2013). Overall, the learning process is viewed as a continuous practice that involves progressive incorporation and utilization of content, with tutors being vital facilitators. Therefore, teachers who fail to make innovative and proper learning lessons pose a risk to knowledge acquisition and retention. Furthermore, students mainly assimilate and retain content that they regard meaningful (Ferreira, Maguta, Chissaca, Jusa & Abudo, 2016). From such a perspective, the creation of a lesson plan that incorporates significant materials is essential. The lesson standards are determined by the teachers’ capability to select materials, which are meaningful to students and relevant in the real world.
Unfortunately, a significant fraction of the teachers’ population does not receive the proper training to create classroom lesson plans that apply to real-life scenarios. According to scholars, lesson planning is the primary determinant of an ideal learning environment because it is a deliberate process of enhancing students’ subject matter and self-learning (Alanazi, 2019). Thus, a teacher requires outstanding skills to develop an ideal lesson plan. Despite literature suggesting that teachers should exhibit knowledge of lesson planning, some of the instructors are still required to build routines for classroom management on their own, regardless of their low level of experience in teaching (Coenders & Verhoef, 2017). Such moves have detrimental implications in practice, considering that some of the novice teachers may not have adequate skills to develop lessons that are free of the mechanical form of learning. Despite being a prerequisite of teaching, lesson planning is a complex process, especially among pre-service trained teachers (Alanazi, 2019; Sahin-Taskin, 2017). Lesson planning requires synthesis of students’ interest, learning differences, and the subject matter. Therefore, without proper training, teachers may not meticulously develop plans that constitute significant materials, which can be applied by students in real-life scenarios.
Reasons for Investigation
Being a member of CTLL implies that I have a role to play in transforming education and promoting social justice; thus, investigating the research problem is part of fulfilling this task. In particular, the inadequate nexus between government spending on education and quality of knowledge acquired in schools is a form of injustice to not only taxpayers but also students who participate in a learning process with the least benefit in their careers. For instance, in the United States, scholars maintain that the cost of producing a successful high school and graduate student is on the rise (Serdyukov, 2017; Davidson, 2015). By 2018, it was estimated that the American education system spent nearly $27,000 per student on auxiliary educational services (Cooper, 2018). In addition, researchers state that by 2019, student debt in the country had reached $1.5 trillion (Takenage, 2019). Hence, some form of social injustice still exists because the money spent on education does not match the quality of output since students can barely apply what they learn in class in real-life scenarios. The justification of this investigation is to resolve the social injustice involved in education spending and low knowledge application and retention among students.
The Rationale for the Significance of the Problem
The identified problem is significant because the world is slowly moving towards a knowledge economy, which requires students to be equipped with relevant materials and knowledge. As observed by PISA, the world’s economy requires mastery and understanding of concepts (“21st Century Learning,” n.d). Thus, the existing education lessons that foster a culture of memorizing facts, ideas, and theories in order to succeed in specific tests may not be of much use in the long run. Therefore, addressing the issue of knowledge retention and application is an ideal starting point of developing ways in which lessons can be enhanced to match knowledge requirements in the real world.
Overall, lessons today appear to deteriorate knowledge retention and application among students. Notably, it is hypothesized that the problem stems from the existing education curriculum, which fosters a culture of memorization rather than the development of a more profound understanding of concepts and theories taught in the classroom. The mismatch between government spending and education output is an indication of the social injustice posed by the problem and a basis for the investigation. Besides, since the world is moving towards a knowledge economy, the concept of knowledge transfer becomes an essential topic of study.
References
“21st century learning: Research, innovation and policy” (N.d). OECD. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/site/educeri21st/40554299.pdf
Alanazi, M. (2019). A study of the pre-service trainee teachers’ problems in designing lesson plans. Arab World English Journal, 10(1), 166-182.
Sahin-Taskin, C. (2017). Exploring pre-service teachers’ perceptions of lesson planning in primary education. Journal of Education and Practice, 8(12), 57-63.
Coenders, F., & Verhoef, N. (2017). Lesson study: Professional development (PD) for beginning and experienced teachers. Professional Development in Education, 45(2), 217-230.
Price, J., Dornan, J., & Quail, L. (2013). Seeing is believing – reducing misconceptions about children’s hospice care through effective teaching with undergraduate nursing students. Nurse Education in Practice, 13(5), 361-365.
Ferreira, J., Maguta, L., Chissaca, A., Jussa, I., & Abudo, S. (2016). Cohort study to evaluate the assimilation and retention of knowledge after theoretical test in undergraduate health science. Porto Biomedical Journal, 1(5), 181-185.
Serdyukov, P. (2017). Innovation in education: What works, what doesn’t, and what to do about it? Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching & Learning, 10(1), 4-33.
Davidson, A. (2015, September 8). Is college tuition really too high? The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/13/magazine/is-college-tuition-too-high.html
Cooper, P. (2018, September 12). The crazy amount America spends on higher education, in one chart. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/prestoncooper2/2018/09/12/the-crazy-amount-america-spends-on-higher-education-in-one-chart/#bc2a02f4482a
Takenaga, L. (2019, May 28). How some countries make higher education affordable. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/28/reader-center/international-college-costs-financing.html
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