All India Association for Educational Research

FOURTH-WAVE EDUCATION:

(WAVES AND VISIONS)

 

Prof. B.K.Passi

17th AIAER INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE AT RAJKOT

January 10th to 12th 2004

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Text Box:  
Department of Education
Saurashtra University
Rajkot, Gujarat
INDIA

 

 

 

 

 

 

A painter looked at futures!

Many years ago, a painter peeped into futures of education of year 2000. The painter thought that education will continue to remain confined within the four walls of the classrooms. Transmission pedagogy will be in vogue. Monitor-students will help the teachers. The learners will be recipients of this knowledge classroom. The contents, methods of teaching, and methods of learning are vividly depicted in this painting. All students will move in one direction with one pace. The painter visualized that the teacher and his books will be the main source of knowledge. The learners will be passive recipients of this knowledge classroom.

 

What will happen to education of tomorrow? What type of learning approaches will emerge? How will schools form their new curriculum? What type of thinkers will be prepared by the school systems? What type of management will suit the new environment? Answers to these questions are dependent upon you and your choices. The contents of new education of the fourth wave are yet to take place. We will find answers to these questions? Like this painter above, let us draw our painting of the desirable and feasible futures of tomorrow.

 

 


FOURTH WAVE EDUCATION

(WAVES AND VISION)

 

17th AIAER INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE AT RAJKOT

January 10th to 12th 2004

Prof. B.K.Passi[1]

Presidential Address



Waves are Made

Fourth wave is not a fixed entity that will come one day. The fourth will be created by its users.

 

Will fourth wave change our education? Yes! A wave-shift creates sweeping changes in all fields including that of education. A wave is much more than a simple change. A wave brings a paradigm shift. Let us understand that there is difference between a paradigm change and an ordinary change. When a paradigm shift takes place then the primary propositions, the basic assumptions, and the approaches do change dramatically. In ordinary change, the primary propositions remain the same, and thus we cannot foresee many of the outcomes. We lose this sense of linear predictions during a paradigm shift.

 

In the past, man created nomadic society, followed by agrarian society, industrial society, and information society. Let us call these creations the zero, first, second and the third wave respectively. During nomadic, agriculture, industry, and information society the nature of engagements of man were changing. During these waves, education too was changing. After the information wave, we may encounter a responsive wave. We may call this one as the fourth wave.

 

In the fourth wave what will be the engagement of man to create the responsive society? Man will focus on value-additions along with his on-going economic engagements required in nomadic, agriculture, industry, and information waves. In the fourth wave, man will develop wholistic and compassionate view about life and ecology. He will look at things and events at the level of global consciousness.

 

Zero and the first wave emphasized that we are separate and unconnected, second wave claimed we are separate but competing, third wave claimed we are separate but cooperating, and the fourth wave may argue we are one and co-creating a responsive society. Likewise, we managed to operate our societies (i) by traditions in the zero and first wave, (ii) by religion in second wave, (iii) by rationality in the third wave. In the fourth wave, we may like to knit our society with a basic fabric of responsibility.

 

Today, the signals[2] of fourth wave are being felt through the emerging forces of *respiritualization of society, *decline of materialism and scientism, *responsiveness in institutions, redefining wealth, *merging of corporate-personal life, *emergence of self-forgetful service paradigm, *integration of religiousness with science.

 

Let us understand that our roles in the fourth wave will be different. You will be actively participating in the creation of wave. But you alone cannot be a controller of the wave. The nature of these changes will be complex and dynamic. The patterns of change may follow chaotic principles. These changes will transform the total society in all respects. Even though you are partners of changes yet you are not the controllers. Education of fourth wave has to deal with these possibilities.

 

When will such a thing called fourth wave come about? What will be the nature of education? Who will manage this education? Whether education will be a passive agent or an active partner? Will education be a contributory factor for the creation of fourth wave or other forces will create the fourth wave and education will be a service agency to cope with the change? Will education change its vision before, during, or after, the fourth wave? All this depends upon you who are engaged in and around education? Shall we continue to play the old game with old / modified rules? Shall we play a new game of education with more sincerity and seriousness? If we seriously want to play this game, let us consider a framework to play the game.

 

Framework of Four Waves of Development

 

What are these waves? How many waves are there four or five? The waves are Zero Wave, 1st Wave 2nd Wave, 3rd Wave and 4th Wave. These waves have already occurred or currently emerged or will be emerging. What are possible sub-dimensions of those waves that have already occurred or have emerged or are emerging? These dimensions could belong to the natural and human world.

 

It is not easy to select the sub-dimensions. We selected four dimensions that have high relevance to education. These dimensions are named as (i) Approach Vision, (Ii) Methodology Vision, (Iii) Systems Vision, and (Iv) Management Vision. You will see in the cells of the framework that many of the things have happened or and many new will occur. In the first few columns of Table 1 below, there is reference to activities the past and present. But, in the last column that is designated for the fourth wave, we will not be able to say anything as these activities have yet to happen. We cannot mention them right today. The outlines of framework are presented in a tabular form. The following Table 1 gives a conceptual framework of AIAER Conference of Fourth Wave Education. Reference to Table 2 is given with a view to have an all inclusive overview.


 

Table 1 Framework of theme and sub themes “waves by vision”

Waves

Sub-themes

Wave-0

Nomadic

Wave-1

Agricultural

Wave-2

Industrial

Wave-3

Information

Wave-4 Responsive

 

Approach-Vision

Occurred / Occurring: see Table 2

Occurred / Occurring: see Table 2

Occurred / Occurring: see Table 2

Occurred / Occurring: see Table 2

Signals are emerging

 

Methodology

Vision

Occurred / Occurring: see Table 2

Occurred / Occurring: see Table 2

Occurred / Occurring: see Table 2

Occurred / Occurring: see Table 2

Signals are emerging

 

Systems

Vision

Occurred / Occurring: see Table 2

Occurred / Occurring: see Table 2

Occurred / Occurring: see Table 2

Occurred / Occurring: see Table 2

Signals are emerging

 

Management Vision

Occurred / Occurring: see Table 2

Occurred / Occurring: see Table 2

Occurred / Occurring: see Table 2

Occurred / Occurring: see Table 2

Signals are emerging

 

 

It is quite difficult to articulate the details for these cells. One has to find such details of past and present from the on-going waves and have to use the futuristic methods of research for the column cells falling under the fourth wave education.

 

Our deliberations in the Conference will guide the contents of this column meant for the fourth wave education. Thus, we may work out the preferred scenarios and the broad action plans. These preferred scenarios will be shaped by our aspirations, our values and our on-going actions. The scholars of the International Conference will construct and articulate the preferred contents for the Fourth Wave Education.

 

Meanwhile, let us move ahead. Let us understand these waves. Let us understand the sub-themes. Let us then find the historic evidence of the developments in the past. And finally let us create a futuristic framework for considering the possible issues about the four sub-theses the Conference. These issues can be discussed before, during, and even after the Conference. Right now, let us start with a brief outlines of the waves.

 

The Waves

The developments of waves have uneven patterns over time. We know that development of the waves is not uniform in the societies / countries across the globe. In some countries, some waves are subsiding, and some others are emerging. There are overlaps. The development is progressively increasing in its complexity.

 

Let me make it clear about the nomenclature and number of the waves that are referred in this address. The title of the International Conference is “Fourth Wave Education”. In continuity to Alvin Toffler’s, the Amritsar Conference accepted the title of “Fourth Wave Education”. Later on, we deliberated upon and decided to include nomadic wave as zero wave. We decided to include this wave as we find that even today some societies are living in the nomadic stage of development. Hence, two tables have included “Zero Wave” as one of the waves.

 

(0)               Nomadic Wave: (Zero Wave)

 

What are the principles of agricultural wave? What developments took place during this wave? Man moved from stone-age and started to rear animals for food, and movement. Animal strength was the symbol of his power. Hunting and horse riding were the basic skills for survival. All learning (not schooling) was addressed to nomadic skills.

 

(I) Agricultural Wave: (First Wave)

 

What are the principles of agricultural wave? What developments took place during this wave? Man recognized the importance of land as a source of growing plants and food. He developed living places like permanent houses and dwellings. Animal power was the source of movement and working. Education was organized in the tribes about animal care, plantation, and agriculture.

 

(II) Industrial Wave: (Second Wave)

 

What are the principles of agricultural wave? What developments took place during this wave? Man found new sources of energy. Coal and oil gave the energy to work with new tools and machines for production and movement. The six principles of second wave are (i) standardization, (ii) specialization, (iii) synchronization, (iv) concentration, (v) maximization, and (vi) centralization.

 

During industrial wave, the developments in management of societies took the shape of compliance of instructions, conformity of behaviors, bureaucratic organization, autocratic leadership, centralized control, adversarial relationships, one-way communications, and compartmentalization of actions. This was true for the fields of human endeavor including that of education. In that wave, all educational activities were addressed to develop an industrial man.

 

(III) Information Wave (Third Wave)

 

What are the principles of information wave? What developments are taking place during this wave? The principles of third wave are (i) planetary cooperation, (ii) justice, equality, balance, reciprocity, sharing, (iii) redesign of institutions, changing values, (iv) unity and diversity, from an “either-or” logic to a “both-and” logic, (v) distributed networks of power, no rigid organizations or hierarchies, and vi) many models of the future encouraged openness, learning societies.

 

During the information wave new developments have emerged by shifting: from standardization to customization; from compliance to initiative; from conformity to diversity; from bureaucratic organization to team organization; from autocratic leadership to shared leadership; from centralized control to autonomy-accountability; from adversarial relationships to cooperative relationships; from one-way communications to networking; from compartmentalization to holism. All activities of education are addressed to the development of a man suiting to the information management

.

In order to create a realistic vision for the fourth wave, let us see what happened in the past waves and what is going on in the ongoing information /knowledge /communication wave. The contents of Table 2 have been searched from Internet. Here, we are giving the reference of Table 2 for a comprehensive overview of our framework.

 

Table 2 is giving the life pattern of dimensions Zero wave, 1st wave 2nd wave, 3rd wave (taken and adapted from the Internet)

Waves

 

Dimension

Zero Wave

Nomadic-

Not Settled

1st Wave Agricultural Revolution

2nd Wave Industrial Revolution

3rd Wave Communications Web Revolution

Wealth

Cattle

Land

Industry

Information

Habitat

Extended Family; Mobile life

Village (Agriculture); Tied to Land; Immobile

Mega-City; Tied to Factory/City

Not tied to City; Tied to Computer Web; Mobile

Class Distinctions

Few

Nobles, Warriors Priests Peasants/Slaves

Owners Workers

By Abilities/ Access to Information

Position Determined

By Abilities

By Birth

By Wealth

By Abilities

Economy

Personal

Local (except sea-faring)

National /International

International-yet Local

Energy Sources

Human

Renewable: human / animal wood, wind, water

Non-Renewable: Fossil fuels, gas, oil, coal

Renewable

How Things Made? & For Whom?

Handicraft For self

Custom-Made (Expensive) For self/ Others

Mass Produced (Cheap) For Others; Mass Distribution (railroads; highways)

Mass Markets; But Custom Distribution (Cheap) For Others

Family

Pre-Wave Hunting groups; Transitory Gatherers

Large; Multi-generations; Immobile

Small; Nuclear- Family, Mobile

Individual; Decline of Nuclear Family; Mobile

Education

Oral / Family

Elite only; Bureaucrats (Priests; Scribes)

Mass Education Same for All; Contents 3-Rs

Individualized and Differentiated for all.

Warfare

 Weapons

Warriors; Push out of territory; take away people and cattle

Mass armies; destroy warriors; take people; land; cities

Mechanical Technology; Mass Destruction

Information is the Weapon; Destroy by control information

 

 

(IV) Responsive Wave: (Fourth Wave)        

 

This wave is the theme of the AIAER Conference. This is the wave that will emerge. Are the contents of the fourth wave lying out there? No! These contents have yet to be created. It will be better if we may say that these contents will be created by us as we want them to be.

What will be the principles of fourth wave? What new initiatives will emerge? The educational activities may aim to develop a Responsible man who will create a society that will be full of holistic thinking and compassion. The creators of fourth wave will have to learn to use the “science of complexity". Compassion will be brought to the center stage of all human endeavors including that of education? These creators will use their inner own authority

 

 

(a) Approach-Vision: First Sub-theme

 

Behaviorism (Learning as response strengthening): In behaviorism the learner passively receives rewards and punishment where he or she repeatedly cued to give a simple response which is followed by immediate feedback. The learner has the efficiency of deploying the cognitive strategies of memory & work on cognitive & meta-cognitive strategy when handling the task.

 

Cognitivism (Learning as knowledge acquisition): Here the information is a commodity that can be transmitted directly from teacher to the learner. Cognitive learning style originates in a person’s psychodynamic history & reflect consistent individual differences in the way world is perceived, how task are learned & how problems are solved

 

Constructivism (Learning is constructing your own knowledge): Here learner is a sense-maker where as teacher is a cognitive guide. Child teaches himself by gathering information and experiencing the world around him. Such learning exemplifies constructivism. The purpose of learning is for an individual, construct his or her own meaning, and not just memorize ‘right’ answers. Learning is studied in the perspective of the learners. The object is to see how the learners construct the context, express the relationship.

 

Questions and Issues for Deliberations

 

What is the learning approach? How do we justify the rote learning approach that is employed in some eastern world? How will the learning environment and the assessment mechanisms harmonize their relationships? What will happen to informal system of education? What will happen to non formal education and life long learning environments? If deep strategy of learning is recommended, then why assessment is devoid of that focus? How do we deal with the idea of multiple intelligences? What will be our view about the learning from the unstructured data when some students are motivated to adopt the approach of structured learning?

 

 

(b) Methodology Vision: Second Sub-theme- MARS

 

Mass Action Research is a form of collective self-reflective enquiry undertaken by the participants in social situations in order to improve their own productivity. Teachers, students, principals, parents & other community members can participate in action research.

 

In action research teachers are encouraged to examine their educational ideas for their own practices. Teachers may uncover assumptions that turn out to be unjustified. Teachers may find ways in which practices shaped by habit have become irrelevant. Teachers can find obstacles in the way of attaining educational goals. Through MARS, our teachers will solve their problems of teaching, learning, evaluation, administration etc. The local environment influences teaching-learning processes.

 

MARS will improve the self-esteem of teachers. They learn to work creatively. Participation in action research improves the ongoing practices. It enhances the role of the teachers. MARS will improve self-esteem of teachers.

 

The curriculum can thus be related to local set-up. A wide range of topics, which could include, but not be limited to student learning, instructional effectiveness, staff development, classroom management, organizational structure, and school / community program, can become core topics of local research. They will diagnose and solve their own problems. Teachers can thus create local knowledge and can thus use local wisdom for developing new local context curriculum. Teachers are expected to be flexible in using local wisdom even while using the prescribed syllabus.

 

I was reading a publication of Diganter about “local wisdom” where they say, “We had overlooked the most important kind of capital, the kind that underlies communities just as a foundation keeps a great building from toppling. This fourth form is wisdom capital - the available store of thought collected over thousands of years that calls us to live in ways that sustain the well-being of others. In a time of growing change and complexity, without wisdom capital and the values it sustains, we cannot have strong and healthy communities.”

 

In the conference of the last year, I have mentioned 2003 that the futuristic curriculum may have seven types of knowledge that will form the basic tenets of earth as a whole. Acceptance of local and global realities will create a happy marriage to enrich our curriculum. We have to help our teachers to use local wisdom within the context of global framework?

 

Questions and Issues for Deliberations

 

How will teachers be trained to use action research techniques & strategies for transformative improvement in education? If Action Research is a collaborative work, can it involve work of individuals without being simultaneously being social? If Action Research is a self-reflective cycle, can it be relatively neutral research technology? How do teachers learn to change the local information to local knowledge, and then to local wisdom? How can formulate the curriculum having the co-existence of local and global wisdom?

 

(c) Systems Vision: Third Sub-theme

 

Someone has said that we ourselves have created our problems by overuse of competition and analytical methods of thinking. Today we suffer from ‘fragmentation, competition, and reactiveness’. We may use systems thinking rather than analytical thinking, cooperation rather than competition, and pro-activeness rather than reactiveness. We may examine the scenario of the ‘Fourth Wave Education’ in terms of ‘approach-vision’, ‘methodology-vision’, ‘systems-vision’ and ‘management –vision’.

 
Fragmentation: Let us understand fragmentation. We continually fragment problems into pieces; yet the major challenges we face
 in our organizations and beyond are increasingly systemic. The analytic way to address a complex situation is to break it into 
components, study each component in isolation, and then synthesize the components back into a whole. Once a mirror is
 broken / divided into pieces, then any type of synthesis cannot make it a whole mirror. 
 
 Competition: We have become over-dependent on competition. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with competition. Competition
 can promote efficiency, invention and daring. The problem is that we have lost the balance between competition and cooperation. 
The new education will have to think about how the process of developing people is more like parenting than competing. 
The new culture may be more like gardening than a military campaign. The quick-fix mentality also makes us "system blind." 
We need to think for long-term, system-wide consequences. 
 

Reactiveness: today, we have learnt to react to outside forces rather than our aspirations, imagination, and experimentation. Fear has become a motivator of our actions. We need to discipline to manage our lives through systems thinking, coupled with the other disciplines like personal mastery, shared vision, team learning and mental models. May be we have to use parallel thinking like the methods of six thinking hats of De Bono.

 

Tearing tensions: a new holistic system of education has to be created that is free from the seen tensions as outlines by the Delors Report. These tensions are: tensions between- global and local; universal and the individual; tradition and modernity; long-term and short-term considerations; competition and equality; expanding knowledge and capacity to assimilate; and the spiritual and the material outlooks.

 

Questions and Issues for Deliberations

 

How do we avoid the tendencies of symptomatic solutions and pursue systems thinking in future education for a responsible society. Do we solve the symptoms or the core causes of finding problems? How do we coordinate systemic thinking, systems thinking and systematic thinking? How do we integrate the ideas of inclusiveness, shared responsibility, openness, adaptive governance, open acknowledgments, and quality of global life?

 

(d) Management Vision: Fourth Sub-theme

 

Education of tomorrow will take its new shape in terms of objectives, contents, methods of learning, schedules of learning, and management of learning. The number of learners will increase at an alarming speed. They will ask for alternative learning facilities at different places including their work-places, just-in-time learning, and will demand to receive new life like contents. The demand will be perennial and will be escalating as the knowledge and skills are changing dramatically. The current managements will not be able to meet the emerging needs of new users of education. There will be a need of ‘new manager new users and new uses’ of education.  Management of education will address itself for the health of  ‘The Earth’ as a whole.

 

The current structures of management of educational institutions will transform for enabling themselves for dealing with increased complexities, increasing diversity, and progressively escalating flexibility.

 

Pro-schooling: This scenario says that the present system of school education will expand so as to meet the demand for education of increasing population. The major objectives of this scenario are- continuing bureaucratic institutionalized system, fulfilling the hidden social functions and resisting radical changes in the system.

Re-schooling: This scenario opposes the rigidity of the above education system by giving importance to education that has strong social links and community leadership. This scenario favors flexible learning organizations focusing on generating new knowledge base and accepting the radical changes.

De-schooling: This scenario advocates for non-formal education facilitated by ICTs and network society. As a result, the formal system of schooling will melt down.

 

What other new scenarios of schooling will emerge. Will multiple scenarios operate concurrently in given country? How will we manage the multiple systems fourth wave education? How will different stakeholders satisfy their needs through new models of education? Is there a possibility to devise some models of management of education where we may integrate issues of education with that of development through the joint efforts of four stakeholders’ government, multinational business, professionals and philanthropists? Will these models satisfy the needs of individual, family, community, nations, world, and the ecology? Will education move out of the four walls of the schools and beyond the designated years of schooling to life long education likely to be organized in life like situation?

 

Questions and Issues for Deliberations

 

Will ‘elder hostel’, communes, families, special organizations and specially-formed groups provide educational and recreational travel experiences and services to all the men and women and that as necessary part of a living society?

 

 Will the managers of work situations arrange learning environment including the establishment of universities with unique purposes and special work competencies?

 

On the lines of health education, will our mass media educate our children for core curriculum through edutainment programs? And will formal schools devote their energy for the child-specific programs of education while consulting and collaborating with parents and other professionals?

 

Will political parties, religions, professionals, business groups, mass media and communities form self supporting educational consortiums?

 

 

Concluding Comments: Life long education: eLearning World

 

Illiteracy is increasing: today man is doing nothing less than trying to start a revolution It is first time that we are thinking of competing with the possible life in the universe? For such a revolution, the world is changing fast with an unprecedented speed with unknown parameters about the directions of change. Every moment, we are becoming increasingly illiterate even in the sphere of our work. Pro-action in favor of life long learning is needed so that we can contribute meaningfully for the emerging noosphere. Both planned and unplanned learning will be useful if there is readiness for e-learning.

 

Human life will be transformed. Future brain researchers are aiming to improve the brains of children. Birth to age three is the critical period for social and emotional development. If children are exposed to nurturing experiences then brain development can gain momentum as later on plasticity declines. We may start talking of pre-kindergarten training in the fourth wave education.

 

I am sure that the participants of the 17th international Conference in Rajkot will deliberate most of the issues that are in our minds. Let us look for the guiding principles of building the preferred scenarios of Fourth Wave Education. I think it will form the crest of the fourth wave.

 

 



[1] I owe my gratitude to Late Prof E.P.Torrance who had introduced to me the idea of Creative Future Problem Solving. In the year 2003, Prof Torrance was worried about the futures of his futuristic ideas that he has been nurturing. Through this article, I pay my respects and homage to Late Prof. Torrance.

[2] Maynard Herman Bryant Jr. and Mehrtens Susan E., Berrett-Koehler Publishers San Francisco 1993

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