Based on my experiences as a student in the 20th century and as an educator in the 21st century, there is a major shift in the thinking process. In contrast to traditional emphasis on instruction of basic facts, the modern curriculum relies on students to access and interact meaningfully with information, including facts, opinions, circumstances, factors, practical applications, and so on.

For example, in the 20th century, those studying geography would learn about the location and general features of UAE simply by listening to the teacher and writing whatever the teacher has written on the board in their notebooks. However, in the 21st century, students learn about the UAE by researching the topic and producing a report or a project, such as a simulated travel agency brochure detailing aspects of demography, topography, and daily life in the UAE that would be of interest to prospective tourists.

As a result of this new instructional approach, the present-day model of effective teaching in the UAE features teachers as facilitators, rather than as fountains of information. Additionally, there have been remarkable alterations to assessment as a tool for measuring academic achievement and monitoring students’ progress in pursuing growth in knowledge and skills. The traditional marking system recorded performance in a strictly simulative fashion. The new system, on the other hand, requires that teachers record formative performances and adjust instruction to remedial on an ongoing basis.

By any objective analysis, teaching in the new century has become a more complicated task, as possessing and redistributing knowledge is no longer sufficient to achieve success. In this respect, modern teaching has become, at times bewildering as teachers of academically successful students receive the news that they were ineffective teachers.

Given that the relative merits of our modern behaviourist approach to instruction often do not include increased academic success among students, it is worth asking whether 20th century educators had it as wrong as 21st century educators are inclined to think? In other words, isn’t it reasonable to assert that achievement of objectively measurable indicators of students’ academic success is the singular goal of education in any century?

— The reader is an Emirati educator based in Al Ain