MANCHESTER: Qatari students joined their peers, policy-makers and educators in the United Kingdom on Tuesday for a provocative debate and discussion on the future of education. Qatar UK 2013, in conjunction with the British Council’s Going Global conference for leaders of higher education and Qatar Foundation’s World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE), convened leading experts at the University of Salford for a formal debate asking, ‘Will the teaching profession as we know it become obsolete?’ This event was one of many in an active year for Qatar and for the UK as both nations deepen educational ties and forge lasting partnerships for the future.
The debate was co-hosted by Martin Davidson CMG, Chief Executive, British Council and Stavros Yiannouka, CEO of WISE, a major initiative of the Qatar Foundation.
On the premise that rapid technological innovation creates new methods of education and expands access to knowledge, three speakers supported the idea that teaching would be rendered obsolete in the future and three opposed it. Notably, Georgetown University Qatar student Bilal Shakir was among those opposing the idea that technology will replace teaching as a profession.
Shakir presented a clear and concise case that technology should augment the learning process. Maintaining that problems with current education systems stem from the systems themselves and not with teachers, Shakir said those who argue for replacing teachers with technology mistake the prognosis for the diagnosis. “We need to find creative ways to fix the teaching system and invest in teachers, not make teaching obsolete,” argued Bilal Shakir, citing the work across South Asia of the N.G.O. BRAC. “Technology can and should augment learning – but it must never replace teachers,” he added. Professor Martin Hall, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Salford, joined Shakir in supporting the value of traditional teaching.
Proponents of the idea that technology will eventually replace teachers in the classroom pointed to the power of individual students in determining educational outcomes and rising costs of traditional education compared to those of emerging education technologies.
Qatari students studying at the University of Leeds, University of Huddersfield, University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University in the UK joined the wider student community in the discussion and were given the opportunity, along with policy-makers, educators and other members of the community present, to vote on the outcome of the formal debate. After a passionate hour-long debate, the audience voted against the motion – but by a very narrow margin.
Dignitaries present included Mohammed Al Kaabi, Cultural Attaché at the Embassy of Qatar in London. Of the debate, Mohammed Al Kaabi said: “Like Qatar UK 2013 Year of Culture, this debate celebrates and encourages the exchange of culture and ideas. There are over 1,500 Qatari young people studying at Universities across the UK, this event has provided them with the opportunity to have their voice heard on the future of education. I am also pleased to see WISE operating in the international arena and collaborating with the UK in this way – just one example of where the Year of Culture is helping to establish long-lasting relationships between the two countries.”
Martin Davidson CMG, Chief Executive of the British Council said, “Debates such as this are all about exploring ideas, which in essence is what Qatar UK 2013 is all about. The Year is creating a dialogue between the two countries in areas such as arts, education, science and language and aims to increase cultural understanding between the two nations. The year provides a catalyst for UK partnerships with Qatari organisations such as WISE, which I hope will continue long after the Year has ended.”
The Peninsula
