India
Utkal University in Bhubaneswar, India, a truly heart-warming and eye-opening experience. The purpose of the student initiated three-day symposium was to share our research projects in order to gain insight from an international perspective and provide the opportunity for future collaboration.
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Further to this, I wanted understand how a culture unfamiliar to me
Bhubaneswar // Utkal University Symposium
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would respond to research surrounding the reshaping secondary education for the 21st century. I shared how an alternative pedagogy focusing on problem-based learning could help young people navigate through an uncertain future and by building transferrable skills necessary and embracing individual identity through tailored teaching.
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The raw and honest response from the
audience about a Western approach to transforming education was truly insightful. There was a certain discomfort resonating and I was challenged to how this could work in with Eastern mindset where parents dictate a significant amount their children’s education, “this might work in the West, but not in the East”. The controversial feedback received was first-hand experience that an approach to global challenges can’t be delivered with a single cultural mindset.