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.
Further to this, I wanted understand how a culture unfamiliar to me
Bhubaneswar // Utkal University Symposium
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.
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.