Educar para transformar: quem é o líder do futuro?
Artigo escrito por Dr. Norman Arruda Filho. English version below.
“Não existe vento favorável para o marinheiro que não sabe aonde ir”. A famosa frase do filósofo Sêneca – um dos mais célebres advogados, escritores e intelectuais do Império Romano – se encaixa perfeitamente nas discussões sobre educação executiva responsável, uma vez que, encontrar seu valor vai muito além da simples propagação de princípios.
O grande trabalho das instituições de ensino focadas em preparar líderes responsáveis para o futuro consiste em promover o envolvimento dos alunos por meio despertar para uma visão global da realidade do planeta. A verdadeira prática é o que traz resultados significativos com potencial para impactar a sociedade de forma positiva.
Afinal, estamos preparando nossos alunos para um mundo do trabalho diferente do tudo que nós aprendemos, totalmente novo e disruptivo.
Vinícius Pinheiro, atual Diretor do Escritório da Organização Internacional do Trabalho (OIT) em Nova York elenca os principais desafios relacionados à três áreas-chave:
1. Economia digital: os avanços em tecnologia, robótica e automação podem contribuir positivamente para melhorar as condições de vida das pessoas. Por outro lado, podem ampliar as desigualdades sociais.
2. Mudanças climáticas e transição para a economia verde: representam uma mudança nos processos produtivos e uma releitura do uso dos recursos naturais disponíveis no planeta. Além disso, tem o potencial de geral 18 milhões de empregos no mundo, impactando os outros pilares do tripé da sustentabilidade: o social e o econômico.
3. Transição demográfica: considera a realidade inegável e já bastante discutida de que a população mundial em idade para trabalhar irá diminuir progressivamente. Com exceção da África que terá um incremento de 12% de pessoas nesse grupo, há uma previsão de redução de 14% para a Europa. É um cenário que precisa ser pensado e planejado.
Estamos na era da globalização e da velocidade das comunicações, onde o indivíduo ganha voz e ganha o mundo em questão de minutos.
Entre as inovações disruptivas há o receio de que as pessoas sejam dispensáveis perante a supremacia das máquinas. A alta tecnologia domina todos os setores produtivos: na indústria, no mercado, na saúde, nas linguagens, nas nossas escolas, na nossa casa. As novas formas de consumo questionam nossas referências, nosso próprio modelo de vida.
Há ainda o medo do desconhecido quando pensamos que nossos filhos e netos terão profissões que ainda nem existem.
E para atender a tudo isso, não podemos mais ficar sentados atrás de grandes mesas ou a frente de quadros negros das escolas sem olhar para o que está acontecendo no mundo ao redor.
Para o fundador da Universidade Minerva, Ben Nelson, que está fazendo um grande sucesso com um modelo inovador de ensino, “As universidades estão fazendo um bom trabalho, mas para o mundo de ontem. Não estão adaptadas a este mundo, no qual você muda de carreira, faz coisas muito diferentes e precisa de transferibilidade”, critica.
Então, o que precisamos fazer para acompanhar essa mudança? Como esperamos por mudanças se ainda estamos perpetuando sistemas ultrapassados de ensino?
A sala de aula como costumava ser tinha o professor como detentor do conhecimento. Hoje, um aluno com um celular na mão tem acesso a muito mais informações do que o professor é capaz de memorizar.
A sala de aula deve fazer parte dessa transformação e se tornar um espaço para compartilhamento, no qual cada um dos envolvidos tem um potencial valioso que não pode ser limitado a formalidades, mas deve ser medido por sua capacidade de participação, articulação e contribuição para o aprendizado em comunidade.
Paulo Freire foi um grande educador, pedagogo e filósofo brasileiro que há décadas defende a necessidade de mudança no papel da educação. Como grande defensor do aluno protagonista do conhecimento, em suas colocações afirma que “Ensinar não é transferir conhecimento, mas criar as possibilidades para a sua própria produção ou sua construção.”
Há vinte anos, o ISAE Escola de Negócios defende essa abordagem, acreditando no potencial de transformação da educação.
Como exemplo disso, somos signatários de uma série de princípios globais como: os 5 pilares da educação de Jacques Delors (https://unesdoc.unesco.org), os 10 Princípios do Pacto Global da ONU (http://pactoglobal.org.br/) e os Princípios da Educação Executiva Responsável da ONU (http://prmebrazil.com.br/)
Ao adotarmos um modelo educacional que associa teoria e a prática, valorizamos a experienciação, a avaliação por meio de resultados aplicáveis e o grau de comprometimento do aluno. Somos defensores do ensino transversal, do aluno como protagonista de seu próprio aprendizado e vemos o professor como facilitador desse processo e instigador da busca por mais conhecimento.
Investimos fortemente na conexão academia-mercado, escola-empresa, por entendermos a importância de o aluno vivenciar casos reais ainda dentro da escola, além de ter contato com profissionais de grandes empresas que vêm compartilhar sua experiência e trazer desafios para que os alunos possam trabalhar, criando soluções inovadoras.
Com isso, queremos mostrar que a escola pode ir além dos limites físicos e contribuir de maneira efetiva com a sociedade.
Mas o que mais buscamos com tudo isso?
Nosso maior objetivo é honrar nosso compromisso de estar aqui para contribuir com a sociedade por acreditarmos na educação executiva responsável como grande fator de transformação social.
No entanto, a transformação depende das pessoas. Se as pessoas não se mobilizarem, a educação sozinha não terá poder algum. Por isso, mais do que estar consciente das mudanças do mundo do futuro é preciso encará-las como oportunidades e instigar em nossos alunos a curiosidade, sendo provocador e despertando o interesse pelo aprendizado e a sede por conhecimento.
Somente assim, quando conseguimos inspirar o outro, deixamos de ser espectadores passivos e nos tornamos verdadeiros agentes da mudança.
“A educação transforma pessoas,
as pessoas transformam o mundo.”
Paulo Freire
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Transformative Education: preparing leaders for the future we need
By Norman de Paula Arruda Filho - President ISAE Brasilian Business School
In one of his analyzes of current society, the Italian sociologist Domenico de Masi cites a statement by Seneca, the phylosopher, that fits perfectly into the discussions about responsible executive education.
Seneca says that "there is no favorable wind for the sailor who does not know where to go".
Having responsible executive education as a value goes beyond disseminating principles in theoretical and subjective approaches. Real practice is what brings the most significant results with the potential to positively impact society.
Vinícius Pinheiro, current Director of the ILO Office in New York, outlines the main challenges related to three key areas:
1. Digital economy: understanding that advances in technology, robotics and automation can contribute positively to improving people's living conditions. However, on the other hand, they can widen social inequalities.
2. Climate change and transition to the green economy: they represent a change in productive processes and a re-reading of the use of natural resources available on the planet. In addition, it has the overall potential for 18 million jobs.
3. Demographic transition: the undeniable and well-argued reality that, with the exception of Africa, the world's working-age population will gradually decline. While Africa will have a 12% increase in this group, there will be a reduction of 14% in Europe. It is a scenario that needs to be thought out and planned.
We are in the era of globalization and the speed of communications, where the individual gains a voice and wins the world in a matter of minutes.
Among the disruptive innovations, there is the fear that people are dispensable before the supremacy of machines. High technology dominates all productive sectors: in industry, in the market, in health, in languages, in our schools, in our home.
The new forms of consumption question our references, our own model of life.
There is still the fear of the unknown when we think our children and grandchildren will have professions that do not yet exist.
And to meet all this, we can no longer sit behind large tables or the front of school blackboards without considering what is happening in the world around.
It's a lot to assimilate. And, here lies the great question for us teachers, educators, managers, parents and leaders: are we prepared for so many changes?
Again, I recall Domenico De Masi who says there is no need to fear. The inconstancy is something natural, the world has always changed and with perpetual speed.
So what do we need to do to keep up with this change?
We need to stop feeling scared and face it!
How do we expect changes if we are still perpetuating outdated teaching systems?
The classroom, as it used to be, had the teacher as the keeper of knowledge. However, we need to recognize that the teacher can no longer be in a domineering position within the classroom. A student with a cell phone in hand has access to information much faster than the teacher is able to memorize.
The classroom needs to be recognized as a space for sharing in which each stakeholder has a valuable potential that can not be limited to formalities but must be measured by their ability to participate, articulate, and contribute to community learning.
In the studies on andragogy, the American educator, Malcolm Knowles, affirms that as a person matures, his perspectives of time evolve from the future application of the knowledge to the immediate application and, consequently, his orientation towards the learning becomes centered in problems and concrete facts. In this context, it is fundamental that the classroom assumes a laboratory character, encouraging the practice and involving the student in activities with a defined purpose.
Academic production based on theories of the past has its value, but also needs to demonstrate its potential of delivery to society. There is more time for something worthless in practical reality.
Paulo Freire was a great Brazilian educator, pedagogue and philosopher, who for decades has defended the need to change the role of education. As a great advocate of the learner's student of knowledge, in one of his most celebrated statements he states that " To teach means not only to transfer knowledge but to create possibilities for its self-production and self-construction."
The big insight here is to know how. How to instigate the student to seek knowledge? How to make the student a protagonist in his or her learning?
For twenty years, the ISAE Business School has defended this approach, believing in education’s potential for transformation.
As an example, we are signatories to a number of global principles such as: the five pillars of education of Jacques Delors (https://unesdoc.unesco.org), the 10 Principles of the UN Global Compact (http://pactoglobal.org .br /) and the UN Principles of Executive Education (http://prmebrazil.com.br/)
By adopting an educational model that associates theory and practice, we value the experience, the evaluation through applicable results and the student’s degree of commitment. We are advocates of transversal teaching, student’s as protagonist of their own learning and we see the teacher as facilitator of this process and instigator of the search for more knowledge.
With an executive and entrepreneurial profile, we have invested in leadership training since graduation. In our professional master's degree in Governance and Sustainability we encourage the mixture between academic production and creation of value for the market. In terms of internationalization, for more than ten years we have partnered with universities in the four continents for which we have already sent and received students from various programs in the areas of project management, innovation, sustainability, among others.
We want to show that the school can go beyond physical limits and contribute effectively to society. Therefore, in addition to being a signatory to the UN Global Compact since 2004, we have participated in the United Nations task force that defined the Principles for Responsible Executive Education in 2006, in recent years we have partnered with other UN initiatives such as Unitar and the Cities Programme (https://citiesprogramme.org/), the ABBS (Association of Business Schools of the BRICS Countries) and in Latin America with Redulac (University Network of Latin America and the Caribbean for the Reduction of Emergencies and Disasters Risks) for the realization of programs and research projects in partnerships.
Some of our differentials in which we seek to improve the students' experience in the Institution are:
Perspective Action: our unique educational model that offers students differentiated experiences that go beyond the curriculum of their course, to turn them into a more complete professional. The activities range from a personalized orientation, to workshops with transversal themes such as gastronomy and meditation, as well as experiential challenges with extreme sports. In total there are 14 exclusive activities for students.
Courses according to knowledge trail models: we create a model of knowledge trails that facilitate flexibility in student training, since they have the option of taking quick and personalized courses, allowing a more complete training in a specific area or an association between different areas of expertise.
Courses on transversal themes: we seek to innovate in the themes of the courses offered, always attentive to the most modern offered in terms of the national and international market. For two years, we have been working with the theme "Happiness" that has already brought students from several other states of Brazil to ISAE.
We invest heavily in the academia-market, school-company connection, because we understand the importance of the student experiencing real cases while still inside the school, in addition to being in contact with professionals from large companies who come to share their experience and bring challenges so that the students can work, creating innovative solutions.
This feature is very strong, especially in our Masters in Governance and Sustainability course, the first in Brazil to unite the two themes. Because it is a professional master's degree, it is focused both on academic production and on the development of applied research focused on the demands of organizations.
In addition, we have an accelerator to foster the businesses of our students. The program consists of a selection process and mentoring period for improvement. At the end of the cycle we put you in touch with potential interested investors.
In these years, we have gathered some awards such as Seal ODM and ODS of SESI (Social Service of Industry) regarding our work with volunteering that involves students, teachers and community. The ANGRAD Award for Innovation in Teaching and Learning 2018 (National Association of Graduate Programs in Administration) in relation to our hybrid teaching model. We have been recognized by the UN for the quality of two of our Sustainability Reports (2013 and 2016), as well as the PRME Pioneer 2017 Award for my personal involvement in responsible executive education.
The main acknowledgments of the ISAE translate into our openness in other segments, and especially our 20-year partnership with the UN. We are active participants in events to promote sustainable development and responsible executive education. Since 2015, we have invested heavily in the promotion of the 17 UN SDGs, developing and adapting projects to promote the Agenda in our management and curriculum with the offer of courses and lectures on the subject, and to guide our students to align their research projects with SDGs.
We also invest in the dissemination of the theme among the academic and business community locally, nationally and internationally.
What else do we seek with all this?
Being the protagonist of sustainable development, inspiring globally responsible leaders through transformative education.
Honoring our commitment to contribute to society because we believe in education as a great transformation factor for change.
What I seek with sharing what has become my life's mission is to awaken what I call "The Ability to Develop the Sense of ..." A personal reflection that became a speech given to rectors and directors of the world's largest business schools in July 2017 in New York, reinforcing that if we want a substantial change in society we must begin by reviewing our own concepts, attitudes and our senses . (https://www.normanarrudafilho.com/feed/the-sense-of)
Finally, it is important to emphasize that transformation depends on people. If people do not mobilize, education alone will have no power at all. Therefore, rather than being aware of the changes in the world of the future, we must face them as opportunities and instill curiosity in our students, being provocative and arousing interest in learning.
Only then, when we manage to inspire the other, we cease to be passive bystanders and become real agents of change.
"Education transforms people, people transform the world."
Paulo Freire