Plenary: A New World of Learning – Croatia in Europe 2020

The second decade of the twenty-first century will be marked by great changes in learning processes, and therefore in educational systems. All those who plan learning and organise educational systems should be aware of the facts that we live in exponential times, that the learning process changes under the influence of technology and that the human brain adapts as part of the normal process of evolution, i.e. the adjustment for survival in exponential life conditions. Brain adjustment (neural plasticity) is a life-long ability to reorganise brain structure and function (neural paths) based on new experience (learning). Research and findings about neural plasticity will therefore be reflected in the field of education. Alongside with technological changes and human brain adjustments, there are also social changes: industrial civilization disappears and knowledge-based civilization arises. These changes necessarily affect the educational system which is built for the purposes of industrial civilization, whereas teachers were educated for maintenance of industrial society. Therefore, the crucial question is: how should the educational system respond to all these changes? The answer is simple in theory, but exceptionally complex in practice: flexibility. The educational system needs flexibility of learning contents, learning models, learning times and learning places, learning objectives and evaluation of educational achievements, as well as learning networks. This is why the educational system needs to be directed towards well defined learning outcomes, flexible learning paths and lifelong learning, which focuses primarily on the basic human right to education, and not on an economic or competitive imperative. Educational system is the basic community tool for systematic development of society and economy, which means that it is a part of the basic community infrastructure, and the basic task of teachers is to connect brains through the process of learning.