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By: Sarah Harmon, ODILO’s General Director
Opinion article published by EL ESPAÑOL
The current educational model emerged to respond to the needs of the Industrial Revolution: to train people for predictable jobs where memorization, uniformity, and obedience prevailed over creativity. Although it contributed to socioeconomic progress, the contemporary labor market invites us to replace this approach with flexible and personalized models that promote individual talent and interests.
The birth of new technologies is bringing an end to industrial society and leading to a boom in previously unimaginable professions. According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), 40% of the skills needed in the workplace will change by 2030, reflecting the volatility of the labor market and opening the debate on the usefulness of the current educational model. At a time when digitization, automation, and AI are already shaping professional profiles, are we preparing young people for the future? Are we offering today’s professionals the tools to adapt to such a changing job market?
As psychologist Carol Dweck suggests, education is no longer a finite stage, but a continuous process throughout life: “Continuous learning is not just a technical challenge, it is a cultural change. We must teach people to believe that they can continue to grow throughout their lives.” Thus, we are moving toward lifelong learning, a paradigm in which education is a path of permanent learning that is flexible and aligned with the stage of life we are in. This poses a challenge for the education system. We must prepare for the present, and even more so for an unknown future.
Faced with this challenge, personalization emerges as the key to adapting to a diverse and changing environment. In this sense, Benjamin Bloom, psychologist and educator, argues that “personalized learning can generate improvements of up to two standard deviations in performance.” Bloom’s evidence, already in the 1980s, showed that a personalized approach can multiply academic performance. Today, technology makes it possible to do this at scale. Through edtech, educational technology companies, it is possible to take learning to another level by providing tools, methodologies, and formats for more personalized, flexible, and motivating training. This is a novel and humanistic approach in which content is experienced, adapted, and connected to personal abilities, interests, and rhythms.
Thanks to the integration of technology into educational processes, it is now possible to offer each person a personalized learning experience that adapts to their starting point, pace, and context. Whether at school or university, in the workplace or even after retirement, edtech is establishing itself as a key tool for facilitating continuous, flexible, and relevant learning. Its ability to offer tailored content and methodologies allows each individual to develop the skills they need to thrive in the digital age, regardless of their stage in life.
Digital education platforms use ML and AI to design customized training itineraries, create interactive learning ecosystems, and evaluate individual progress continuously and dynamically. In addition, they democratize knowledge by breaking down all socio-geographical barriers in favor of accessible, inclusive, and equitable education.
At this point, it is essential to recognize that technology alone cannot solve the systemic problems we face. It should also be noted that there is a clear academic consensus: learning is enhanced in social environments, whether through observation, guided support, group interaction, or collaborative networks, much more so than in individualistic approaches. Therefore, we must not lose sight of the fact that we are social beings by nature and that we learn best from each other. Technology can facilitate that connection, but it can never replace it.
Therefore, for this educational revolution to be successful, teachers must be placed at the center. There is no point in innovating if we do not have those who make education possible. Technological implementation does not replace teachers. It reinforces their role by providing them with digital solutions, continuous training, and spaces to experiment. Resources for personal and professional growth, improving the quality of education they offer students, with comprehensive support in hybrid models that combine the best of technology and the most valuable aspects of the human factor. In this way, what has the most significant impact on learning is not the technology itself, but continuous feedback, clear objectives, and student engagement. Well-designed edtech makes this possible.
With that established, we arrive at an inescapable conclusion: we need a profound transformation of the approaches and methods of the education system. We must move from a model focused on transmitting content to one focused on people and recognizing a diversity of talents, interests, and backgrounds. We must put an end to standardized education and move toward flexible, personalized training that is continually renewed to respond to a technological future that is as promising as it is uncertain.
The answer lies in a dynamic, creative, and committed global edtech ecosystem that proposes using technology not as an educational end in itself, but as a tool to make education a constant in life. A way to ensure that every person has the opportunity to learn over time and adapt to a world that is evolving at a rapid pace. All this by involving the government, institutions, educational centers, the private sector, and edtechs to take the necessary leap towards continuous and transformative training. By joining forces and through technological implementation, we will achieve a sustainable and real education, capable of training the professionals of tomorrow and the citizens who will build a more just, inclusive, and diverse society. The key that opens the door to 21st-century education is in our hands.