Tech can amplify great teaching - but it can't replace bad teaching

Singapore

THE future of education is about pairing the artificial intelligence of computers with the cognitive, social and emotional skills and values of human beings.

This is the view of Andreas Schleicher, who is both the director of education and skills, and the special adviser on education policy to the Secretary-General at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

"Technology hasn't just changed the 'what' of education, it is also changing the 'how'. Technology elevates the role of teachers from imparting received knowledge towards working as co-creators of knowledge, as coaches, as mentors and as evaluators," he said in an interview with The Business Times.

Mr Schleicher, a Paris-based German statistician and researcher in the field of education, is a key member of the OECD's senior management team. He is in Singapore this week to attend a two-day conference organised by the Institute of Technical Education…