David Chiem is Founder, CEO and Executive Chairman of MindChamps PreSchool Limited, an early education provider with 100+ centres globally.
In recent years and even months—as the wave of AI inventiveness has swelled to a tsunami—much has been made of the ability of innovations like ChatGPT to act as surrogates for individual literacy, synthesizing and analyzing information and composing responses to inquiries or conundrums in a fraction of the time it might take for a human to do the same. Does this development render literacy virtually redundant, or does it make the literacy level of the individual even more relevant? I would argue that in the world of the AI revolution, language literacy and its cognitive correlates, such as critical and analytical thinking, have become more significant than ever as predictors of workplace and social success.
Reading is, after all, about far more than merely “decoding” words. It is about thinking. The more exposure we have to disparate thoughts and perspectives, the better the foundation we lay for future synthesis—and the less we may rely on the influential, but highly untrustworthy, input of chatbots and the content we find on social media.
Unfortunately, despite the obvious importance of literacy in a 21st-century context, Australia has seen a gradual decline in PISA test reading scores since 2000.
This trend is concerning for parents, educators, businesses and policymakers, and it begs the question: What can we do to address this issue?
Early literacy development is like building a foundation for a house. If the foundation is solid, the house can stand strong and weather any storm. Similarly, if children develop robust literacy skills at an early age, they will have a strong cognitive foundation for future learning.
If we fail to seize this window of opportunity, however, children who struggle with reading and writing could face significant challenges—both in school and beyond.
The importance of developing literacy in young children also impacts their emotional and social well-being. Research has shown the strong link between reading and emotional development. In this context, literacy provides a means for people to express their thoughts, feelings and experiences and to empathize with the people around them, which could positively affect their success in the workplace.
Many studies have also cited other benefits of reading and literacy, such as improved memory and attention.
Developing literacy proficiencies in young children requires a partnership between parents, educators, businesses and the wider community. In our book Talking with the Sky (World Scientific, 2010), Brian Caswell and I demonstrated the danger of artificially “hothousing” young children, and appreciation of this danger is particularly relevant to the development of literacy.
Developing early childhood literacy does not need to be forced. We don’t actively teach children to speak—we simply talk to and around them, and they pick it up through their immersion in the language.
Essentially, the basic elements of reading can be absorbed the same way—through immersion in the written language. The key is to understand the symbiotic relationship between learning and emotion—and the vital importance of positive early reading experiences.
The language of literature is subtly but significantly different from everyday spoken language, so it’s important for every child to hear, engage and play with the rhythms, vocabulary, syntax and flow of written text—even before they begin to decode the symbols.
Filling The Education Gap And Staying Competitive In A Global Economy
Looking back on my own childhood experience as a refugee in Australia—having arrived in the country unable to speak a word of English—I was able to intuitively appreciate the importance of literacy at a personal level. The struggles of those early days instilled in me the conviction that, in the end, success is a function of mindset. It was an insight that empowered me, years later, to identify a key gap in education systems worldwide and create an education movement based on developing positive learning mindsets.
This integrative perspective on learning is important when dealing with something as fundamental as literacy. If literacy is to evolve beyond merely decoding, it must create a synergistic relationship with language and, more widely, with other types of conceptual cognition. It must nurture critical and analytical thinking, empathy and social-emotional awareness.
In a world changed by the AI revolution, for a company to remain competitive, a key component is the flexibility of its workforce, and cognitive flexibility (the key to success in the world of AI) is best nurtured from a young age.
Why Literacy Matters For Leaders
Enhancing literacy skills—and cultivating the fundamental concepts that literacy shares with other diverse cognitive domains—lays the foundations for more effective leadership by boosting empathy and encouraging the employment of wider perspectives.
Better leadership means more competitive companies and a more competitive nation. So, if our goal as business leaders is to build and maintain a more viable and competitive economy, we should start thinking about literacy not merely as an educational issue, but as a path to future business and national prosperity.
As leaders, we have the opportunity to make a lasting impact, but it could be too late when the next generation arrives, unprepared, in our offices or on our factory floors. We need to help create change much earlier in the cycle.
We have begun to see a shift toward more open-minded hiring methods, but we need to take this one step further—leaders can create bridging programs for young workers looking for a foothold in the workforce. Similar to strategies applied in tertiary education, leaders can offer targeted employment programs as a way to support those who haven’t had access to equal educational opportunities. These initiatives could involve programs that support interpersonal skills, basic administrative training to help young workers get a foot in the door, and, most importantly, computer skills, as information technology and AI are such an integral part of the modern-day workforce.
Working proactively to improve access to quality early-childhood literacy and job opportunities could easily become a key plank in any organization’s social charter—and have an unfathomable effect on the learning potential of an entire generation.
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