students were expected to acquire a basic body of knowledge and then specialise in a field of their choice and pursue a professional career in that area to achieve this aim it was considered sufficient for teachers to transmit accumulated knowledge and for students to memorise it this approach worked when jobs were also compartmentalised specialised and stable allowing most people to find a job for life or at least stay in the same field the landscape has changed dramatically in recent years putting huge pressure on education systems to adapt to a rapidly evolving ecosystem