If I was to add my 2 cents worth, I’d say that I think the internet and having Google and Wikipedia at our fingertips is changing our whole relationship with knowledge.

As you rightly point out, rote learning is pointless, if the reality is that in our working environments we will have basically all that information at our fingertips.

Although some basic standard or level of knowledge is obviously important, the education system needs to be more about helping people learn how they use and apply the knowledge that they have at their fingertips.

Collaboration, I would have thought, should be a part of that - working in a group or a team to meet a given challenge or come up with an idea, presentation or innovation of some sort.

Maths and science is gradually being made more hands-on I believe, but whether that will help to turn the tide so that students aren’t turned off by their textbooks remains to be seen.