Social Experts at IGCF: Family Values Need to Keep Up with Changing Times

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The eighth edition of the International Government Communication Forum (IGCF 2019) brought together a group of parents, children, academics and social behaviour experts at a special session themed ‘Family and Institution: Cultivating Culture, Developing Behaviour’. The session shed light on the important role of government communication in developing individual behaviour in ways that best meet the needs of modern society.

Moderated by Khalifa Al Suwaidi from the UAE University (UAEU), the discussion was based on three key pillars, namely; developing the concept of family education, how to achieve consistency between behavioural development campaigns and family education values, and finally, facilitating families’ access to social behaviour sciences.

 

The session discussed key challenges that families face today in raising children, particularly technology disruptions, which have created a gap between the current and older generations, as well as the new knowledge boom that has introduced radical changes, which education systems haven’t been able to keep pace with, growing fundamentalism and moral laxity in some youth, and the advent of a knowledge-based economy and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

 

The focus was on the pivotal role of government communication in introducing parents and academic institutions to practices, ethics and behaviours that need to be instilled in children, adolescents and youth. The session also addressed the importance of launching government communication awareness campaigns about practices required for the current stage and in proposing effective platforms for coordination between families and academic institutions.

 

The session proposed an array of recommendations to bridge the gap between parents and schools such as the development of joint objectives, pedagogic educational curricula, implementation of development and educational programmes for families, and supporting working mothers to enable them to fulfill their roles.

 

The participants remarked that in view of the rapid changes in lifestyles and the increasing challenges in all fields, families’ focus on traditional inherited values such as honesty, integrity, and cooperation are not enough. There is a need to integrate modern values into family education, such as preserving the environment and natural resources, controlling consumption, adhering to public order, innovation and creativity at work, changing the perception of education and the role of an individual in creating positive change in the environment.

 

The eighth edition of IGCF was held under the theme ‘Behavioural Change Towards Human Development’ and was organised by the International Government Communication Centre (IGCC), a subsidiary of Sharjah Government Media Bureau (SGMB).