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The Future For Kids: What Tools Will They Need Today to Enter the Workforce in 2030 and Beyond?
The Future for Kids: What Tools Will They Need Today to Enter the Workforce in 2030 and Beyond? By Surren Maharaj
The Foundation of Young Workers in Australia predicts that every job will be changed in the next two decades by automation. This being the case, then the skills required by the future workers (our kids today) will be vastly different than that of today. Therefore, it would make sense that our education system of today will need to change to prepare our children for the future. Workers in 2030 will perform fewer routine and manual tasks, and instead focus on human interaction, strategic and creative thinking. They will also spend more time learning on the job, solving problems and using science, mathematics, technology, written and verbal skills. It is also expected that people would take approximately 30% more time learning the job than they currently do now. It is also expected that there will be fewer managers, therefore workers will have to supervise themselves and adopting an entrepreneurial mindset will be key for them to get ahead. There are significant warnings about the current short coming of our educational system which is based on formally assessing based on the old understanding of “smart.” It would appear that an overhaul of the entire system, from pre-school to higher education, and beyond is urgently needed. Currently, we assess smart based on how the child performs in a test. A system that takes into account the child’s cognitive and emotional intelligence will be of greater importance. This can be easily defined as “human Intelligence”. Given the role of technology and automation in our future, more focus will be needed in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). It is also predicted that the average employee will change jobs 17 times and have 5 different careers over their lifetime. Our children’s ability to interact with robots will be key in the future. Schools must now alter their curriculum to include robotics from as early as pre-school or kindergarden. But how do we make this transition when there exists a generation gap between our children and our teachers? This gap can make it very hard for them to relate to each other. Teachers will also be required to learn new tools and techniques to capture and maintain the interest of kids. Many of our teachers today are used to text books and paper, while our new generations are growing up with BusinessFocus Feb / Mar
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e-readers. In addition, classrooms may look very different with video-conferencing and robots replacing brick and mortar and even humans. Kids today are all about their social media, this is predicted to be even stronger in the future. They make their videos for YouTube, update statuses on Twitter, and spend 18 hours a day on Facebook. That doesn’t leave them a whole lot of time for unimportant things like school or learning. Schools will have to rely on social media to reach students who are more interested in their computers than the classroom. The future of education is believed to rely heavily on available technology such as the Internet. The tuition-free school titled University of The People has one goal in mind: providing free education for the world. This school is now fully accredited and UofPeople is slowly gaining traction on their path to revolutionize the way we view higher education. This article is the first in a series that will look at the future skills needed for our children today to survive and excel in the world tomorrow. Stay tuned as this amazing future is unearthed. ¤ Surren Maharaj (MBA; BA; PCC) is the Principal Consultant and Chief Coach for Boundless Coaching Consulting and the President of the Life Coaching Association of Trinidad and Tobago. As Professional Certified Coach (PCC), he is part of an international community of coaches and is constantly called upon by local and regional clients. He has designed and delivered coaching courses. He is an active Mentor with YBTT and one of the Shell LiveWire Trainers. His career history includes over 20 years of expertise in Leadership and Management in the financial, logistics and retail sectors of Canada. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree from York University, Canada and a Master in Business Administration from Wales Bridge, UK. He can be contacted at +1 868 689 4034 / surren.maharaj@gmail.com.