The future of work more unpredictability because of rapid disruptive change and innovation. It was a challenge for us as parents and educators in terms of how we can contribute towards raising children to thrive in these environments.
The future of work challenges based on changes, change is New World Order include:
- Remote work for all
- Office-less company
- Flexible schedules
- Flexible employees
- Non-hierarchical Leadership
- Soft skills
- A rise in messaging apps
- Gig economy
- Automation
- Artificial Intelligence
- Big Data
- Wearable tech
- Internet of Things (IoT)
We need to focus on enriching empowering and elevating kids through building skill sets, mindsets and hard sets that enable them to position themselves for success and take advantage of the new opportunities that will come their way in the future.
This short article written as compressed version of 17 lessons based on course by Mr. Hassan an education insurance with a combined international experience of 10 years in education and training, he has worked at schools and universities in the UK and the Middle East in a variety of roles as a teacher, researcher, trainer, student counsellor and as an entrepreneur. He has a Masters of Science degree in economics from the University of Nottingham in the UK and He is the founder of Flavor School For Stars which is a digital enrichment school delivering entrepreneurial learning for children from around the world. He is passionate about influencing the way learning is delivered in schools and preparing young people for the future of work. His course serves as a curated guidebook for parents educators and employers about some of the key skills that are essential for young people to thrive in the 21st century.
Have a great responsibility on our shoulders to start building the workforce of the future as early as possible because the pace of innovation and education is very slow. Schools are yet to adopt their teaching knowledge that is very short shelf life and imparting techniques that will be abandoned tomorrow.
So it is imperative for us to take charge and start working on building their skill sets as early as possible. The need to upscale is not just an option but it is the only way forward building new skills will enable kids to take control instead of being passive recipients of change. It will create opportunities and empower them to create their own future. It will enable them to ride the waves of change rather than being swept away.
Some of the essential 21st century skills that we talked in this article include:
- Digital literacy
- Personal branding
- Storytelling
- Meta cognition and
- Lifelong learning.
The above list of skills that could have been emphasized here is long and I will keep adding more skill sets to this curriculum moving forward. But we are starting off with these top five skills that we need to start working on right away.
No. 1: Digital Literacy
Digital Literacy and the Future of Work
So first we will talk about digital literacy and its importance in the future of eight out of 10 mid-level jobs. Now need a basic level of digital literacy in the workplace 84 percent of small and medium businesses in the US are using at least one digital platform over half of US employees are reluctant to adopt technology especially when it comes to using it to learn something new. 17 percent of Americans with a high school diploma don’t have the digital literacy to navigate a modern office environment.
We are also witnessing a growing convergence between STEM fields and humanities at some of the top colleges in the world which means it is imperative for students from all backgrounds to start building their digital literacy skills further.
McKinsey estimates that at least 60 percent of jobs will be influenced by tech, this means we need to start focusing on technology innovation and digital literacy to ensure students are job ready and equipped for the workforce of the future.
Amazon has announced it will invest seven hundred million US dollars to retrain one hundred thousand employees in new technology to prepare them for the future. Facebook has launched a Digital Literacy Library at Harvard which was created after more than 10 years of academic research carried out in consultation with teens.
The Digital Literacy Library is now a part of Facebook Safety Center which is easily accessible to all users therefore this highlights the importance of investing in digital literacy to prepare the workforce of the future.
Understanding Digital Literacy
The American Library Association defines Digital Literacy as the ability to use information and communication technologies to find evaluate create and communicate information.
It is also defined as an individual’s ability to find evaluate and compose clear information through writing and other mediums on various digital platforms.
Other definitions include the capability to use digital technology and knowing when and how to use it, understanding how to use web browsers, search engines, email, text, key, blogs, Photoshop, PowerPoint, video creation and editing software to showcase learning and evaluating online resources for accuracy and trustworthy of information are also examples of digital literacy.
So does it also include things like watching YouTube, Discord, Instagram, reading Kindle books, watching EA Sports and searching on machines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, Duckduckgo as well. The term is so broad that instead of focusing on definitions experts tend to focus on the skills involved the skills involved at the intersection of literacy and technology.
It also includes things like content creation and digital writing, that is writing in different digital formats and platforms, so there are different forms of digital literacy. Here we list seven elements, these include:
- Media literacy
- Information literacy
- Digital scholarship
- Learning skills
- ICT Literacy
- Communication and collaboration
- Career and identity management
Digital literacy promotes deeper learning as well as all of the skills involved in deep learning can be developed and experienced to digital literacy these intimate:
- Collaboration
- Creativity
- Critical thinking
- Citizenship
- Character
- Communication.
No. 2: Personal Branding
Personal Branding and the Future of Work
Now we talk about personal branding and why it is so important for the future of work. A personal brand is a unique combination of skills and experiences that makes you who you are. It is about how you present yourself to the world and differentiate yourself from the competition. Your brand helps you to build these:
- Trust
- Confidence
- Connections
- Credibility
- Authenticity
- Opportunities.
It is becoming increasingly popular for recruiters to use social media. During the interview process and the gig economy is getting bigger and bigger. Companies now avoid hiring full time employees. There isn’t any job security anymore, therefore workers are becoming increasingly aware that they need to differentiate themselves to stand out and create stability for themselves. We need to be able to clearly communicate who we are and what we do to stand out.
If we don’t manage our reputation in this digital age, someone else will, therefore we need to communicate our purpose and mission to the world in a genuine way.
That is we need to continually craft and curate our digital presence while keeping it real. Now this doesn’t happen overnight. It is honesty transparency and authenticity that will differentiate you in the long run and first impressions last.
So it is very important for us to put some thought into how we want the world to see us so we can maximize our opportunities remember a personal brand is a unique combination of skills and experiences that makes you who you are. It is about how you present yourself.
Understanding Personal Branding
Now we take a look at how to craft a personal brand, a personal brand is unique to every individual. It is a combination of our unique passions skills goals and values. It is a result of our search for fulfillment and meaning it allows us to build ourselves from the inside out.
It is not about creating a fake personal or pretending to be someone we are not. It is all about being authentic with ourselves and others which makes finding fulfilling things in life easier.
It enables us to build a life for ourselves which revolves around work that brings us joy because it allows us to align our strengths talents values and passion all together. So the starting point is to pick something specific that we can do better than 90 percent of the world.
There is a ton of noise out there so many people vying for the same opportunity to stand out from the crowd you need to be best at what you do. So if you pick something we are genuinely good at to form a core component of the personal brand.
We want to build for ourselves. We will look the part as Bill students see to care about personal branding from a young age in order to differentiate themselves because a competition for admission to colleges is getting increasingly difficult personal branding is not just for graduates looking for their first professional job.
It is not just for celebrities, entrepreneurs and world leaders, if you are a teen coach, parent or teacher. Now is the time for you to start working on their personal brand encourage them to carefully consider who they are a personal brand is more than a logo.
It is our unique voice and our unique style. Personal branding can enable us to be seen and heard in the sea of sameness employers around the world. People see your values by the way you behave. Why should we get clear in our values because decisions become easier to make. Values are your benchmarks in life.
Ask yourself What is it that I stand for and go from there.
Encourage kids to ask his questions. What makes you unique. Who do you want to be. We are all on this journey and becoming that person as as important step as being that person. We need to tell them to align their actions with their values while keeping a consistent honest and real.
Tell them to build on strengths and be fearlessly themselves to build a successful personal brand.
We shouldn’t hold back from sharing our story because this is the part that differentiates us. It’s also the part that people connect with and love to hear so personal branding. It’s not just a marketing buzzword it is as much about self discovery as it is about communicating our individuality.
And it is always going to be a work in progress so we need to encourage kids to start building the reputation through personal. We should facilitate children in building a personal brand.
No. 3: Storytelling
Storytelling and the Future of Work
Now we talk about storytelling and its relevance in the future of work. Although storytelling has become a buzzword recently, it has always been an important part of business and will remain a key part of business in the future. The World Economic Forum has highlighted creativity, originality and active learning as up for training skills for future workers. Storytelling unlocks everything of consequence, knowledge influence and innovation businesses have to pitch a story to investors.
Scientists have to submit grant proposals, politicians develop a narrative about themselves, and everyone has a link and profile these days (remember Linkedin and other social media). These are all complex and important stories crafted to have an impact on others.
Ultimately students future economic success depends on being able to tell these stories effectively because you cannot connect with people if they don’t know who you are.
You also have to be care about your values and purpose and be willing to be a real, people can tell when you are being real, and when you aren’t.
Understanding Storytelling
Visual storytelling is one of the most potent forms of communication in existence today. From films and virtual reality experiences to interactive games and data visualizations people often feel like they don’t have any interesting stories to tell.
However an effective story isn’t really about us. It’s about drawing a listener in and creating a sense of shared experience storytelling is about eliciting a yes. That’s happened to me too from the personal listening because now you’ve taken an everyday experience and turn it into a feeling of connection, effective storytelling involves a deep understanding of human emotions motivations and psychology in order to truly move an audience.
So it is an invaluable life skill. We need to nurture in children if you think about it stories are the very origin of education the passing down of stories from generation to generation taught us history culture skills and knowledge thinking of teaching as storytelling encourages us to think of the curriculum as a collection of the great stories of our culture if you begin to think in these terms instead of seeing the curriculum as a huge mass of materials to be conveyed.
Students we can begin to think of teachers in our society as connected with an ancient and honored droll teachers are other tellers of our cultures tales in the classroom. Storytelling can be used to teach content build community and heal trauma. And more than just a business skill.
Storytelling is actually a better way to learn.
Research shows that rote memorization isn’t as effective as higher order learning there is a saying that to truly learn something you have to teach it. That means you have to take complex ideas and present them in ways that make them clear to others.
No. 4: Metacognition
Meta cognition and the Future of Work
Now we will talk about meta cognition as a core skill which is necessary for children to become the best version of themselves in the 21st century for them to be successful in the future.
They need opportunities to develop skills that are transferable beyond school to do whatever it is that they ultimately decide to do was a graduate they need to be able to self assess their needs in learning areas of potential weaknesses and identify their strengths students then need to know how to use this information to plan their next steps while the world of work will continue to change.
Some of the essential skills that students will need will mostly stay the same skills like the ability to set one’s own goals to problem solve to analyze the tasks that they have before them and evaluate any challenges that might come along the way these skills are in alignment with the three phases of matter cognition planning monitoring and evaluating each of these is essential in the learning process and students need to learn how to reflect and to self direct to the next steps.
Understanding Meta cognition
The tell a meta cognition which was first defined by Jhon Flavel in 1979 is basically thinking about thinking, we become aware of our own learning experiences and activities we involve ourselves in our parts towards personal and professional growth.
We are better able to understand ourselves in the whole process of learning and can develop skills to think about connect with and evaluate our learning and interactions.
Each day with an increased focus on the importance of developing skills in social emotional learning, meta cognition plays an important role in the SPL framework.
Meta cognition has been identified as an essential skill for learner success therefore we need to design specific lessons focused on meta cognition for use in our classrooms each day.
It has been observed in research that students are generally OK with awaiting an answer or accepting that the answer given was incorrect. But they do not push them says to understand why or how to improve so it is essential for us to include meta cognition in our teaching practice.
As educators we need to be able to identify persons trends and weaknesses in our own teaching practice and think about them so that we can best provide for our students similarly. We need to guide students who develop the same self reflection skills by modeling it for them and then by supporting them as they build their own meta cognitive practices.
For example instead of saying math tests make me anxious, we need to encourage them to ask what is it about math tests that make you feel anxious and what can you do to change that.
Meta cognitive thinking teaches us about ourselves and thinking about our thinking creates perspective perspective that leaves room for change.
No. 5: Lifelong Learning
Lifelong Learning and the Future of Work
Lifelong learning is a buzzword in 21st century education and for good reason becoming a seeker of lifelong learning is critical in today’s fast changing world.
Learning is not only a matter of absorbing information but a process of developing many other internal skills like curiosity perseverance and the ability to tackle tough challenges the thirst for lifelong learning is natural to all of us human beings unfortunately by force.
Create education can lessen the desire to learn from many children while there are no easy answers to this dilemma. We need to find better ways to prepare young people for lifelong learning. We are not talking about flying cars or developing the world’s first time machine.
The requirements levels and styles of all kinds of work are evolving very fast which means you need to understand how you can prepare for future roles that may emerge.
There is no guaranteed way to tell exactly what skills will be needed in the future and which ones will become obsolete.
We can future proof jobs and careers by embracing the commitment the commitment to constant self-improvement because it is predicted that in the year 2030 most of the kids will be working in jobs that don’t even exist yet the fourth industrial revolution is bringing a bold vision of change to organizations.
What does this mean for individuals and our willingness and ability to learn the skills that will enable us to keep up with these changes throughout our life.
Understanding Lifelong Learning
It takes an open mindset to be always ready to effectively absorb evaluate and make sense of the information that is so easily accessible wherever we are lifelong learning helps an individual to learn anywhere at any time.
Lifelong learning isn’t just about digital or A.I. skills it is about having a mindset that allows the brain to be open and receptive.
At any given time and place as the style of book changes over time so too do styles of learning different people learn in different ways. Also important to point out that the traditional South Stream or online platforms might not be the most useful approaches in the future.
A report by the McKinsey Global Institute found that by 2030 up to Four in Person of the global workforce that is 375 million people may need to work in different job roles or skills and all workers will need to have greater adaptability in order to excel in their new roles many other studies have indicated that adaptability is the single most important leadership skill for the future.
A recent report from Udemy also reveals that just 42 percent of Millennial weren’t receiving any kind of training and development at work, this demand for learning is understandable.
As the technological changes impacting the modern workplace make constant learning essential for any employee looking to stay on top of things.
Summary and Recap
We have a great responsibility on our shoulders to start building the workforce of the future as early as possible because the pace of innovation in education is very slow. Schools are yet to adapt their teaching knowledge that has very short shelf life and imparting techniques that will be abandoned tomorrow.
So it is imperative for us as parents educators and potential employers to take charge and start working on building their skill sets as early as possible and the need to upscale is not just an option but it is the only way forward for all of us.
Building your skills will enable us to take control instead of being passive recipients of change. It will create new opportunities and empower us to create our own future.
It will enable us to ride the waves of change rather than being swept away.
Now we know some of the essential 21st century skills that we talked about included:
- digital literacy,
- personal branding,
- storytelling,
- meta cognition and
- lifelong learning
The above list surely is and exhaustive. Therefore I will keep adding more skill sets to this curriculum going forward. But we are starting off at these top five skills that we need to start working on right away. On the next post I will add more Practical Tips for Parents and Educators of each items on these 5 skills.
