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Educators, employers and politicians must work together to ensure young people have the skills, knowledge and aptitude to thrive in the future, urges
ASCL’ s Geoff Barton.
Turning the age of robotics into a time of opportunity
GEOFF BARTON GENERAL SECRETARY, ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOL AND COLLEGE LEADERS( ASCL)
The times,” sang Bob Dylan in 1964,“ they are a-changin’.” It was an
“ anthem for a turbulent decade; the voice of a generation determined to throw off the stifling constraints of the old order. But it resonates down the years because, like all great poetry, it contains a timeless truth. The times are always changing, and the pace of change has never been greater than it is today.
As a society, we are still struggling to manage the impact of the technological advances of the past 10-20 years. In that short time, phones have morphed into personal computers connected to the world wide web, possessed by virtually every citizen in the UK, capable of streaming video, music, games, and linked at the touch of a screen to the chatter of multiple social media sites.
For all the benefits of this extraordinary inter-connectedness, there are downsides too, including fake news, cyberbullying, grooming and radicalisation. And there is growing national concern about how the mental health and wellbeing of our young people is being affected by this challenging environment and how we help them navigate a terrain that we barely understand ourselves.
WHAT SKILLS WILL YOUNG PEOPLE NEED IN THE AGE OF AUTOMATION?
The World Economic Forum’ s( WEF) top 10 skills that will be needed( as soon as 2020) for the fourth industrial revolution:
• Complex problem solving
• Critical thinking
• Creativity
• People management
• Co-ordinating with others
• Emotional intelligence
• Judgement and decision making
• Service orientation
• Negotiation
• Cognitive flexibility
WEF Future of jobs report. reports. weforum. org / future-of-jobs-2016
14 // EMPLOYABILITY