If we were to ask them what kind of jobs they expected to be doing in 2020 what would their answers be - TV/film director; barrister; accountant; designer; journalist; police work; professional sports person; actor; doctor etc and what do they want from work? Money? status? or to have a job that's fun enjoyable, helping people, making a real difference?
Perhaps there is an opportunity for you to engage your sixth form students conducting just such a survey with Years 8, 9 or 10 to find out what kind of future they foresee for themselves. The results could really provoke interesting discussions on the skills required to address their many career ambitions!
The internationally renowned futurist marketing consultant, Faith Popcorn labels the current KS3 pupils the "We Generation" and defines them thus;
They are committed to this larger sense of community-as-everything, whether it's local or global. They will be searching for the genuine goodness in the cultural DNA of the company/business they work for.
The N. Ireland skills czar, Bill McGinnis speaking at the launch of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) Ambition 2020 Report read more commented on the importance of skills
Overall the future of our economy depends on employers and individuals recognising that their long term prosperity is inextricably linked to how they develop and utilise their skills base.
There are no prescriptive lists of skills and indeed with each new article read on the subject, one can add an additional one or two that were previously overlooked. However, I would like to suggest FOUR that come to mind quite readily and then perhaps leave you with a longer list (see below) that I would suggest to those sixth fom students heading out on work experience to look for in the various workplaces they visit. Perhaps at the end of their work experience you could collate examples of these skills from the variety of different businesses/organisations experienced by the sixth years. You could display the results prominently in the classroom for the younger pupils to read and reflect upon.
FOUR skills to reflect upon.
1. Adaptability - Here the individual is encouraged to specialise but not compartmentalise, to cultivate broad interests - belong to many different clubs. Dip into every discipline!
2. Languages - Is there a case for encouraging our students to consider adding Spanish and Mandarin to their repertoire?
3.People Skills - While artificial intelligence may have mopped up many jobs by 2020 it won't have replaced the need for inter-personal skills such as caring and negotiating, judgement and leadership.
4. Entrepreneurship - Here the opportunity to start up one's own business, create partnerhips or work freelance will blossom. It may become difficult to hold onto key staff who realise they will earn more by working for themselves!
Here is a glossary of employability competencies drawn from Student Employability Profiles read more
(A Guide for Higher Education Practitioners)
- Adaptability/Flexibility
- Analytical
- Attention to detail
- Commercial awareness
- Creativity
- Decision making/Problem solving
- Influencing
- Initiative
- Judgement
- Leadership
- Listening
- Organisation understanding
- Organisation sensitivity
- Planning and organising
- Questioning
- Working with others
- Technical application/knowledge
- Written & oral communication
- Tolerance to stress
The N. Ireland skills czar, Bill McGinnis
(speaking at the launch of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) Ambition 2020 Report)
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