Gatsby Benchmarks 3 1 2 4 5 6 7 8
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