Activity 3: Global trends, Education and Me!

Technology and the Workforce

Technology is accelerating progress but causing discontinuities, (National Intelligence Council, 2017).

The rate of technological change in our world is skyrocketing! The effect of innovation and productivity this has had on the global workforce is exciting, but requires change in our education systems to prepare our students for this brave new world.

The Economist puts it rather bluntly:

“When education fails to keep pace with technology, the result is inequality. Without the skills to stay useful as innovations arrive, workers suffer - and if enough of them fall behind, society starts to fall apart.”

In fact, state-funded universal schooling was initially a reaction to the Industrial Revolution and the need for workers to support that. Automation in factories saw a new shift in education, bringing with it the surge of college graduates. Now, with the growing presence of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics threatening a vast number of current jobs up and down the socioeconomic ladder and throughout all industries (National Intelligence Council, 2017), there is a very loud argument for the need for the emphasis in schooling to shift again. My students will be starting to enter the workforce in ten years time, but what will that look like? With the rapid rate of innovation occurring, how will I know what skills to equip my students with?

What is predicted is that all countries will be faced with the challenge of maintaining employment and developing well-trained, resilient workers (National Intelligence Council, 2017). The job market is changing. In the American workforce, those employed in routine office jobs declined from 25.5% to 21% between 1996 and 2015. And faith in formal education? Well, just 16% of Americans think that a  four-year college degree prepares students very well for a good job (The Economist). So what about a more local perspective?

New Zealand Concerns

86,000 of 15 to 24 year olds in New Zealand are not in employment, education or training - 4,000 up from a year ago. This article identifies the reasons for this being a lack of needed ‘soft skills’ such as teamwork, self-management, decision-making, communication skills, willingness to learn, and resilience. The Government is spending $40 million to improve the digital technology skills of school students, but it appears that alone is not enough to create work-ready young New Zealanders. A recent survey of employers from the Employers and Manufacturers Association found a whopping 40% described themselves as either ‘dissatisfied’ or ‘very dissatisfied’ with the work readiness of school leavers. This leaves a gap in the workforce. Despite unemployment rates and available jobs, there are no appropriate workers, so low or semi-skilled migrant workers are brought in to fill jobs, compounding the problem further.

Impact for Me as an Educator

The six rubrics of 21st century learning were designed by educators to better prepare learners for life and work in the 21st Century. Of the six skills, the use of ICT is only one; while the other skills, which can be thought of as ‘soft skills’, make up the rest - collaboration, knowledge construction, self-regulation, problem-solving, and communication. This, even at Primary level where I teach, is where we need to start for making our students world ready. I have often spoken with my colleagues about how the children that are coming through each year seem to be changing - showing lower attention spans and less resilience. Obviously there are a number of reasons why this may be, but I can’t help but wonder if the multitasking world that is technology and the quick reward/easy answer button clicking of some computer games is partly answerable for this. This just highlights the importance of teaching these thinking skills.

References:

Grieveson, L. (2017, July 2). Lack of ‘soft skills’ holds young Kiwis back. Newsroom. Retrieved https://www.newsroom.co.nz

ITL Research. (n.d). 21CLD Learning Activity Rubrics. Retrieved from https://education.microsoft.com/GetTrained/ITL-Research

National Intelligence Council.(2017). Global trends: The Paradox of Progress. National Intelligence Council: US.

The Economist. (2017, January 14th-20th). Lifelong Learning. The Economist, 422 (9023), p. 9. Retrieved from:http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21714341-it-easy-say-people-need-keep-learning-throughout-their-careers-practicalities