7 skills your child needs to survive the changing

world of work
Education may be the passport to the future, but for
all the good teaching out there, it would seem that
schools are failing to impart some of the most
important life skills, according to one educational
expert.
Dr. Tony Wagner, co-director of Harvard's Change
Leadership Group, argues that today’s school
children are facing a “global achievement gap”,
which is the gap between what even the best schools
are teaching and the skills young people need to
learn.
This has been exacerbated by two colliding trends:
firstly, the global shift from an industrial economy to
a knowledge economy, and secondly, the way in
which today’s school children – brought up with the
internet – are motivated to learn.
In his book The Global Achievement Gap, Wagner
identifies seven core competencies every child needs
in order to survive in the coming world of work.
1. Critical thinking and problem-solving
Companies need to be able to continuously improve
products, processes and services in order to compete.
And to do this they need workers to have critical
thinking skills and to be able to ask the right
questions to get to the bottom of a problem.
2. Collaboration across networks and leading by
influence
Given the interconnected nature of the business
world, leadership skills and the ability to influence
and work together as a team has become
increasingly important. And the key to becoming an
effective leader? It's twofold, says Wagner,
involving "creative problem-solving and a clear
ethical framework".
3. Agility and adaptability
The ability to adapt and pick up new skills quickly is
vital for success: workers must be able to use a range
of tools to solve a problem. This is also known as
"learnability", a sought-after skills among job
candidates.
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4. Initiative and entrepreneurialism
There is no harm in trying: often people and
businesses suffer from a tendency to be risk-averse.
It is better to try 10 things and succeed in eight than
it is to try five and succeed in all of them.
5. Effective oral and written communication
Recruits’ fuzzy thinking and inability to articulate
their thoughts were common complaints that Wagner
came across from business leaders when researching
his book. This isn’t so much about young people’s
ability to use grammar and punctuation correctly, or
to spell, but how to communicate clearly verbally, in
writing or while presenting. "If you have great ideas
but you can’t communicate them, then you’re lost,"
Wagner says.
6. Accessing and analysing information
Many employees have to deal with an immense
amount of information on a daily basis: the ability to
sift through it and pull out what is relevant is a
challenge. Particularly given how rapidly the
information can change.
7. Curiosity and imagination
Curiosity and imagination are what drive innovation
and are key to problem solving. "We’re all born
curious, creative and imaginative," says Wagner.
"The average four-year-old asks a hundred questions
a day. But by the time that child is 10, he or she is
much more likely to be concerned with getting the
right answers for school than with asking good
questions.
"What we as teachers and parents need do to keep
alive the curiosity and imagination that, to a greater
or lesser extent, is innate in every child."
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