Help Your Child Prepare For The Future
According to a report called The Future of Jobs, produced by the World Economic Forum (WEF), in the next three years, around 5 million jobs will have disappeared. Furthermore, this report states that 65 percent of our current primary school children will end up doing jobs that don’t even exist in today’s society!
The reason for this transformation is largely due to a relatively recent phenomenon which has been dubbed the 4th Industrial Revolution; a shift from a more traditional working environment to one which incorporates the rapidly developing technologies that now dictate and direct our lives.
Although no one can precisely predict the future, we can all be fairly certain that Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Automation and Advanced Connectivity will have done away with a great number of Human-centric roles and changed the workplace beyond recognition.
It seems likely that the following skills will be those which are most sought after:
Hard skills
- Technological expertise
- Sciences
- Mathematics
- Computer programming
- Languages
Soft Skills
- Emotional Intelligence
- Empathy
- Communication
- Critical thinking
- Complex problem-solving skills
- Creativity
- Time management
- Teamwork
Quite how we should prepare our children for these developments are open to debate. However, we certainly need to think about it in advance and consider the following:
- Choosing schools which not only teach a wide variety of technical subjects but also encourage individuality and enable their pupils to work on developing and strengthening their own existing abilities and skill set.
- If the education system seems less adaptive to the needs of our children it would be advantageous to investigate the potential of employing a tutor with specialist skills and knowledge which they can impart to our children on a one-to-one basis, particularly if we, as parents, are less capable ourselves in certain areas.
- We need to encourage our children to join out of school groups and mix with a wide range of other children. This could help them to develop relevant skills, not only in a technical sense but also to improve on communication skills and empathy, soft skills which are often left undeveloped in mainstream education.
- We need to work with them ourselves to help them to develop time management abilities and encourage them in developing problem-solving skills and working out ways to overcome any hurdles or obstacles. Teaching children to be independent and resourceful will arm them with skills that will be an advantage in the future workplace.
- Above all else, we need to teach our children by example, to learn how to learn, so that they can continue to update their knowledge and skills themselves. A desire to learn is something that children usually pick up in the home environment from close family and friends. It is now more important than ever before to promote this passion in our children.
As parents, our key job is to encourage our children to fulfil their life dreams. In the future, this is likely to need to include helping them to embrace new and evolving technologies and also to learn how to adapt to future advancements. A well-rounded individual with a passion for learning new skills will be at a huge advantage in the future job market and we can help and encourage our children to become exactly that person.
