Klaus Schwab’s (2016) Fourth Industrial Revolution outlines what skills future employees and entrepreneurs should possess:
“In the Forum’s Future of Jobs report, we asked the chief human resources officers of today’s largest employers in 10 industries and 15 economies to imagine the impact on employment, jobs and skills up to the year 2020…survey respondents believe that complex problem solving, social and systems skills will be far more in demand in 2020 when compared to physical abilities or content skills.”
It is assuring that today’s K-12 education is focus on building just those skills. The primary focus in Canada’s primary and secondary education system is collaborative learning, which directly contributes to the building of solid self-regulatory skills (Shanker, S. 2013). But, how good are we at continuing to practice those essential lessons learned after graduating grade 12?
Let’s remind ourselves how valuable collaborative learning is for students of any age. It’s refreshing to see more and more instructors favouring student-centered learning over lecturing, which directly contributes to the required skills mentioned above. In the age of omnipresent technology, it is important to continue to value self-regulation and set up environments that nurture these skills. I am tired of hearing excuses such as “Online learning is not for me, I’m just not disciplined enough to learn by myself.” I hear this primarily from mature students and feel they’ve forgotten the lessons learning earlier in life.
We have to be diligent in building these skills and not taking the path of least resistance (grabbing the phone and getting updated on everyone’s loves). It’s not easy, I know. But employability and the future depends on it. So, let’s be clear about what has to be done and self-regulate to get it done.
HKKS Education 