Monday, April 11, 2016

Nature of work - now and into the future

As a follow on from posts over the last month, here is another viewpoint - from American sources of the future of work from knowledgeworks. An overview of knowledgeworks details their objective, to assist school and communities by providing innovative tools, training and assistance to prepare students for the future. The knowledgeworks take on future of education is summarised in their 'exploring the future education workforce' report. Knowledgeworks is also connected to vibranted which connects institutions to educators. The list of jobs and their descriptions currently advertised, makes for interesting reading. Jobs include micro-credential analyst, pop-up reality producer, data steward, competency tracker, social innovation portfolio director, learning pathway designer, learning journey mentor, learning naturalist.

There has been a great deal of ink used to argue the point of preparing students for the future. Some countries mandate introduction of 'coding' into the school curriculum. The way things are going, computers should be able to write programmes to control themselves in the not too distant future. What we need are not coders, but people who can 'read' code, see implications to humanity and modify. So we need people who are creative, with strong ethical foundations and a BROAD education to be able to see the socio-economical-political implications of their actions. There may therefore be 'less' work but the work will be more challenging. Ensuring education assists to prepare everyone for the future is therefore now, even more important. There is space for 'specialist' technical skills but also need for people who 'manage' to be able to solve problems as 'critical thinkers' with a social conscience.

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