The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is increasingly changing and intertwining the ways we live, work, play and learn. The disruptive impacts of 4IR on our children’s education today and the future of work contribute to the global discussion of “Skills Crisis” which is of key concern to many key stakeholders, especially for parents with primary care responsibilities over young children.
In recent years, there have been many worrying discussions based on forecasts of jobs which are concurrently emerging, at risk and displaced due to the impacts of 4IR on our children’s future of work. The Institute for the Future estimated around 85% of the jobs that today’s learners will be doing in 2030 haven’t been invented yet. In a University of Oxford study by Professor Michael Osborne and Dr Carl Benedikt Frey, 47% of U.S. jobs are estimated to be at risk of automation. A 2018 report from World Economic Forum (WEF) indicated that 75 million jobs may be displaced globally by 2022.
The implications of the 4IR on our children’s education today is of equal concern, especially to us parents with young children. Our current education system is built for the second and third industrial revolutions. Thailand’s richest man and Chairman of the Charoen Pokphand Group, Dhanin Chearavanont pointed out in a recent Forum for World Education that many current schools and universities do not have updated teaching methods and curricula; as a result, our children are not “not armed with the right skills” for the future of work. Chearavanont further elaborated that students should be allowed to learn from society and real-world problems and challenges, an area in which classrooms are not built for. Hence, it is in no coincidence that the WEF asserts that higher education is a “systemic failure” which does not equip graduates with the skills needed to solve 21st century problems.
This is a problem that Mind & Hand hopes to tackle. As an EduTech platform, Mind & Hand partners both educational industry players and private sector business employers to offer our students programmes that keep pace with technological change and that are relevant to the industry. We hope to empower our students with the skills, confidence and perspective to navigate the global skills crisis and prepare them for a workplace of the future.
By Jonathan Lee – Jonathan is a proud parent of two and he is a fervent advocate of future-ready education