New year, new perspective, new ideas in line with our old values and beliefs that make us who we are and what we stand for in work and life.

 

2017 has been and gone; entrepreneurs dreamed up incredible products and consumers dictated many new conscious goods in the marketplace. More people than ever care about irreplaceable resources, the ‘Baby Boomer’ bosses get older and are being replaced by millennials. Some fear what is round the corner, others cannot wait to see what is on the horizon and everyone in education holds their breath to see how their industry and young people will look with the advancement of technology.

 

I say 2018 – the best is yet to come!

 

Work

 

 

As everyone has settled back into a routine – some in new jobs, others in the same role with opportunity to reflect, we look outwards to others for inspiration and inwards to see what we have. Do our organisations represent the values they claim to hold? Do we feel valued as employees and do we maintain and build strong relationships with the people we work with? These are questions being asked by a number of people across industries and more consistently by young people.

 

After spending time working with young entrepreneurs at The Social Experiment in Auckland I found that there are a lot of like-minded people who are searching for meaning and purpose in their work. Being treated as a number in a large organisation, collecting a pay check at the end of the month with the occasional bonus doesn’t seem to motivate us… We feel much more pride and job satisfaction from the strong chemicals released when we form trusting relationships and complete genuine sustainable work.

 

Education

 

 

What part does education play in this shift of mindset and culture in the young workforce? Well, rather a lot as it turns out! In years to come education will prepare young people for the world of work but also there is now a calling to be met from the employment sectors as they wonder how on earth they motivate and communicate with a generation of young people who place high value on intrinsic reward. Employers will want to know how to gain the best return on investment when they hire a young person and the World Economic Forum has already recognised there is a need for education to help fill this gap.

 

After meeting and discussing recruitment in professional services with a senior consultant from a large corporate company in Auckland I found that there are a number of skills prioritised in the selection of new graduates. She shared with me that a number of sectors including education, would benefit from knowing the skills required from an employer’s perspective:

 

1. STEM top trumps on CVs.
2. Grades are no longer the single indicator of quality of a candidate.
3. Goodbye IQ and EQ say hello to AQ and CQ.
4. Human values such as respect and integrity are taken into consideration.
5. Use of relevant technology is proof you can provide clients with solutions.

 

There is a large amount of knowledge about future candidates held within large organisations and educational institutions, now those in charge on both sides have the responsibility to share their knowledge. It is a benefit to all if schools can help to build the foundations and companies can understand how to fulfil their potential in a meaningful way. Schools have the greatest and most valuable amount of data as the first 11-13 years of a young person’s life is spent in the education system – imagine companies capitalized on this knowledge as a resource for future growth!

 

Flearning

 

When we are young we are pretty bad judges of our future self because of a lack of life experience. The same applies now, and as life is really an experiment with lots of failures and learnings, we must take care in the language we use about success and failure. Support to allow failure to happen in a learning context is key, and as we do this we redefine success; as not a smooth sea but a skilled, adaptable sailor.

 

Giving young people meaningful life experiences will prepare them for many possible outcomes at each stage in life. The more failures you have, the better you get to know yourself, the better you become at problem solving and the better you become at judging what’s right for you currently and in the near future.

 

One of the amazing entrepreneurs who spoke at The Social Experiment said that we should change the focus, and should encourage ‘flearning’ as failure is the best teacher and we know ourselves the more we fail the more we learn.

 

Providing experiential learning experiences through project based activities will assist in preparing young people for the future. Right now we have education systems in place which were designed 200 years ago, separated into subjects fit for the age of industrialisation.

 

Reality is, the teachers reading this will be able to identify a teenage student they know who is already earning money through a Fintech initiative or coding in their free time! If we want to keep education current and relevant for students and teachers we need to invite and share the education space allow teachers to become ‘Eduprenurs’. As it turns out from my research this is not a new concept and if schools do not realise the contribution teachers want to make then they will leave to capitalise on their skills to the benefit of others.

 

Eduprenurship

 

 

Having attended the SOX earlier this year and it was categorically clear that people who have the capacity to make a positive change to our communities will empower our young people with entrepreneurial approaches to education. We covered topics from climate change, to equality in the work place and 80% of the solutions discussed involved an education programme.

 

It is scary to think that the way we teach must change to meet the demands young people face now and in the future. Fear surrounds us in education especially when we have to constantly change and more rapidly than ever before. Fear stems from a lack of information and that fear helps us stay safe from the unknown so we don’t venture into unchartered territory.

 

Claiming that we don’t have the skills as teachers can no longer be a fall back, because we in actual fact don’t have the skills and never will… But there are so many people out there who do have skills in technology, business and the like that we can utilise. We must recognise that teachers offer huge value with their experience and ability to promote life skills in our young people. Schools have a chance now to shake up the delivery of standard subjects as we move into the FOURTH industrial revolution – the digital age.

 

The rise of soft skills will continue in the workplace as more jobs become automated, we must be aware of what we can offer as humans that automated services cannot. It is said that between 2015-2020 that, 35% of core skills will change towards the human ‘being’ rather than the ‘doing’ skills. These innate skills of communication, listening, flexibility and so on are the traits of highly sought after intrapreneurs.

 

It is time; time to extend the invite, time to bring the outside world inside of the school walls, time to expose young people to new professional services and alternative apprenticeships and internships. It is time to talk to our Chambers of Commerce who can provide access and opportunities to local and national business networks spanning all industries, with the ability to inspire and lead project based learning into the curriculum and beyond.

 

Some examples already used by schools include; Squwksquad, Banqer, ElevatorUK, GE girlsgetset, all there to develop life skills and compliment the amazing work being done by teachers.

 

Future-proof

 

 

There is a growing body of evidence and a huge call for education to catch up with the real world. The shift of priorities around young people’s learning to explore who they are and the world around them much like the Finnish model looks very attractive. The movement away from standardised testing has already happened in New Zealand as they can see the irrelevance of testing memory as machines will be doing the jobs once done by humans with good levels of retention. Not to mention the fact that teaching to a test will never prepare a young person for life after education and should never be done at the expense of the health and well-being of the teachers delivering the curriculum who are close to burn out as a result of over inspection and unrealistic target setting.

 

Here in New Zealand the results gained by learners in THEIR exams is not analysed with a fine tooth comb. The learners themselves gain credits and qualifications for the work THEY have done as a result of the teacher’s lessons. The learners are responsible of the grade they get and teachers are not held ACCOUNTABLE if a year group produces lower results than previous years. Factors analysed include variables outside of the classroom rather than looking inwards to point the finger of blame onto teachers.

 

There is NO other profession which depends on children to produce results as a direct reflection of the performance of adults in its organisation as is seen in education. If suggested that children should provide outcomes of success for any other profession it would be seen as Ludicrous! Children in every other industry such as healthcare, internet usage etc. are just numbers and provide data yet in education they are the very measure of the competency of a school?! The Government has an obligation to change this focus to what can be done in schools to promote healthy, happy children and staff alike for the betterment of society, the economy and local communities.

 

Taking the lead on promoting healthy decisions in education for young people to aspire to and work with will instil good habits for life. Making use of the many talents and passions teachers have to contribute to learners will increase job satisfaction and learner awareness of the whole self. When we are tasked with building good citizens not just employees we can truly make use of the skill set we have as teachers. We may just feel that sense of freedom we have craved for so long and receive the much needed trust to deliver a real and impactful content fit for purpose now and the future.