As traditional career paths continue to fall by the wayside while the pandemic accelerates changes to the world of work and a shift toward automation, the most recent Future of Jobs report from the World Economic Forum shows that companies are also expecting to restructure their workforces in response to new technologies, leaving more people competing for fewer job opportunities in a tough marketplace.
Now is the time to ensure that schools are mindful and deliberate in developing the skills that will be in high demand and necessary for success in a reconstituted future, an education expert says.
“It is no longer sufficient to focus purely on academics, and schools need to make a concerted effort to holistically develop. on an ongoing basis. those skills which will provide learners with a strong foundation for the future,” says Desiree Hugo, the head of Academics at ADvTECH Schools, a division of one of Africa’s leading private education provider.
In a recent survey, Future of Jobs report, which was conducted last year and took into account the impact of Covid-19 on global workplaces, the World Economic Forum listed the Top 10 skills of the year 2025:
- Analytical thinking and innovation
- Active learning and learning strategies
- Complex problem-solving
- Critical thinking and analysis
- Creativity, originality and initiative
- Leadership and social influence
- Technology use, monitoring and control
- Technology design and programming
- Resilience, stress tolerance and flexibility
- Reasoning, problem-solving and ideation
Data from the WEF Future of Jobs Survey shows that companies are expecting to re-structure their workforce in response to new technologies and, in particular, the companies surveyed indicated that they were also looking to transform the composition of their value chain (55%), introduce further automation, reduce the current workforce (43%) or expand their workforce as a result of deeper technological integration (34%), and expand their use of contractors.
“Clearly, our already hugely competitive jobs marketplace is set to become even more so in future, with more people competing for fewer opportunities. It is therefore of crucial importance that we assist the students in our care to become as competitive as possible, by providing them with the skills which will set them apart in future.
“These skills should not be taught by way of a separate, independent curriculum, but rather incorporated within all general learning, as well as across all subject-specific learning,” Hugo says.
Future career paths to look out for include: artificial intelligence, big data, the internet of things, non-humanoid robotics and encryption. The new technologies are set to drive future growth across industries, as well as to increase the demand for new job roles and skill sets.
“Changing trends will undoubtedly impact on the workplace of the future, and the jobs we take for granted today may be displaced in future. The ability of someone to navigate the workforce of the future will depend not just on their occupation – which should not be considered in relation to what is, but in relation to what is expected to come – but also on their broader skill set which will enable them to perform those functions which robots still, for now, can’t,” says Hugo.
∗∗∗Desiree Hugo is the Head of Academics at ADvTECH Schools