It’s easy to forget, with discussions raging today about the disconnect between the future of work and education; that centuries ago, there was arguably a more seamless link between the two: the advent of the first industrial revolution also saw the introduction of the 1833 Factory Act, which mandated that children working in factories received 2h of education per day; and sewed the seeds for the education system we see and recognise today.
One of the reasons for the broken link between work and education is arguably due to the multiple purposes that education serves; yes, it is supposed to help us find work, but it’s also much more than that. It should help us develop the agency to define our role in society, and support intellectual inquiry.
However centuries later, the skills (whether those are technical, creative or people-related) needed to define our roles in society have understandably changed dramatically, and shall continue to do so. The challenge therefore, for our education system is to try and meet some of those needs.
Despite some strides towards progress – such as making coding part of the curriculum – the cuts caused by the UK’s period of austerity may have stalled progress in its tracks. Local government bodies find themselves starved of funding could have otherwise provided additional resources for schools. Overworked teachers crack at the seams (or leave) trying to adapt to an increasingly test-focussed educational environment. Parents are also under considerable pressure, as they try to make ends meet in the face of falling real wages, increase costs of care for their parents due to an ageing society and increase costs for child care as well.
So now we are at a crossroads: we need to prepare current and coming generations to be active participants in future society that is changing so we cannot see it clearly, using tools that most of us have not mastered. What do we do?
The answer: foster curiosity, creativity and innovation
In a tech-driven world where the only constant is change, ‘Stay Curious’ is a mindset and also a personal development strategy. To turn lifelong learning from an interesting theory to something that people practice every day, all people (in full-time education and beyond) need to have dedicated time set aside to get interested in the new world that is opening up around us. As well as being mindful of the potential for robots to take all our jobs, what we really want to ask ourselves is whether we are happy to give those jobs to robots, are there other more exciting and fulfilling jobs that we could be doing?
This is where corporate structures like the 20% time rule – made famous by Google, but then sadly killed – could come in. Thankfully, this rule has been adopted by other companies, and we may see more following suit. People need time to get their heads around how data science or blockchain can be used to the benefit of their businesses, and having more minds dedicated to this task – not just the C-suite – could be much more beneficial.
Increasingly the private sector will need to do some more work to ‘step in’ like the tech and engineering sectors do and pay for the ongoing development of its future workforce. Sectors like banking, law, advertising and others will need to step up to the plate, too. I’m not just talking school visits and ‘inspiration days’ – they may spark curiosity, but do nothing to drive skill acquisition in the long term – but instead co-creating course content that help young people and career changers develop the skills needed to succeed in those industries.
We are in an exciting and uncertain time now. Lifelong learning will become a basic requirement in our future society. We can and should prepare people for this reality.