How to Prepare Students for Jobs that Don’t Exist Yet

A recent report by the US Department of Labour revealed a startling statistic for educators and parents: 65% of current students will eventually be employed in jobs that haven’t been created yet. This finding obviously begs the question: how do we prepare our kids for a future we can’t even imagine?

21^st Century Fluencies, a new educational philosophy currently embraced by the TCDSB, suggests that we need to focus on the development of social skills. This paradigm is based on the idea that children need critical and dynamic thinking skills in order to succeed in the new century. We need to ensure that our children are equally as fluent in collaboration and problem-solving as they are in English and Math.

Employers agree on the importance of these fluencies in the ever-changing workplace. The general feeling is that interpersonal skills will become even more important as technology progresses. According to a new study, 98% of employers look for communication skills and 92% look for teamwork skills when hiring new talent for the long-term. These social skills even outranked job-specific knowledge, work experience, and education!

Any language takes training and practice to master, and becoming fluent in these 21^st century skills is no exception. Teambuilding and leadership programs are one of the most impactful and memorable ways to develop these fluencies. Hands-on activities that focus on group dynamics give your students a great opportunity to enhance their social skills in an educational environment. At Dynamix, we believe that the job market will always have room for creative and collaborative thinkers who can work well with others. Let us know how we can help prepare your kids for their future careers!

And please don’t forget to leave a comment below! What do you think of 21^st Century Fluencies? What is most important when preparing our kids for future success?

Written by Shira Lurie, Toronto lead facilitator.

Dynamix: Team-building for Kids and Teens, since 2002.

Image: http://www.superscholar.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/the-future.jpg