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Skills for Future Success

What are the skills young people need to learn for the future? There are personal and social elements: What do I need myself (obtaining food, playing games, learning, discovery, creation, etc.) and what do I need to do for or receive from others (service, teaching, listening, etc.)?

Skills are especially important now, when information is readily available. Informational content used to be a major focus of school. Teachers were tasked with conveying information to young people. Nowadays that model has changed. Our relationship with information and information sources has changed. Young people need to learn how to manage and evaluate information now, rather than simply obtain it. The role of teacher’s has changed from purveyor of knowledge to a guide and trainer of humans in an information age. Human skills top the list of resilient, durable skills in an era where humans will increasingly collaborate with information technology. Skills for utilizing artificial intelligence and other aspects of information technology will also be important.

Skills require capacity and preparation to learn effectively. The development of humanity is crucial. Young children learn through relationships with other people. Human warmth and care are crucial for the well-being of children. Through great relationships, children learn the foundations of humanity. Older children and adults can be prepared to learn skills of abstract reasoning and comprehending complex systems.

Here are lists of skills that we can consider when evaluating what can be valuable for our children’s future in a world we can’t fully predict.

Core Skills, Competencies, and Qualities:

  • Creativitythe use of the imagination or original ideas
    1. Creativity
    1. Imagination
    1. Curiosity
    1. Adaptability
    1. Flexibility
  • Autonomythe right or condition of self-government
    1. Self-efficacy*
    1. Desire*
    1. Initiative*
    1. Resourcefulness*
    1. Persistence*
    1. Resilience
  • Empathythe ability to understand and share the feelings of another
    1. Empathy**
    1. Respect
    1. Kindness
    1. Emotional Intelligence
    1. Social Intelligence
    1. Service**
  • Literacycompetence or knowledge in a certain area
    1. Analytical Thinking / Reasoning
    1. Digital Literacy
    1. Communication / Language Literacy
    1. Numeracy / Analytics
    1. Financial Literacy
    1. Ecological Literacy**
    1. Systems Thinking / Transdisciplinarity

* These are conative factors of autonomous and self-directed learning (Ponton and Carr, 2016)

** The Volo team identified these as important, but they did not appear on lists of valued future skills shown below. Their importance will, however, probably be evident.

Future Skills From the Web

“Soft”: interpersonal skills together with skills, competencies and qualities that are important for culture and communities. These are shown below as “Culture and Community Skill

“Hard”: technical skills and understandings; these may include academic disciplines and the liberal arts. These are shown below as “Technical Skill

The following lists are from a Google Search for “Most important skills for the future.” They are lists posted by groups that seemed relatively high profile and reasonable.  

Culture & Community SkillIndeedLinkedinWorld Economic ForumInstitute for the FutureGet SmarterMore than digitalHR forecast
Adaptability Flexibility ResilienceYYYY YY
Emotional IntelligenceYY YYY 
LeadershipY Y YYY
Self-managementY  YYYY
LearningY Y  YY
Problem SolvingY Y  YY
CreativityYYY  Y 
Social IntelligenceY  YYY 
Collaboration Y Y YY
Negotiation     YY
System Thinking Transdisciplinarity   Y Y 
Judgement Decision-making     Y 
Technical SkillIndeedLinkedinWorld Economic ForumInstitute for the FutureGet SmarterMore than digitalHR forecast
Digital LiteracyYYYYYYY
Analytical Thinking Critical Thinking*** ReasoningYYY YYY
DesignYYYY   
Numeracy Data Analysis Y Y YY
CommunicationYY   Y 
Financial Literacy Y   Y 

*** Scientific thinking (Grant 2021), level 2 thinking (Khaneman 2013) and criticism (Robinson 2018).

Future Citizen Skills from McKinsey & Company

From a survey of 18,000 people from 15 countries

https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/public-sector/our-insights/defining-the-skills-citizens-will-need-in-the-future-world-of-work

Lists

Indeed.com: active learning, analytical thinking, cognitive flexibility, communication, complex problem-solving, creativity, emotional intelligence, digital literacy, initiative, interpersonal skills, leadership, self-management, technical design,

Linkedin: adaptability, affiliate marketing, analytical reasoning, artificial intelligence, blockchain, business analysis, cloud computing, collaboration, creativity, emotional intelligence, persuasion, sales, scientific computing, UX (user experience) design, video production.

World Economic Forum: active learning and learning strategies, analytical thinking, complex problem-solving, creativity, critical thinking and analysis,flexibility, initiative, innovation, leadership, originality, problem-solving and ideation, reasoning, resilience, social influence, stress tolerance, technology design and programming, technology monitoring and control, technology use.

Institute For The Future: cognitive load management, computational thinking, cross-cultural competency, design mindset, new media literacy, novel and adaptive thinking, resilience, sense-making, social intelligence, transdisciplinarity, virtual collaboration.

Get Smarter.com: analytical and critical thinking, digital literacy, emotional intelligence, leadership, self-management, social intelligence.

More Than Digital: active learning, adaptability, analytical thinking, collaboration, communication, complex problem-solving, coordination, creativity, critical thinking, cultural literacy, curiosity, growth, decision making, digital literacy, emotional intelligence, ethical literacy, financial literacy, ICT (information and communication technology), ideation, innovation, judgement, leadership skills, learning literacy, literacy, mindfulness, negotiation, numeracy, reasoning, resilience, scientific methods, self-reflection, systems thinking.

HR Forecast: critical thinking, data analytics, data visualization and exploration, digital literacy, knowledge of learning strategies and applying them in practice, leadership and social influence, negotiations and reasoning, problem solving, resilience, time management.

Reference Links

Indeed: https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/future-skills?aceid=&gclid=Cj0KCQiAmpyRBhC-ARIsABs2EAq_ocoSVXxNivSfvuqdnMlvyXGbhxZ3cOfcQvNwlJv-AAMGDr380x8aAm6PEALw_wcB

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/business/talent/blog/talent-strategy/linkedin-most-in-demand-hard-and-soft-skills

World Economic Forum: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/10/top-10-work-skills-of-tomorrow-how-long-it-takes-to-learn-them/

Institute For The Future: https://www.iftf.org/futureskills/

Get Smarter: https://www.getsmarter.com/blog/career-advice/5-pioneering-skills-youll-need-by-2025/

More Than Digital: https://morethandigital.info/en/23-skills-of-the-future-important-skills-for-the-jobs-of-21th-century/

HR Forecast: https://hrforecast.com/a-complete-guide-to-top-job-skills-needed-for-the-future-jobs/

Reference Publications

Grant, A. 2021. Think Again. Viking, Penguin Random House

Kahneman, D. 2013. Thinking Fast and Slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Ponton, M. K., and P. B. Carr. 2016. Autonomous and Self-Directed Learning: Agentic Perspectives. Watertree Press

Robinson, K. and L. Aronica. 2018. You, Your Child and School. Penguin

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