Continued dramatic changes are forecast to take place in the workforce and society as we move through the 21st Century. The information technology revolution will continue to make real and profound changes to the world of work with resulting huge societal changes. Some observers forecast that the increased application of automation, robotics and AI will substantially reduce the number of rewarding and fulfilling jobs available to provide meaningful work for less than 20% of the current workforce if we retain our current economic structures. Without social or economic reform rest of us risk joining a growing ‘precariat’ with poor conditions of employment, unable to aspire to full participation in society, home ownership, pension provision, or social insurance protection.
To succeed in the post 2050 workforce 'makers and shapers' who innovate, collaborate, lead, and solve complex problems of global scale will thrive. A global elite will work with high social, analytic and creative skills. Without a new social and economic approach inequality will increase beyond today’s unsustainable levels.
A 2-year old child today will be a 35-year old early career worker in 2050. In a learning system ready to prepare our students for the post 2050 world, higher order skills, transversal cross-curriculum skills, and strong STEM skills will be key to success. We will show that strong literacy, communications and interpersonal skills will also remain essential for success in the workplace, while a thriving arts and culture skills-base and community remains essential for a strong civil society. There are no short-cuts. A leading economy in this new world will need to do it all well, or hand our position over to the strong growth economies of the world.
This creates a need for significant education reform but our conservative institutions and vested interest groups are battling reform at every step. We have an education system still catching up with what was required for the late 20th century, woefully unprepared for the needs of the 2nd half of the 21st century. Innovations in teaching and learning supporting the development of higher-order skills, thematic and transversal cross-curricular learning will be essential to prepare the creative 'makers and shapers'. Design Learning – like Design Thinking, a model for collaborative problem solving, ideation, reimagining made famous in Silicon Valley by IDEO, and practiced by leading education innovators including Bridge21 at TCD, will be one tool to reinvent our learning processes.
Society will be reshaped as rewarding work, careers and employment are available for only the best prepared minority of the population. Without a different approach to our society and economy more will join the 'precariat' becoming the 'serfs' of the 21st Century. It will be impossible for many to ever to get onto the economic ladder. Our approach to work, leisure, society and welfare will need to change significantly. Recent political movements show us that if we don’t reform change may come from forces beyond our control.
The aim of this presentation will knit these themes together into a thought provoking discussion.
References:
Heather McGowan and Daniel Araya, (Sep 14, 2016) Education and accelerated change: The imperative for design learning.
https://www.brookings.edu/blog...
World Economic Forum, (2105) The skills needed in the 21st century
https://widgets.weforum.org/nv...
Y Mor, N Winters - Interactive Learning Environments, (2007) Design approaches intechnology-enhanced learning
Mason,Paul (2015), Postcapitalism, A guide to our future.
