The Education System Must Prepare Schoolchildren for Lifelong Learning and Career ChangesIn this article, Neil explains why, in the face of the wave of new technology, the education system needs to reform, and fast, to be fit for purpose.THE DAYS OF A JOB FOR LIFE ARE WELL AND TRULY OVERA couple of years ago, there was a big splash in the papers when Lucy Kellaway at 58 changed career from being a top journalist to becoming a teacher. It was a ‘story’ because this behaviour was unusual; most people might switch jobs a few times, but converting to a wholly different career was unusual. Sensing that there might be a trend developing, she even created a charity, Now Teach , to support other people in the same career-change predicament.Lucy’s articles got me thinking about how ‘all things work-related’ has evolved from previous generations. Back in the day when one of the ‘ the silent generation ’ joined The Bank (or wherever) straight from school, they often held a ‘ job for life ’ within the organisation and then spent their working life with that one employer, ticking off the days till retirement with the promise of a juicy pension.As Kellaway explains, it was not uncommon to make a “small change” of job-hopping, like when she “moved from one school to another”, but only a few people made the “big change” of career by “swapping newsroom for the classroom”. In a quick straw poll of baby-boomer friends and ex-colleagues, I found that most had followed similar paths of around 2 careers per working life and I can’t help but feel that this number is set to increase for younger people.The days of one vocation over a lifetime have all but disappeared and young people about to embark on the employment journey need to be aware of the implications of this; for them the future will be vastly different.CURRENT JOBS ARE DISAPPEARING AND DEGRADING FASTIt has been predicted that up to 300 million jobs worldwide could be “lost or degraded” in the imminent new tech era and around 83 million positions worldwide will be “eradicated” by as soon as 2027. The fastest-declining roles at risk of extinction today by technology and digitalisation are: clerical or secretarial roles, like bank clerks and tellers, post office clerks, cashiers and ticket clerks; and administrative roles, like data entry and basic accounting clerks. Oh, did I mention clerks? And, also, positions in traditional security, factories and commerce.According to career coach, Caroline Castrillon : “Lifetime employment at a single job is largely a thing of the past.” She goes on to say that ‘non-linear’ careers are likely to become more accepted by employers and companies will expect employees to be flexible and adaptable, “leveraging your transferable skills and stepping outside your comfort zone.” There is a trend for companies to embrace skills-based hiring .“EVERY DISADVANTAGE HAS ITS ADVANTAGE”: CRUYFFIt’s not all despondency however; while it is true that AI and automation are likely to transform the jobs market in the coming years, it is important to bear in mind that the advent of new technologies will also create new work opportunities that we cannot yet fully anticipate. In fact, Brynjolfsson and McAfee, in the Second Machine Age , argue that generative software is so dexterous that it is impossible to predict the applications in just a few years’ time. Large-scale and fast job growth is predicted in digital commerce and trade connected with AI and analysis. It is also expected that there will be high growth in specialist roles associated with machine operation in sectors like agriculture and technology and many millions of additional jobs in education, such as vocational, university and higher education teachers, as the drive for training, retraining, reskilling, upskilling and lifelong learning takes hold.It is not surprising that many experts in the employment field believe that people in future will have substantially more career fluctuation. Yo...
