Education Today Education Today Magazine
As the final term of another school year begins, there is a whole host of preparation in place for children as they move classes, forms and even schools for some. Come September, a whole new group of children will enter the education system. But what many of them don’t know is that the jobs they will eventually find and settle into later down the line are not the jobs that exist today. 65% of children entering primary school in 2020 will work in jobs in the future we don’t even know about yet.
In fact, according to a report published by Dell Technologies, authored by the Institute For The Future (IFTF) and a panel of 20 tech, business and academic experts from around the world, 85 per cent of the jobs that will exist in 2030 haven’t even been invented yet.
Maybe these children will lead in roles linked to artificial intelligence and machine-learning and robotics. Or maybe nanotechnology, 3-D printing, or genetics and biotechnology. We don’t know for sure, but we do know that rapid technological change is changing the skill requirements for jobs.
When the question ‘what do you want to be when you grow up’ was asked 12 years ago, ‘tech’ jobs such as Meter Reader, Video Store Manager, TV Repairman, and Assembly Line Worker were well known to primary school age children.
In a rapidly changing API economy, those jobs in 12 years’ time will be Neuro Manager, Robot Monitors, Ethical Hacker, Blockchain Crypto Specialist, Digital Detox Therapist, Cultured Meat Farmers, Urban Shepherd, Microbial Balancer and Autonomous Vehicle Designer.
Many of these roles will require individuals to learn as they go, within emerging fields and often very little pre-training. Adopting a ‘new mindset’ will be crucial, as will the resilience to overcome the challenges that may require candidates to be the sum of many parts; part junior economist, part API developer, part data geek and an auditor.
This is just one of the reasons why Prof. Dr Ger Graus, Global Education Director at KidZania, believes that prioritising personal growth needs to be as important as academic attainment in preparing children for the future world or working. Developing ‘new world’ skills that also equip children with the emotional intelligence to advance, including; communication, collaboration, creativity, reflection, leadership, problem solving, empathy and an entrepreneurial spirit.
“KidZania exists to inspire our global citizens of the future to explore a world of opportunity and broaden their horizons.” Explains Ger Graus. “We want to open children’s eyes to the future world of working by equipping them with the skills, knowledge and emotional intelligence derived from fun and engaging ‘edutainment’ activities. We have a unique formula that enables children to feel independent, confident, successful and rewarded with a sense of personal achievement after a fun day out.
“Edutainment is entertainment that is, in equal parts, also educational. It is delivered through experience- based learning in the form of role play. Role play cannot exist without role modelling and at KidZania, role modelling is not just about the adults who work with the children but the industry partners whose participation is about reality and aspiration.”
“It is all about the world of working with children exploring the narrative of their future and what it might hold for them. They also do it independently of adults, whilst having an enormous amount of fun and learning without explicitly realising it”
KidZania London is based in Westfield London, Shepherd’s Bush and open to families and schools on selected dates throughout the year.
Educational visits start from just £10 per pupil when booked in advance and can be supplemented with in-classroom workshops delivered by a specialist Education team.
To find out more, please contact us:
