Skills for the future

Today, I would like to write about skills. In Singapore, with the SkillsFuture movement (Mastery, meritocracy and me), skills upgrading and lifelong learning are particularly important. In the education system, recent policies have also been slanted towards a deemphasis on grades while stressing on the importance of upskilling for the workforce of the future.

Note the 3Cs for the new ICT Framework

Thus, in schools, we have to look at New Media Literacies which is defined as the competencies to create, connect and curate information in the digital networked environment. These include baseline ICT skills and knowledge that will enable students to navigate the VUCA world more effectively in the future.

This is significant because with the rapid advances in technology, educators cannot just rest on their laurels either. Instead, we have to prepare and equip our students with the necessary skills to survive and thrive in the 21st century and beyond. Hence, teachers have to buy-in to the SkillsFuture initiatives and philosophy and continuously learn or upskill ourselves so that we are in a better position to nurture our students well.

My reflections on a life-changing skill got featured in the PS Challenge magazine and I won a voucher! Yay!

Nonetheless, we have to be careful when pushing for specific skills that we hope to impart because any overemphasis on a particular skill could mean that more students may flock towards that skill which may lead to other skills losing their significance. There needs to be a fine balance so that we have a healthy number of generalists and specialists in the society as they each have their respective roles to play. (Check out https://thewokesalaryman.com/2020/01/31/we-should-all-be-generalists-even-the-specialists/ for a light discourse on this.)

comic from a sponsored post by NLB at thewokesalaryman.com 

This is where soft skills kick in. These are essentials for those working in multidisciplinary teams blending specialists and generalist to achieve organisational goals. I ever wrote an op-ed with the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) on the importance of soft skills where explored some of the skills required for our young to navigate the workforce of the future effectively and efficiently. Although the jobs of tomorrow may not yet exist today, soft skills of today may be transferable and are therefore valuable and necessary in the future. I'm referring to skills like crises management,  diversity or even stress management which goes beyond just effective communication skills or networking skills.

Our young are expected to be Global Citizens in which the world is their market. I really hope that we are doing enough to prepare them for the complex/wicked world.