Pupil skills in a changing labour market
What I fear most, I think, is the death of the imagination. When the sky outside is merely pink, and the rooftops merely black: that photographic mind which paradoxically tells the truth, but the worthless truth, about the world
– Sylvia Plath
The labour market is shifting, and the demand for skills shifts with it. Technological development, the green industrial revolution, and an aging population will lead to a growth in demand for digital and technical skills, but also human skills (Taylor et al 2022). This article will explore how social and emotional skills will become increasingly important as the economy changes. It will suggest character education must be embedded into learning to ensure pupils can flourish in their future careers.
Education policy increasingly prioritises the acquisition of knowledge. An emphasis on literacy and numeracy, alongside digital and technical skills, underpins Sunak’s plans to ensure pupils continue to study maths to the age of 18. As the National Foundation for Education Research (NFER) notes, a focus on digital and technical skills is further evident in the creation of higher technical qualifications and T Levels, while the development of more challenging KS3, GCSEs and A-Levels suggests educational success is increasingly defined through an academic, exam-based lens (Taylor et al 2022). Other forms of child development, such as social confidence, communication, and empathy, slide from view.
This risks creating an education system that teaches – as Sylvia Plath might put it – only the worthless truth about the world. Pupils are taught the facts required to reach high grades, but not transferable skills like imagination, resilience, and self-awareness. As National Careers Week draws to a close, it seems timely to consider how this may impact pupils’ future employment prospects.
As the Gatsby Benchmarks note, successful careers guidance should be informed by an understanding of the labour market (The Careers and Enterprise Company 2023). It is therefore important to learn from research on labour market shifts, such as NFER’s 2035 Skills Imperative (NFER 2023). This five-year research programme seeks to understand what essential employment skills people will need for work by 2035. It argues developments in technology, demographic change, and the green industrial revolution will lead to a higher demand in both digital and human skills (Taylor et al 2022). In their analysis of thirty influential skills studies, the top five most frequently mentioned skills for employability are problem solving, critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity. Labour market shifts will increase the demand for these human skills. For example, developments in technology will likely lead to the automation of low-skilled, routine jobs, particularly in manufacturing, administration, and production (Wilson et al 2023). It is predicted that 22% of current manufacturing workforce activities across the EU will be automated by 2030 (Smit et al 2019). High-skilled jobs that rely on intellectual abilities are also at risk of being replaced by artificial intelligence.
In contrast, there will be a rise in demand for jobs based on human interaction over the next 15 years (Taylor et al 2022). Further, developments in technology may lead to increasingly flexible jobs that demand adaptability, with employees learning new skills throughout their working life. Emotional skills such as resilience are thus more vital than ever. Further, due to demographic shifts created by our aging population, the care economy will likely grow the most, with 369,000 new jobs created in the UK by 2035 (Wilson et al 2023). An older population will require more health and social support, while life-long learning will lead to growth in the education sector. Strong human skills such as empathy and communication are central to careers in these sectors.
If education policy continues on its current trajectory, we may see a future skills shortage and resultant under-employment. Crucially, education policy and careers guidance must be informed by labour market insights. Teachers already see this. For example, in response to changes to GCSEs and A levels, almost half of teachers believe there are fewer opportunities to develop employability skills (Laczik et al 2018). There is also a striking inequality in social-emotional learning, with disadvantaged pupils having less access to extra-curricular activities which support character education (Taylor et al 2022), and studies finding lower social and emotional skills in more disadvantaged young people (OECD 2021). The inequity in transferable skill development must be tackled.
Sylvia Plath was right to fear the death of the imagination. In a knowledge-rich curriculum, creativity, social skills, and emotional intelligence are cast aside. With pupils armed only with the facts they need to pass exams, we risk a shortage in the human skills required in our future economy. Of course, a focus on digital, technical, and academic development is deeply important and will continue to be so in the future, but this must be complemented by a focus on the social and emotional skills our labour market needs.
If you would like to continue the conversation on embedding employability skills into your school, get in touch with catriona@oppidaneducation.com or sally@oppidaneducation.com
References
Laczik et al 2018, “Joint Dialogue: How are schools developing real employability skills?”. https://www.edge.co.uk/research/projects/research-reports/joint-dialogue-how-are-schools-developing-real-employability-skills/ [accessed 10/03/2023].
NFER 2023, ‘The Skills Imperative 2035: Essential skills for tomorrow’s workforce’. < https://www.nfer.ac.uk/key-topics-expertise/education-to-employment/the-skills-imperative-2035/> [accessed 10/03/2023].
OECD 2021, “Beyond Academic Learning: First Results from the Survey of Social and Emotional Skills” https://www.oecd.org/education/ceri/social-emotional-skills-study/beyond-academic-learning-92a11084-en.htm
Smit et al (2020), “The Future of Work in Europe”. < https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/the-future-of-work-in-europe> [accessed 10/03/2023].
Taylor et al 2022, ‘The Skills Imperative 2035: what does the literature tell us about essential skills most needed for work?’. National Foundation for Education Research. < https://www.nfer.ac.uk/media/4852/the_skills_imperative_2035_working_paper_1_essential_skills_literature_review.pdf> [accessed 10/03/2023].
Wilson et al 2023, “The Skills Imperative 2035: Occupational Outlook – Long run employment prospects for the UK”. < https://www.nfer.ac.uk/key-topics-expertise/education-to-employment/the-skills-imperative-2035/> [ accessed 10/03/2023].