Reinventing Education For The Future Of Work
British educationalist Ken Robinson holds the distinction of having the most viewed TED talk ever, and his widely viewed skewering of the modern education system has been further embellished upon in numerous books and presentations. He rails against an education system that was forged in the heat of the industrial revolution to create a workforce fit to perform the one task they would have to perform for the entirety of their working lives.It's a system that is increasingly unfit for purpose, not only in terms of meeting the widely reported skills shortages in technical disciplines, but also in skills like collaboration and problem solving that are cited as being vital for the fourth industrial revolution. With technology increasingly capable of performing routine tasks, it is beholden on us to develop those skills that are fundamentally human. A recent report from the innovation charity Nesta urges us to unleash our imagination and grow beyond being mere cogs in the wheel. They cite programs such as the Compte Personnel de Formation in France, which aims to provide all workers with access to 24 hours of training for every year they've been in the labor force.