Preparing Students for the Future

In addition to preparing our students for public examination success, we also place a great emphasis on the skills that they will need for university and work after they leave our Sixth Form.

According to the recently published World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs report, employers will now be looking for a whole new skills set by 2020. The report attempts to predict how advances in fields such as virtual reality, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, biotechnology and robotics will impact the workplace and therefore, which skills will be the most desirable for employers in the future.

Top of the list is cognitive flexibility and the ability to think creatively, reason logically and problem-solve sensitively. Someone who is skilled at making data-based decisions will be especially valued. Employers will also be looking for people with high levels of emotional intelligence as this cannot be replicated by robots. Social skills such as persuasion and the ability to teach others will be in higher demand than narrower technical skills. In 2015, creativity was the tenth most sought after skill by employers, but this has now risen to third place. The report also suggests that rather than reducing the need for human skills, automation will fuel demand for these attributes as machines need to be “directed ethically and optimally”. Employees who can evaluate the ways technology will benefit the company will be sought after, as will those who can interpret data to solve complex problems.