Planning for the future can be complex as it is difficult to know what to expect; however, as educators, we have a significant role to play in preparing our girls for the future.
I have written before about the purpose of education, feeling strongly that we are not solely preparing our girls for their future jobs but, more significantly, guiding them to learn how to learn. In fact, we are responsible for our girls’ learning how to learn. Having said that, they must acquire skills that will be useful both in life and work when they leave us for whatever post-secondary experiences they choose.
At the beginning of March, I attended the Heads Network annual conference, and our keynote speaker, Gayle Allen, host of Curious Minds Podcast spoke to us about the future of work. Citing the World Economic Forum, Allen articulated the skills required to be successful in 2020: complex problem solving, critical thinking, creativity, people management, coordinating with others, emotional intelligence, judgement and decision making, service orientation, negotiation and cognitive flexibility.
However, she noted how different things will look in 2030. In the USA, up to 18% of work will be automated, resulting in 33%, or 166 million, people requiring new jobs. This is a daunting. In addition to the type of work changing, the kind of worker will be different. The MIT Technology Review on “The Future of Work” reported that “a growing number of platforms like Upwork, TaskRabbit, Uber, Airbnb, and others that connect freelancers to clients are creating a new type of labor marking, something consultant Sangeet Paul Choudary calls ‘networked work.’ In this world, workers are responsible for their own development and assume many of the risks employers once bore.”
What does this mean for us as educators preparing our girls for the future?
It requires us to always be considering how to prepare what Alumna Dr. Kate Raynes-Goldie calls Future Ready Teens. Dr. Raynes-Goldie says, “My passion has always been not only to help people prepare for the future, but to ensure that they thrive. We are at a critical time for young people right now- it is vital we make sure they succeed and have the same positive, enriching growth experience I have had since leaving university.”
We are thrilled to be partnering with Dr. Raynes-Goldie to launch the first-ever Future Ready Teens TO program at St. Clement’s School this summer. This program, first of its kind in Canada, will be open to a maximum fifteen fortunate Clementines currently in Grades 11 and 12 and will take place during the week of June 25-29. Details to come!
St. Clement’s School has always been focused on developing outstanding women who are intellectually curious, courageous and compassionate. We are particularly excited to be doing this with Dr. Raynes-Goldie, an outstanding woman and Alumna herself.
