INSET: Future Ready Learning -21st Century Skills

“This workshop is both inspirational and practical. It shows how education needs to change and what future ready learning can look like in practice. It changed me as an educator forever.”
Rob Grantham, Intercommunity School of Istanbul

According to the World Economic Forum, we stand at the brink of a Fourth Industrial Revolution, with change happening at an unprecedented and exponential pace. This revolution is disrupting every industry in every country around the world and will alter the way we live and work forever. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) informs us that in the future, millions of jobs may be lost to automation but that new jobs will also emerge. We do not know which jobs will disappear and which will be created. The only certainty is uncertainty.

Students graduating from university will no longer remain in the same profession for life but will instead be employed in the “gig economy”, which will require them to adapt their skills throughout their lives to match the economic demands of the changing world. In order to remain employed, humans will also need to capitalise on the skills and attributes that robots and artificial intelligence cannot replicate. To prepare us for this world, education needs to focus more on the development of “soft skills” and attributes as traditional education, emphasising the transfer of knowledge from teacher to pupil, decreases in relevance. Schools also need to focus on deeper learning, providing pupils with opportunities to think critically and apply the skills they develop to real-life contexts. Finally, schools need to empower pupils to take ownership of their learning, increasing motivation and engagement and building initiative, allowing them to take responsibility for their learning and their lives.

Future ready learning means focusing on the development of these skills and attributes, replacing traditional learning with a range of new approaches that will provide pupils with the tools they need to be successful, producing curious, engaged, and resilient individuals who are able to take on the challenges of the 21st century and beyond.

INSET Aims

The workshop aims to develop an understanding of the components of future ready learning and provide examples of best practice from some of the world’s most innovative schools.

You may also be interested in our INSET courses on Metacognition – click here

INSET Outline

What is Future ready Learning and Why Do We Need It?

To examine the fourth industrial revolution and the impact it is likely to have on employment.
To consider how education needs to change to meet the demands of the fast moving world.
To outline the three pillars of future-ready learning.

The Three Pillars of Future ready Learning

To unpack the three pillars of future-ready learning in more detail.

To understand the continuing importance of core skills, the development of literacy, numeracy, science, ICT and civic literacy and their application to real life.
To consider the importance of the four Cs: communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking.
To consider the development of character qualities to enable students to adapt to their ever-changing environment – empathy, initiative, adaptability, curiosity, leadership, resilience, and social and cultural awareness.

Future Ready Learning in Practice

To consider how we can apply the three pillars of future-ready learning in the classroom, drawing on concrete examples from innovative schools around the world.

To understand the importance of inquiry-based learning and trans and interdisciplinary learning.
To consider the benefits of experiential learning, including play-based learning in the early years and hands-on learning approaches across the age range.
To understand the value of personalised and project-based learning.

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