It is very possible that the job your child will work for in five or more years does not even exist today. This sounds a little scary - if we don't know what jobs of the future will be, how to prepare children for them?
Jobs that are currently on the rise, and for which great demand is expected in the future, are significantly based on the use of technology and digital knowledge. Critical thinking skills, interpersonal communication and social intelligence will become necessary tools for competitiveness in the job market. Software and application developers, data analysts, marketing and social media experts, are just some of the occupations that will be on the rise in the years to come.
By learning how to code, children develop creativity, finding different ways to solve complex problems and break them down into smaller parts. By mastering the skill of communication, children learn to express themselves correctly and to lead argumentative conversations. Critical thinking and problem solving is a way of observing and analyzing problems from many different angles, which facilitates the creation of innovative ideas.
Although it is difficult to predict the full range of jobs that the future will produce, technological literacy and the so-called “Soft” skills are becoming necessary for living and working in the 21st century. British Council programme “21st Century Schools” aims to help children, aged 10-15, to become open to new ideas, innovative and encourage continuous research. This modern concept of education implies teaching children key skills for the future in an innovative and practical way, through work on micro:bit devices.
The opportunity to acquire competitive knowledge and skills through practice, play and innovation is the most important step in preparing children for occupations that the 21st century has yet to devise.