Employment, educational and community leaders face a critical window of choice. Even today, graduates’ skill sets and employers’ needs are often out of sync. As explored in KnowledgeWorks’ strategic foresight publications, work is changing rapidly, which could widen that gap. Exponential advances in digital technologies, the rise of smart machines and the decline of full-time employment suggest that our future could look dramatically different from today’s realities. By looking at changes on the horizon, leaders have the opportunity to redefine readiness for this new era and align their work to meet learners’, workers’ and employers’ future needs. Due to the magnitude of change on the horizon, no one organization or system can address future readiness needs on its own. The level and pace of change require both long-term thinking and cross-sector action.

Shaping the Future of Readiness: A Discussion and Facilitation Guide^© aims to assist community conveners in supporting meaningful multi-sector and action-oriented discussions that lead to concrete next steps that support future workforce development.

Inside the publication:

This guide contains three structured group activities:

1. Exploring the future of work: Explore broad and local changes on the horizon and consider how the future of work might unfold.
2. Creating a new profile of a graduate: Consider what knowledge, skills and dispositions might help young people thrive in a new world of work and what learning experiences they might need.
3. Leveraging cross-sector opportunities: Highlight ways different sectors and organizations can collaborate to support future college and career readiness.

The discussions and exercises outlined in Shaping the Future of Readiness: A Discussion and Facilitation Guide^© are designed with a cross-sector group of K-12, business, postsecondary and community leaders in mind. When possible, involving students, recent graduates and parents can also yield important insights. Conveners are encouraged to bring together audiences that represent diverse perspectives and areas of expertise and that reflect and represent the communities in which the conversations are being held.

These activities are based on KnowledgeWorks’ extensive experience facilitating interactive workshops with multi-sector audiences. However, conveners are encouraged to adapt the activities and timing and incorporate them into their programs to meet the needs of their groups and communities.

We owe it to current and future students to reframe our approaches to readiness. How we choose to engage on this topic will shape how equitable, productive and vibrant our collective futures will be. Redefining readiness for the emerging era is the most urgent issue on the horizon for education and employment stakeholders.