The Future of Learning: Redefining Readiness from the Inside Out

The Future of Learning

Redefining Readiness from
the Inside Out

Publication

January 12, 2017

By: Katherine Prince, Jason Swanson

Topics: Future of Learning

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

Work is changing rapidly as we enter a new era fueled by exponential advances in digital technologies
The paper explore how a new foundation for readiness might help people navigate the future and illustrates how critical uncertainties could affect readiness by 2040
We owe it to current and future students to reframe our approaches to readiness; this is the most urgent issue on the horizon for learning

Babies born this year will have graduated from college by 2040 and be entering the workforce. Will they be ready?

Download our paper on The Future of Learning: Redefining Readiness from the Inside Out and learn how career readiness may be redefined to better prepare students for an uncertain future, based on a series of in-depth interviews with employees at cutting-edge organizations, as well as site visits to workspaces and strategic foresight research into current trends.

“By redefining readiness, we will better ensure all students are prepared for a future that is filled with uncertainty,” said Katherine Prince, KnowledgeWorks Vice President of Strategic Foresight.

More flexible skills, such as those focused on social-emotional development, promise to help students become resilient, reflective and able to form positive connections and relationships. This paper explores three core skills that promote the social and emotional awareness needed to succeed in the future workforce:

Deep self-knowledge: Individuals will need to continue to discover their own personal and professional strengths, weaknesses, passions and emotional patterns.
Emotional regulation: Workers will need to be able to recognize their own emotions, understand the triggers that create them and move to more productive emotional states.
Empathy and perspective taking: People will need to be able to recognize others’ emotions and perspectives to help build inclusive, collaborative work environments.

By proposing a new foundation for readiness based on these core social-emotional skills, KnowledgeWorks hopes to work with education stakeholders to think toward 2040 to help all students develop the skills needed to succeed in the future workforce.