“Nothing travels faster than the speed of light with the possible exception of bad news, which obeys its own special laws.”
Doomsayers
Being worried about change and the future is nothing new:
“This planet has—or rather had—a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much all of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movement of small green pieces of paper, which was odd because on the whole it wasn’t the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy. Many were increasingly of the opinion that they’d all made a big mistake in coming down from the trees in the first place. And some said that even the trees had been a bad move, and that no one should ever have left the oceans.” The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy 1997.
In regard to a career, I am one of the lucky ones who dreamed of being in a particular job and found a career. Research (over 20000 recipients) shows that the only career that young children envisioned or wished for and regularly achieved is teaching. For the other children, aspirations or dreams to be a fireman, doctor, astronaut etc usually morphed into something else. That variation of career choices and options will most likely be ongoing as we march further into the 21st century.
Our new world (remember we are already well into the 21st century, so let’s stop talking about preparing for it) and the way we prepare our students for success must change or we condemn them to lesser lives.
Our school must acknowledge the world into which our graduates will emerge. What is this world going to look like?
The least safe jobs
Telemarketer
Chance of automation 99%
Loan officer
Chance of automation 98%
Cashier
Chance of automation 97%
Paralegal and legal assistant
Chance of automation 94%
Taxi driver
Chance of automation 89%
Fast food cook
Chance of automation 81%
A real world example: Meet “Cal”
Cal left school around 15 to become a pro skateboarder. Unlike many other young males, he was, for some time, successful nationally and even internationally (there are videos!!). Saw the limits of his career closing in (injuries and age), followed a family tradition to become a vehicle mechanic, made it through an apprenticeship and achieved employment. He is now studying physics at university. He probably has no idea how typical he is of the career trajectory young Australians are facing.
Warning: Volvo has predicted that driverless cars will become commercially available in the next five years, a prospect that would make taxi and Uber drivers redundant. Being an Uber driver may go from being an on trend job to unemployed – a very short career life.
What in the world is coming?
Emerging Careers:
Although mostly unheard of today, the following careers are expected to be in high demand in the years to come:
“Since February 2000 most job growth in Australia has been delivered into healthcare and social assistance (up 730,000 jobs), professional services (up 440,000), education (up 330,000) and construction (up 410,000) sectors. These are mostly skilled and/or knowledge worker jobs. Knowledge worker jobs in Australia are largely concentrated in the CBD and inner city in corporate head offices, professional services firms, government administration and in large hospitals and universities. These job generators attract knowledge workers who prefer not to commute, underpinning demand for apartments”. Bernard Salt. Demographer.
So, what is SCAS doing to prepare our students for this world?
Mr Terry Muldoon Principal, St Columba Anglican School |
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