---
title: "Why education is under the spotlight"
site: "Scotch Global Connect"
url: "https://global.scotch.wa.edu.au/connect/news/education-under-spotlight"
description: "The ‘future of education’ rhetoric is increasingly attracting attention from the media due to the content of publications such as, “Future of Work”, released by the likes of Deloitte, PWC and The World Economic Forum."
published: "2023-07-04"
updated: "2023-10-06"
---

# Why education is under the spotlight

The ‘future of education’ rhetoric is increasingly attracting attention from the media due to the content of publications such as, “Future of Work”, released by the likes of Deloitte, PWC and The World Economic Forum.
Path: News › Why education is under the spotlight

## The Future of Education

Why education is under the spotlight?
The ‘future of education’ rhetoric is increasingly attracting attention from the media due to the content of publications such as, “Future of Work”, released by the likes of Deloitte, PWC and The World Economic Forum. These reports essentially predict employment trends in the near future and highlight skill deficiencies that are emerging in today’s organisations. The rapidly progressing normality of artificial intelligence in the workplace is increasing job redundancy, as society devalues process-orientated, repetitive skills. Repetitive tasks, no matter how complex, will eventually be replaced through automation made possible thanks to machine learning. This rapid growth is concerning analysts as they predict organisations will struggle to find employees capable of working in this area.
Although, I believe there are some upsides for young people in the world today. Society will promote the ‘human skills’ that technology can’t replace. Our lives will be less tedious, jobs will change more frequently, involve collaboration and in general, be more challenging. The term ‘continual learning’ won’t just be a catch cry, it will be expected from our future workforce.

If this is our future, it seems fair that governments, businesses and universities are looking back to early education in the hope that schools will prepare the next generation for this fourth industrial revolution. However, looking at the curriculum in Australia it seems little has changed; content, classrooms, teachers, assessments, reports, exams and ranking seem all too similar to the education that was delivered 30 years ago. My concern is that if schools wait for the system to change, won’t they place our students at a disadvantage in what will be a very competitive employment landscape? So what would change look like?

We can’t deny that learning content, preparing for assessments and sitting exams all have their place in building our students’ capacity. These staples of our system help them to understand complex ideas, learn independently, manage themselves and explore their curiosities. Many inspirational young minds have been cultivated on these foundations. However, it is the next layer of development that is not easily recognised in our curriculum; the 21stcentury skills, general capabilities or approaches to learning. A skills-based curriculum that sits alongside the content curriculum is where innovative schools such as ours, are finding room for progress.
At Scotch Global, we are fortunate to have highly capable staff who value this concept and have spent their careers so far exploring what a skill-building curriculum can look like. Having knowledge of the International Baccalaureate five core skill areas called the Approaches to Learning; ***Self-Management, Research, Social, Communication* and *Thinking***, our teachers have mapped our curriculum through each year level with over 200 explicit skills being identified through units of work. Since this skills curriculum was not expected of teachers 10 years ago, it presents us with a challenge that we are ready to take on. Our team has worked hard to design learning that offers students authentic exposure but also provides space for them to learn, make mistakes and ultimately become highly capable.

Our curriculum is supported by comprehensive, but unobtrusive reporting methods that allow progress to be reviewed with ease. Combining teacher feedback and self-reporting allows students to grow self-efficacy, which is recognised as a key contributor to their achievement.

I am confident that our commitment to progress in education will help prepare the next generation with the skills and empathy they need to shape our future.

**Cara Fugill, Head of Scotch Global**

## Topics

- Connect
---

Canonical HTML version: https://global.scotch.wa.edu.au/connect/news/education-under-spotlight