Preparing Education Systems For A Radically Changing Labour Market

Dr Chris Martin, Lead Education Analyst at Cambridge Partnership for Education, considers how education systems can equip students for jobs of the future.

App developer, social media manager, cloud computing scientist… these roles simply didn’t exist at the turn of the last century. But, as with many other jobs like them, their existence speaks to the drastic technological and societal changes of recent years.  The same will be true in the future. New industries and new roles within them will continue to emerge.  So, a big challenge for education systems is how to equip students for an unknown future: will the skills and knowledge that students gain in school today no longer be relevant?

Technology working for, not against, skilled workers

A common form that this question takes is the concern that today’s students, when their turn comes to join the labour force, will be made redundant by unforeseen technological innovations. 

This is not a new fear. But, if we look historically, technological development has typically been absorbed into the economy to improve human productivity, not to replace human labour. This phenomenon was first analysed by the economist Zvi Griliches in 1969 with a concept he called ‘Capital-Skill Complementarity’. He noted that machinery and tools (capital) have tended to ‘complement’ workers of all skill levels, but on balance new technologies complement higher-skilled workers more.

So, when capital is augmented, for instance through robots that can help workers to be more productive, Griliches showed how this can translate to higher demand for skilled labour.

This means that the pressure on the economic system created by capital augmentation has generally been resolved by the workforce improving their skills, rather than there being fewer workers employed or people working shorter hours.

Preparing for a new world

How can this insight help guide education reform?

Governments, particularly those in growing and emerging economies, have a responsibility to ensure students are prepared for a social world and labour market that will be very different from that occupied by their parents. This often includes negotiating rapid technological transformation. 

The adaptation of the education system to help this effort does not just mean preparing young people for a transition away from agricultural work to ‘high-tech’ and digital industries. It can also mean enabling students to have greater choice and opportunity in a labour market that is increasingly global, and a far more diversified economy. 

At Cambridge Partnership for Education, we work in collaboration with education systems around the world to help them achieve such objectives. For example, in Oman, we are helping the government strengthen their maths and science education in primary and secondary levels and promote international equivalence in qualifications. 

This work supports Oman 2040, the country’s vision to become a knowledge-based society built on the principles of citizenship and genuine Omani identity, supported by scientific research and innovation. We’re contributing key aspects of this policy including economic digitization, improving competitiveness of industries and people, and promoting the pursuit of innovation. 

Balancing knowledge and skills

Efforts to prepare students for emerging labour markets sometimes pivot to two extremes: a curricular focus on skills, which may be more transferable or adaptable, but which risk under-preparing students for mastering a subject area or discipline; or conversely on knowledge, which risks becoming outdated.

But, as my colleague Tim Oates has pointed out, opposing these approaches serves no one, and the curricula in higher-performing jurisdictions tend to recognise that knowledge and skills support one another. While it takes time and resources to instil an ability to manipulate and negotiate scientific knowledge, it is more likely to engender greater capability to gain more knowledge in the future. 

Students need high quality foundations: it’s better to make sure students are given a grounding in key subject areas, rather than pivoting early on to vocational subjects to try to ‘match’ graduates with immediate labour market needs. Ironically, countries that take steps to over-specialise their students may end up creating a labour force that is less nimble.

Prepared for what?

The concern about the imminent redundancy of the next generation in the face of technological change may be misplaced: we see that, sufficiently equipped with a balance of knowledge and skills, learners with stronger education can potentially prosper regardless, equipped to respond to new circumstances and thrive. For education systems and national economies, there’s greater value in having a diversity of skills across your labour force, rather than over-specialising, particularly at a young age. This is best achieved with investment in foundational learning, and schools and teachers that are supported in providing it.

Finally, let’s remember that social change and transformation do not emerge from thin air: the very changes educators are concerned with making sure young people are prepared to navigate will be, in part, created from their own innovation, creativity and motivation for improving the world. We must be wary of pre-empting the direction today’s students will take with over-specificity, and instead provide them with the platform to challenge and transform for themselves.

If you’d like to find out how Cambridge Partnership for Education can support your education system to prepare students for tomorrow’s labour market, then please get in touch.