Can you remember a time when as a child you were asked: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
For today’s children, answering that question is harder than ever before. In fact, there are credible predictions that more than five million Australian jobs will simply disappear in the next 15 years due to task automation. That means that the children in our services today will more than likely be doing jobs that have not yet been invented.
Children are also increasingly more likely to be their own boss. That’s because technology is making it easier to be self-employed, and for agile workers to sell their skills to wider markets. We are already seeing this trend in Europe, where the number of self-employed people has grown by 45 per cent in the last decade.
In tomorrow’s job market adaptability, resilience, buoyancy and entrepreneurial capabilities will be critical.
These trends have enormous implications for our approach to early education. We need to look at how we can support our children to build the foundations they’ll need to thrive in future labour markets.
To shine a light on this important topic, we invited Jane Hunt, social change leader and CEO of Ready Nation Australia, and Charbel Zeaiter, co-founder of design and innovation school, Academy Xi, to speak at our recent AGM. Our guest speakers painted the picture of what the future world might look like, how jobs and technology will rapidly evolve, and how we can prepare today's children for a vastly different future. I encourage you to view their thought-provoking presentation The Future Now.
Our AGM also provided a fantastic opportunity to connect with colleagues and partners and reflect on our achievements of 2016. We also celebrated our 21st year of providing high quality and inclusive early learning and care and to acknowledge everyone who has contributed to our journey so far.