The Future of Education is such an important topic if we are going to set our kids up to succeed in tomorrow’s world and workplace and I’m glad to see the media agrees. Here are some of the radio interviews I did on the back of this recent media release including an extended piece for ABC local radio’s Overnight program with listener talk back :

“Half of all children starting kindergarten this year have no chance of getting a job in 2030, if we continue to educate them the way we currently are” is one of the findings in a new bold trend report exploring the world of work in 2030 compiled by Australian futurist, Morris Miselowski, one of the world’s leading business and education visionaries.

In 2030, 1 in 4 cars sold will be fully autonomous. Robots, Artificial Intelligence, Drones and Connected Cities will all be as ordinary as gas, electricity and water. Mobile phones, keyboards and mice will be relegated to museums and the notion of 9 – 5 Monday to Friday work will have given way to project and task-work done however, whenever and wherever it’s appropriate.

In 2030 the Australian population will have grown to 28,481,000 (23,972,800 today), against a global population of 8,500,766 (7,349,472 today). 1 in 5 Australian’s will be over 60 years old; the ratio of workers to retirees will 3:1 (5:1 today); the average Australian house will costs $3,000,000 ($658,608 today) and the average household income will be $275,000 ($145,400 today).

In 2030 India will have surpassed China as the most populous country on the earth; America’s global dominance will have waned and the world’s middle class will have risen from 2.1 billion today to 4.9 billion, 66% of whom will be living in Asia.  It will be an era of lower global birth rates and of living longer and healthier lives.

In 2030 there will be too many human workers competing globally for too few jobs, with many of today’s routine jobs having been handed over to technology and in an ironical twist this new technology will be responsible for creating millions of new human jobs, tasks and careers.

This year’s kinder students will live to 120, work into their 90’s, undertake 2 simultaneous income producing activities at any one time in a lifetime of work that includes 6 careers and 14 jobs, undertaking tasks and working in industries that are yet to be discovered and if they are going to succeed in a 2030 world of work” they will need to create their own work, not apply for it”.

In 2030 Australian retention rates for completing Year 12 will be 90% (83.6% today), but there will no written exams to mark the end of schooling, nor a single university score required to gain entry to higher education.

“This is the world our kindergarten starters of 2015 will face when they enter the workforce, and it’s this world of vastly changed horizons that we must prepare them for” says Miselowski.

It will demand different of its workforce, as we see new careers rising including transhumanist designers, genome specialists, nano medics, machine linguists, gamification engineers amongst many others as well as the continuation of many of today’s trades and service careers, but what they do, how, where and when they do it will have all evolved – “nothing then, will be as it is now!” says Miselowski.

Today’s education system however, backed by well-intentioned but short-sighted educators and parents, is still underpinned by an archaic industrial revolution model of teaching dominated by the 3R’s (reading, writing and arithmetic – 2 of which don’t even begin with an “R”) that was right for an era where student outcomes, careers paths and choices industry were well-known.

In 2030 the 3R’s won’t work, they conspire to teach rigidity, uniformity, conformity and compliance. What today’s kindergarten students really need from us is to be inspired by the 3C’s of Collaboration, Creativity and Communication so that they can influence, innovate and change their world ahead.

So have a listen to some of these segments and then add your voice to the future of education:

ABC Overnights – Brad McKenzie – 21st January (31 minutes 44 seconds) – includes listener calls

https://soundcloud.com/businessfuturist/education-2030

3AW, 2UE, 4BC – Australia Overnight – Alan Pearsall – 23rd January (12 minutes 05 seconds)

6PR – Chris Isley – Monday 26th January (13 minutes 15 seconds)

ABC Townsville – Michael Clarke – 21 January (10 minutes 17 seconds)

Austereo WA – Anthony Tilli – 28 January (5 minutes 4 seconds)