A Scoping Review of Future Skills Frameworks
If the skills of the past won’t prepare the learners of today for the challenges of the future, where should we focus our energies instead?
There’s a common perception that the future will present new and possibly more serious challenges for society, that new skills will be needed to meet these challenges, and that workers may need to be reskilled as old jobs are automated, environmental and health crises change the nature of work, and concepts of identity and well-being evolve.
Our researchers found 99 frameworks containing 341 skill concepts, and identified nine categories that provide a starting point to inform the integration of Future Skills in education. What unites them all is the belief that these are skills individuals will need to overcome complex and as yet unknown challenges.
Current ways of life simply seem less certain for the next generation. How can education systems help prepare students for an unpredictable and seemingly threatening future?
Members of the Innovation Lab at the Digital Education Futures Initiative, Hughes Hall, Cambridge, undertook a rigorous scoping review. The meta-categories listed below were developed through the use of both thematic analysis and Social Network Analysis (SNA), representing the first time that a comprehensive review of frameworks has incorporated academic articles, policy documents, white papers, and grey literature from both private and public institutions.
This information is designed to be used by a range of professionals, including:
- School-based practitioners
- Human resource professionals
- Policy makers
- Educational technology developers
We hope the meta-categories provided in this review will help you to prioritise the integration of certain skills into teaching, learning and retraining, to ensure that today’s students and professionals are better prepared to thrive in an uncertain future.
Click on the icon above to read a summary of the top 9 future skills categories that DEFI identified.
Click on the icon above to read DEFI’s full journal article which was published by the Irish Educational Times.
