Educating with certainty for future career uncertainty?

Abstract

Proficiency in generic skills becomes an imperative and sustainable approach in education today, to ensure future career certainty. The impact of technological change dictates that the future will belong to the knowledge worker who embraces the concepts of lifelong learning and self-directed learning. Education of today might be obsolete tomorrow as new positions are created and existing jobs become redundant. The continued process of economic globalization challenges education as a means of achieving individual success for future career evolution.

The approach to life long learning involves reconceptualising of programmes as “Living Curricula” rather than a collection of courses. Learning becomes conversations between educators, learners and the community. This requires the integration of the programs with the real world. For this to occur the programs should be genuinely dynamic, resourceful and resilient on the part of both educator and learner. This resourcefulness and resilience ensures adaptability to evolving unidentifiable job requirements in an uncertain future. The living curricula promote student competences and lifelong skills by immersing the student into current real world workplace situations in preparation for change and future career uncertainty.

Interdisciplinary collaboration is essential for educators today. The programs that integrate practice-based, place-based, project-based and problem-based learning are the core of the living curricula. This holistic approach ensures the inculcation of transferable skills and equipping the learner for the on-going global challenges presented in their future careers.

This paper expounds the relevance of the synthesis of knowledge, skills and competencies in the teaching and learning practices currently adopted at Unitec Institute of Technology, New Zealand as a precursor to future career evolution.