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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Bildung
- Sprache: Englisch
A practical guide to preparing students and job candidates for the demands of the modern workplace
How can we prepare learners for an ever-changing world and job market? What are 21st century employers looking for in applicants, and how do we coach jobseekers to be ready on day one? Now is the time to rethink and expand how we prepare job seekers for the roles that will launch their careers. In Shift Teaching Forward, Kelly Cassaro gives educators the knowledge, insight, and practical advice they need to prime students for the social, emotional, and behavioral skills they need to thrive in tomorrow’s workplace.
Shift Teaching Forward showcases the ecosystem of elements that characterizes a successful job-training program. As educators, we need to focus not only on standards alignment and technical skills, but also on the soft skills that will make students stand out as job candidates. In today’s labor market, being able to do the job is just the first step. We need to prepare students to interact with others, contribute to inclusive workplaces, and become collaborators—whatever their industry or career goals. This book shows the way.
- Discover why social, emotional, and behavioral skills are so critical for workplace success
- Get ideas and insight for integrating soft skills into secondary, postsecondary, and vocational training programs
- Develop training programs that will improve collaboration and inclusivity in your workplace
- Prepare learners for the future of work by embracing the full range of job readiness skills
This book is ideal for secondary, postsecondary, and vocational educators and administrators, and it will also appeal to organizations looking to develop in-house talent.
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024
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Table of Contents
Cover
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Introduction
1 The Jobs Landscape Is Changing
Change Is the Only Constant
The Pandemic and Everything After
Understanding the Future of Work
Who Does the Work
How the Work Is Done
Giving Students the Advantage
2 The Connection between Education and Employment
The Bridge between Secondary Education and Employment
Challenges and Barriers
Sage on the Stage, Guide on the Side
Evolving Mindsets
The Importance of Equity in Education
A Sense of Belonging
Embedding Employability into the Curriculum
Guaranteed Work Experience
3 Two Frameworks for Understanding Social‐Emotional Skills
SEL in the Jobs‐Training Landscape
What Is Social and Emotional Learning?
Which SEL Skills Need to Be Taught?
The CASEL 5: Core SEL Competencies
Durable Skills Framework
What Are Durable Skills?
Closing Thoughts on Social and Emotional Learning
4 Does Teaching Social‐Emotional Learning Work?
Emotional Intelligence and Academic Achievement
Links between Moral Reasoning and Academic Performance
School‐Wide SEL Programming's Impact on Academic Performance
School‐Wide SEL Programming's beyond Academic Achievement
Characteristics of Successful SEL Programs
Longevity of Impacts from SEL Interventions
Emotional Intelligence and Job Performance
The Case for SEL: A Summary
5 Evaluating Social‐Emotional Learning Needs, Activities, and Outcomes
Start with the End in Mind
What Does Formative Evaluation Involve?
Eight Steps to Support the Formative Evaluation Process
What Does Process Evaluation Involve?
Exploring the Kirkpatrick Model
What Does End‐of‐Program Evaluation Involve?
Best Practices in Experimental Design
How Do We Robustly Measure SEL?
Ethics
6 Overcoming Student‐Specific Employability Challenges
Increasing Exposure and Igniting Interest
Increasing Social Capital
Identifying and Overcoming Pressures
Identifying Student Strengths
Cultivating a Sense of Belonging
Challenges beyond the Educator's Reach
7 Establishing Common Language for an Employability‐ Driven Classroom Culture
Common Language for Career‐Focused Competencies
Common Language for a Culture of Learning and Teaching
8 Classroom Strategies to Increase Employability
Three Strategies for Creating a Supportive Culture
Put Yourself in the Shoes of a Recruiter and Employer
Celebrate Failures
Role Plays and Case Studies
Bring In the Learning and Take Out the Learning
Embrace AI in Your Teaching Practice
Micro‐Moments for Increased Career Awareness
9 Developing Curriculum Where Employment Comes First
The Employability‐Focused Curriculum Design Process
Employment at the Center of Design
A Note on Design Thinking
Conclusion
There Is Power in Community
Start Somewhere, and Start Small
Everything Begins with Intention
Go Forward
Resource Guide
References
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
Index
End User License Agreement
List of Illustrations
Chapter 1
Figure 1.1 Fastest growing versus fastest declining jobs.
Figure 1.2 The Future of Work.
Figure 1.3 Top 10 skills of 2023.
Chapter 2
Figure 2.1 Student and teacher barriers regarding employability.
Figure 2.2 Productive mindsets and practices.
Chapter 3
Figure 3.1 The CASEL Wheel.
Figure 3.2 Social and emotional competencies and related skills as defined b...
Figure 3.3 Durable Skills 1–5: dimensions, definitions, and examples.
Figure 3.4 Durable Skills 6–10: dimensions, definitions, and examples.
Figure 3.5 The Valley of Disappointment.
Chapter 5
Figure 5.1 A summary of evaluation design types.
Chapter 6
Figure 6.1 Survey results: rationale for parent influence on career decision...
Chapter 7
Figure 7.1 NACE's competencies for a career‐ready workforce: definitions.
Figure 7.2 Culture of learning core behaviors. The organization is Generatio...
Figure 7.3 Culture of belonging core behaviors. The organization is Generati...
Figure 7.4 Career readiness. The organization is Generation: You Employed.
Figure 7.5 Career readiness competency: student‐centered rubric sample. The ...
Chapter 8
Figure 8.1 Role‐play protocol example: in‐person format.
Figure 8.2 Role‐play protocol example: online format.
Figure 8.3 Role‐play framing content example. The organization is Generation...
Figure 8.4 Role‐play scenario example. The organization is Generation: You E...
Figure 8.5 Generation example: case study protocol. The organization is Gene...
Figure 8.6 Generation example: case study. The organization is Generation: Y...
Chapter 9
Figure 9.1 Key job activities for front desk agent, abridged. The organizati...
Figure 9.2 Sample breakdown moment: front desk agent. The organization is Ge...
Figure 9.3 Sample assessment framework.
Figure 9.4 Generation's seven‐step methodology. The organization is Generati...
Guide
Cover Page
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Table of Contents
Begin Reading
Conclusion
Resource Guide
References
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
Index
Wiley End User License Agreement
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Shift Teaching Forward
Advancing Career Skills to Prepare Tomorrow's Workforce
Kelly Cassarowith Dana Lee
Copyright © 2024 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.
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Cover Design: Paul McCarthy
Cover Art: © Getty Images | Pepifoto
This book is dedicated to my grandfather Vincenzo (James) Pesce who always taught us to find a career you love, no matter what. He didn't believe that one job was “better” than another. He believed that “you” were the ingredient that mattered. If you worked as hard as you could and strived to achieve at high levels, you could find true fulfillment in life and earn a living to support your family.
He likely felt this way because after he served in World War II, he wanted, with all his heart, to take advantage of the GI Bill and become a teacher. However, he felt he couldn't go to school because he needed to support his non‐English speaking immigrant parents. He instead “apprenticed” for free until he was good enough to be hired as a welder at a Pittsburgh ship building company and, over time, became a foreman at the same company, leading a team of over 100.
He taught me that education and hard work can change your life. And it has for me.
Thanks, Pap.
Introduction
Even as a child, I knew teaching was the most important job on Earth. At age five, I declared that I was going to be a teacher. I never wavered.
As I continued my education, my belief in the power of education to change lives only strengthened. I have found joy and both personal and professional progress through the skills and knowledge that education offered to me: escaping to another place with a good book, overcoming a lack of confidence by learning to crisply defend an argument, building community by working together with peers to accomplish a goal, and opening doors to global travel through my work in supporting career trainings around the world.
Everyone on Earth deserves meaningful education and the transformative impact it has on one's life. As well, everyone on Earth deserves the dignity and security that come from sustaining, satisfying employment. The link between the two is solid—even as the landscape of career opportunities shifts before our eyes, ever more quickly as the speed of technological advancement refuses to slow down. Demand for some of the 20th century's most steady, reliable jobs continues to fizzle out while many of today's in‐demand jobs didn't even exist when I was in school.
The most seasoned educators may find it daunting to connect educational experiences of today with the unknown, often mysterious job and career marketplace of tomorrow. No one has a crystal ball. Yet, educators and trainers must design learning experiences as if they do. This is no small feat, but it can be done.
After all, excellent educators have made the impossible possible for ages. The current moment is no different. Some jobs of the future may not yet exist, but educators and trainers can still make an incredible impact right now on their learners' future employability. Educators and trainers understand the value of education and want doors of opportunity flung wide open for students, especially in our rapidly changing post‐pandemic world. And this means they'll do everything they can to see around corners and guide their learners toward successful careers—both with new strategies and with traditional, tried‐and‐true methods applied in new ways.
That is what Shift Teaching Forward is all about—equipping educators and trainers with the rationale and know‐how to guide their practice so they can better prepare learners for the world of work in which they'll one day thrive.
Shift Teaching Forward offers practical strategies to bridge the gap between education and employment. This book is intended for all educators and trainers who support learners in preparing for a career: teachers, designers, administrators, and nonprofit leaders within a variety of settings, including high schools, vocational schools, community‐based programs, colleges, universities, and corporations.
My teaching journey has spanned early childhood to adult education. The lessons I have learned through those varied experiences throughout the years have had me continuously saying, “I wish I had known that when I was in the classroom.” My first teaching position in the South Bronx, New York, was in a third‐grade classroom with students from Ghana and Gambia, and some did not yet speak English fluently. While we did read amazing books together and learn about history, art, and geography, there was a laser focus on standardized tests; any discussions about the future stopped at high school graduation/college admissions. While the educators sometimes had cross‐grade professional development, the pressure and intensity were on meeting urgent, tested curricular requirements. The immediate application of learnings from other grade levels was not clear. The mandate to cover standards for third grade was, however, abundantly clear.
I continued as a classroom teacher for seven years and added kindergarten and first‐grade teaching to my résumé. I fell in love with teaching and, at the same time, realized the cruel realities facing educators in the United States. I felt compelled to experience other roles within the sector and aimed to position myself to influence change. After classroom teaching, I've held positions ranging from leading professional development for a network of schools, leading recruitment of teachers, driving the overall academic program, creating curriculum for adult education, and leading a global team of educators in pursuit of developing programs and methodologies to support adults into meaningful employment that can change their lives.
Although I have held many roles within the field of education, the first seven years in the classroom were certainly the most challenging. I gave my all to improving my craft to better serve my students. I poured a lot into my students and left little for myself. I know you do the same. I know these are the contexts you bring with you when reading a book like this. You're hungry for ideas, strategies, and inspiration, and you need to be able to bring all that into your own classroom, training center, or virtual video conference. You know the world is changing, and your learners need to be ready for whatever comes next. That doesn't change the reality in which you do your work, day in and day out.
The challenges I faced—the same that I see so many of my peers, friends, and family continue to face—only strengthened my resolve to improve others' lives, especially the lives of teachers. I often consider a speech from Pulitzer Prize winner Anna Quindlen, who's had a long and rewarding career as an author. She noted, “Teachers are the second most powerful group of people in your life. A teacher said to me, ‘You are a writer’ in a way that was undeniable, and it shaped my entire future.” If you are holding this book (thank you!), chances are you hold the same awesome power as that teacher held for Ms. Quindlen—the power to support a student in shaping their life's trajectory. You have the power to ensure your teaching is transformational instead of transactional. You have the power to form partnerships with the community, seize opportunities, and foster the curiosities and talents of students. You have the power to prepare them for a thriving career—even if neither you, nor them, has any idea what shape that career will take.
You have the power to make a powerful mindset shift away from what has long been known and established—that college prep is the core role of K–12 learning, and that the best employment pathways involve predictable and well‐trodden paths. This shift requires opening your mind to the role of career preparation no matter the context in which you teach, embracing the integration of employability and social‐emotional learning skills in daily classroom life, and choosing optimism in the face of incredible uncertainty and technological change. It's a big shift, especially when so much of your role already requires you to go above and beyond any job description in print. Yet it's a needed shift that will bring joy and marketable skills to your learners.
Over the past seven years, I've had the great privilege of traveling the world to see adult training in action. The settings have ranged from employer‐embedded training programs, massive government training initiatives, and smaller, community‐based initiatives. I've sat alongside workers, shoulder‐to‐shoulder, and witnessed a variety of professions in action, including stitching‐machine operators in Pakistan, construction helpers in Texas, and disability support workers in Australia. These hands‐on experiences have offered me an understanding of the day in and day out of many professions, including the common threads that run through roles that seemingly would not have much in common. I have spoken to countless employers about what makes a high‐performing employee and have been able to pull out trends applicable across sectors. I am also fortunate that through these varied experiences, I have learned from the most incredible colleagues. Through these experiences, I've collected learnings and strategies to support educators in the incredible responsibility of preparing learners to thrive in their careers and, more broadly, their lives.
My experiences have given me insights into what students need from their education in order to succeed in our rapidly changing workplace. I have witnessed our current education system transforming student lives, but I have also observed and studied the gaps between what our students' current education offers them and what they need to thrive in the workplace. In 2018, Ralph Wolff and Melanie Booth, then both senior leaders of The Quality Assurance Commons for Higher and Postsecondary Education, asserted how “Employer surveys consistently reveal that more than disciplinary knowledge and skills is needed to be successful in today's workplace—regardless of the field, level of education, or level of work” and that “what have traditionally been called ‘soft skills’ have in fact become essential employability qualities” (Wolff & Booth, 2017, p. 52). In other words, you'll need more than technical skills to land that new job, and the “soft skills” that once were icing on the cake are now undeniably indispensable.
This should give trainers and educators hope. A crystal ball isn't necessary if the actual technical skills needed to succeed are only part of the equation. From my early days teaching social‐emotional skills in elementary school to my recent work teaching the same skills to adults, I've seen firsthand how these valuable life skills can be appropriately taught and reinforced to give learners an incredible advantage toward career and life success.
In this book, we'll dive into what these future‐proof skills are, their demonstrated impact, how to evaluate programming that supports them, and how to integrate these skills and the world of work into your classroom or training center. We'll do this after evaluating the current landscape—and its expected changes—as well as the evolving role of education in preparation for these changes.
There will be naysayers who see the focus on non‐technical aspects of career readiness as a distraction at best or waste of time at worst. This can easily be exacerbated by a school or program's intense focus on external‐mandated academic standards or standardized testing. In a training setting outside of the K–12 system, it can be similarly easy to defer to technical skills first. I've often heard from expert and well‐intentioned program coordinators, “We don't have time for that soft stuff—there's too much actual skills content we need to do first.”
As real as these attitudes and requirements are, and as aggressive as course syllabi and training curricula can be, educators and trainers must not turn a blind eye to the growing movement and body of research showing just how essential the “soft stuff” is. The ever‐shifting workplace and our societal understanding of “work” is different now than it was even 10 years ago. Sticking with just one profession, or even one company, throughout your entire career is no longer common. Even while writing this book, generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) had a breakthrough, bringing even more attention to technology's disruptive innovations in the workplace.
Throughout this book, we will examine the challenges and roadblocks faced by students when determining their career path, as well as challenges faced by the teachers who act as shepherds along their journey. You will have an opportunity to dig into strategies and approaches that work to alleviate these challenges. With so much changing, educators who equip their students with the enduring knowledge, skills, and aptitudes that foster success no matter the circumstances will have tremendous impact on the next generation of job seekers. This book will give you the head start you need to embrace this shift and get started on the work.
First, I will establish a foundational understanding of how the workplace is evolving and why a shift is necessary in how we prepare learners. Then, we'll look at the core knowledge, skills, and aptitudes that give students a universal advantage even for roles that don't yet exist. Finally, we'll dig into resources and strategies to evaluate program effectiveness, bring the world of work into your classroom, and bridge the gap between education and successful employment. Each chapter ends with reflection questions and intentions to support application to your own context.
Throughout the book, “Spotlight Stories” will highlight strategies in action across various teaching contexts to help make connections to your own professional situation. Because this work is deeply personal to me, I'll also share my own experiences in sections noted as “From the Personal Archive.” Through these anecdotes and vignettes, I hope to breathe additional life into the experiences, research, and shifts covered throughout the book.
Unfortunately, many people in our society do not respect and honor teachers and their unique and distinct abilities. It seems too often that those who've never taught are the ones with the loudest advice. That's one reason why I wrote this book as a top‐up to the incredible work already being done by educators on the ground, closest to the learners—the ones who live the work every day. I have been where you are and I know how time consuming it is to teach full time, without a single break through the day, all while taking care of mounting personal responsibilities outside of work. To then try to stay up to date with Future of Work research, the jobs landscape, and in‐demand career skills feels like yet another unfair expectation.
As my career evolved, I kept thinking that I was constantly learning things I wished I'd known as a classroom teacher. I saw a gap for teachers and trainers, and I hope this book will help fill this gap—that through it, educators continue to serve as sage advocates for learners with a sharper eye toward preparing for future employment. I want this book to save you the time of synthesizing this for yourself. I aim to provide research‐backed context, heartfelt encouragement, and actionable ideas to shift teaching forward toward meaningful support of student career paths. If any teacher or trainer feels better equipped, through their own actions and choices, to create lifelong learners who are ready to nourish careers that are aligned to their skills and interests, I'll count this text a success.
When you apply these comprehensive principles and strategies, you will help your students achieve personal fulfillment. As with any worthwhile endeavor, transforming your approach and best practices will take time. You'll need to do the work of applying the learnings to your context. However, it will be worthwhile work.
I have faced challenges in my career. Maybe you can relate to some—loads of student debt, limited resources with which to engage learners, the negative social stigma sometimes attributed to George Bernard Shaw that, “those who can't do, teach.” Yet, to this day, I wake up with a fire to keep going and tackle the newest challenges. I want others to nurture that same fire in educators and trainers. I want to support them so that they can feel the satisfaction that comes from reaching their personal and professional goals. I want to partner with others who are called to make sure that today's learners are ready for the dawn that's breaking tomorrow.
Educators, trainers, administrators, leaders—know that I see you. I see you up late working, spending your own hard‐earned money on your classroom or training program, working tirelessly for your students. Let me help you move forward to scalable and enduring results. It is my sincere hope that through my varied educational experiences, knowledge of the Future of Work across professional sectors, and understanding of cutting‐edge educational practices, you will be able to tweak, augment, and supplement your practice to truly shift your teaching forward.
Reflections and Intentions
Consider your own path to identifying a career. What came easily to you? What roadblocks did you overcome? What supports did you have?
How does your current educational or training program consider the big picture of the lifelong learning and career journey?
Think about one student who faces big challenges identifying or navigating their career path; internally dedicate the time you will spend working through this book to them and their journey.
1The Jobs Landscape Is Changing
“Employers estimate that 44% of workers' skills will be disrupted in the next five years. Cognitive skills are reported to be growing importance most quickly, reflecting the increasing importance of complex problem‐solving in the workplace.”
—“The Future of Jobs Report 2023” by the World Economic Forum
I must admit—it feels quite daunting to hear people talk about the “Future of Work.” Teachers feel the weight of their students' unknowable futures every time someone quips, “It will be here before you know it,” or “It'll be wildly different than anything we've ever seen before!” “Future of Work” workshops try to lure teachers in with promises of being let into the secrets, although sometimes these promises lack novelty, substance, or both. Educators are left with a riddle to solve—here's an unknown timeline with unknown characteristics, and it's up to you. Better get your students ready!
No one was referring to this phenomenon as the “Future of Work” when I was little, but I remember being inundated with promises of the future and how it would be the total opposite of the present day. I grew up watching reruns of The Jetsons—a classic cartoon from the 1960s about a family living in the distant future, enjoying the benefits promised by technological advancement. Recently, I learned that George Jetson's birthday was July 31, 2022. According to the show, flying cars, robot maids, and motorized “slidewalks” were just around the corner, ready to transform our daily lives. While the world is still waiting for those innovations to become everyday items, there have been both incremental and monumental shifts that have made and will continue to make an impact, shifts that we need to be ready for today and tomorrow.
So, what are these shifts? What can we, as educators, do now so that our students are not left behind? How can we make the classroom look more like the world our students will enter? What are the skills that artificial intelligence (AI) and robots cannot perform that our students can? How can we teach the skills that employers are already asking for now (let alone for the future)?
To answer these questions and myriad others, let's first ground our thinking in recent workplace trends and changes before looking to the future.
Change Is the Only Constant
Just a casual exploration into the text‐generating world of ChatGPT is enough to send your imagination running. ChatGPT, if you have yet to explore it, is an AI chatbot developed by OpenAI. It allows you to have human‐like conversations, including generated suggestions, ideas, and even original compositions. If computers can write poetry, give relationship advice, and program their own Java code, what will be left for us humans to do? This application of AI might not be a robot maid, but it does feel like George Jetson would know exactly how to respond to it.
But technological advancements like this are at once cutting edge and a tale as old as time. The technology itself is new, but humans living through a season of disruptive innovation is not. While sustaining innovation improves existing models, machines, and systems, disruptive innovation changes the entire situation. Consider agricultural practices before the advent of modern machines. Quite likely, farmers were constantly looking for unbreakable tools, or better timelines for sowing seed and harvesting plants. Stronger plows, deeper water wells, birthing more children to secure future farmhands—these enhancements all helped increase outcomes … marginally. Then came modern machinery. The cotton gin, the mechanical reaper, and tractors with combustion engines are just a few of the disruptive innovations that dramatically changed the face of modern farming.
Where sustaining innovations improve on ways of doing and being that are familiar and comfortable, disruptive innovations can feel like you're swimming in a whole new ocean, unsure which way is up.
The good news is disruptive innovation isn't new. Collectively, our ancestors endured disruption after disruption to bring each of us to the present moment.
There was a time when humans subsisted as hunters and gathers. Then came agriculture.
There was a time when most humans lived, worked, and died on farms. Then came industrialization.
There was a time when transportation was powered by animals alone. Then came planes, trains, and automobiles.
There was a time when women had precious few options for work outside their home. Then came the late‐20th century.
I don't share this to diminish the tremendous and disruptive changes we're living through today. To be sure, we are living through interesting times, and the unknowns are many. I share this here to remind myself and others that the human race has adapted before, and we'll do it again. And, our ability to demonstrate adaptability and resilience during times of change is worth more than half the battle.
In fact, we've already been adapting as the world of work has been actively evolving in our lifetimes. Even the most veteran of educators still teaching today likely has little memory of life before there were computers in every school—a reality that would have been unthinkable to educators 10 or 20 years more senior. When we shift our default reaction to disruptive innovation away from fear and anxiety and toward curiosity and optimism, new possibilities can emerge that can change lives for the better.
Even before the impact of the global pandemic that began in 2020, technological revolution was unfolding in the labor market before our eyes.
Manufacturing jobs have steadily declined since the early 1980s. Dropping from a peak of 19.4 million jobs in 1979, a mere 11.5 million such jobs were on record in early 2010. This coincides with a drop in manufacturing's share of the overall workforce. Where almost a third (32.1%) of American workers were in the manufacturing sector in 1953, only 8.5% still are today. Despite output growing due to technological advancements, the decreased opportunities in this type of work can be felt acutely by job hunters looking for entry level options (DeSilver,
2020
).
In the 1970s, the word processor changed offices everywhere. Its successor, the personal computer, wasn't far behind in the 1980s. As the affordability of computers improved in the decades that followed, modern computing was at everyone's fingertips. Offices gladly gave up manual edits on typewritten pages and bulky filing cabinets filled with documents in need of meticulous organization.
The internet changed everything. From commerce to research to social connections, the internet is one of most disruptive innovations in recent history. It has enabled workers to work remotely and virtually, creating distributed, even global, teams and organizations that could not have existed this easily in the 20th century. The number of workers who were able to work from home increased by 173% between 2003 and 2018—well before the pandemic upended so many lives (Global Workplace Analytics, n.d.).
Technology has never stopped advancing; we should expect the rest of our lives to be no different. Some jobs will fade away, some will grow, and some will emerge brand‐new to us all. Figure 1.1 shows which roles are expected to trend up and down in the coming years.
From Figure 1.1, we see job growth on the left fueled by the same disruptive technologies that are driving decline in the roles to the right. As an educator, looking at this information can help us in a variety of ways, such as handing an interested student a book or website on the fast‐growing topics or inviting community members within the roles or sector into the classroom. You will find out about more strategies within this book and also some of the employability or 21st‐century skills that are essential in virtually any workplace.
Figure 1.1 Fastest growing versus fastest declining jobs.
Source: World Economic Forum.
The Pandemic and Everything After
No conversation about the changing jobs landscape is complete with acknowledging the profound impact of the Covid‐19 global pandemic. The massive disruption to daily life was a new and utterly unwelcome experience for millions of people worldwide, let alone the pain and suffering endured by those who lost loved ones or continue to endure the virus's physical effects.
Layoffs abounded, and restructuring and reorganizations did, too. How we did our work shifted, as did who did the work.
Industries everywhere shifted to remote work. Employees and teams met goals and stayed connected via video conferences, messaging apps, and collaborative documents. In some industries and companies, this proved viable in the long term; employees now remain either fully remote or working in a hybrid situation (some days in the office, some days at home). Some industries proved how critically important it was to be in person for work—K–12 education leading the list.
The need to stay physically distant from each other while conducting core functions of life accelerated existing trends toward automation. Banks, grocery stores, entertainment venues, and more all adapted to increase safety and keep doors open.
Women were disproportionately harmed by the pandemic's impact on the economy and jobs market. Many women were forced to stay home with children whose schooling happened remotely, and some of those women have not yet returned to the workforce—despite schools resuming (mostly) normal functions. Regarding job loss between February 2020 and February 2022, women account for 68.5% of that statistic (National Women's Law Center, 2022).
We're still not out of the woods. Collectively, social scientists and economists will continue to investigate and analyze the pandemic's impact on our economies for decades. In the meantime, educators and trainers will continue to do the work of preparing flexible, adaptable, and desirable talent for the workforce of tomorrow.
Understanding the Future of Work
Ask three professional peers to define the Future of Work, and you'll likely get three different answers. And that's okay. For our purposes together, I define the Future of Work as follows:
The Future of Work refers to the changes we expect to see in the global workforce in upcoming years—changes like how people work, where they work, and, of course, the work itself. It considers current and expected advancements in technology, in globalization, and in what we expect from employees and employers. It acknowledges the disruptions we anticipate from artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, digitization, and automation; it also acknowledges the pressing need to rethink how we prepare people for employment and transform education systems to respond to rapid change.
It is impossible for educators to have a deep understanding of all factors influencing the Future of Work—just think about all job sectors our students may one day pursue! A deep understanding of common human skills that empower a student to thrive, however, is essential: resilience, adaptability, problem solving, adaptive communication, and judgment, for example, are indispensable in the ever‐changing workplace of today and tomorrow.
Jamie Casap, Google's Educational Evangelist, works with school districts and other educational organizations to leverage technology to drive innovation for learning. He notes that education needs to be “Preparing students for jobs that don't exist and to use technologies, sciences, and methods that we haven't even discovered yet, to solve problems that we haven't identified” (Gaulden & Gottlieb, 2017). That's a tall order—perhaps impossible—if it weren't for the essential human skills that run constant through that intense list of unknowns.
Who does the work
How the work is done
When and where the work is done
Full‐time/part‐time employees
Crowdsourcing
Gig workers
AI
Robotics
Automation
Fluid work schedules
Remote workers
Collocated workspace
Figure 1.2 The Future of Work.
Source: “What is Meant by “the Future of Work”? SHRM, 2022, https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/hr-qa/pages/what-is-meant-by-the-future-of-work.aspx
Before tackling those essential human skills, let's aim to understand the elements involved in the Future of Work. Figure 1.2 uses simple language and straightforward concepts to help demystify the topic. Visualizations like this level the playing field and combat the feeling that only those who are expert in emerging technology and artificial intelligence can unlock career secrets for students. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), an organization whose publications and website have helped me much in navigating all things human resources through the years, has a helpful framework for considering the Future of Work (SHRM, 2022).
They categorize the Future of Work in three ways: (1) who does the work, (2) how the work is done, and (3) when and where the work is done. This framework is helpful when trying to understand something vague and unknown—like a particular role or industry that is of interest to a learner, educator, or trainer. Figure 1.2 outlines the three categories and the components each contains.
Breaking the Future of Work into these categories helps us think about the skills that students might need to be successful within these ways of working. It also can encourage us to verbalize these connections with students. For example, during the pandemic, many families felt the pain of children and teens taking classes online that were designed to be delivered in person. Endless screen time, decreased engagement, and general frustrations led to many unsatisfied learners and educators. But even as my own children stayed home and our family adapted to this form of school, I used this visual to remind myself that my kids were building muscles that could one day serve them well if they work remotely and need to manage fluid work schedules.
Who Does the Work
SHRM notes three categories to describe who does the work of the future: full‐time/part‐time employees, crowdsourcing, and gig workers. Some educators may be surprised to see employees categorized this way. They may see employment as a dichotomy that's either full time or part time, or perhaps salaried or hourly. Those differences still exist, but now, the expansion of crowdsourcing and gig workers cannot be ignored.
Gig workers may complete small, discrete tasks or bigger, more complex jobs. With crowdsourcing, companies can get inputs, data, or ideas from large groups of people who gather in one place virtually—for example, consider a traffic app that uses data from thousands of drivers to update traffic conditions in real time. Freelancers or gig workers complete a specific task or body of work, often known as deliverables, on a part‐time or full‐time, contractual basis.
A 2021 report by MBO Partners, an independent talent contracting firm, shared a surprising statistic. “The number of independent workers grew to over 51 million in 2021, an unprecedented 34% growth in a single year” (MBO Partners, 2021). The report explained some core reasons for the sharp increase: respondents referenced their need to supplement income, the scheduling flexibility that this arrangement brings, the inability to rely on full‐time job security, and the digital tools available to make remote work more accessible (MBO Partners, 2021). These drivers are no surprise to anyone who managed daily life during the pandemic and is currently living with inflation.
Moreover, according to a 2019 CNBC report, “Freelancers doing skilled services earn a median rate of $28 an hour, earning more per hour than 70% of workers in the overall U.S. economy” (Booth, 2019). More than half of freelancers say, “No amount of money would entice them to take a traditional job” (Booth, 2019). The trend toward freelancing is not going away anytime soon. Educators tasked with preparing young people for careers must understand what gig work is and how it can be a viable and appealing option.
According to Edelman Intelligence, 90 million Americans will be freelancing by 2028. Does 90 million seem like a lot? It should; it constitutes the majority of the American workforce (Stahl, 2022). As you can imagine, hiring freelancers on an as‐needed basis or even crowdsourcing work brings benefits to employers. By hiring talent this way, employers are only paying for the time needed to complete a project or task. They are not paying benefits or granting sick leave, and they can readily access a wide pool of individuals who are experts in a variety of discrete tasks. They do not need to find so many skills and capabilities in one person. According to Forbes, “Companies are increasingly thinking of work as project‐based rather than role‐based” (Lau, 2021). Of course, there are potential downsides like a lack of consistent team cohesion, company culture issues, missing institutional knowledge, and additional time needed for training, selecting, and onboarding each time a new project starts. Time will tell if the speculation around the volume of freelancers will come to fruition.
If the Future of Work is project‐based, what does this mean for our students? To start, it means that following their passions and interests can still be a viable path if they can situate themselves successfully for project‐based work. It means they can still win by being highly specialized in one area. It also means that they need a wide range of skills to find and maintain many clients and keep their finances in check without a singular, reliable paycheck from one employer.
Here are a few skills and mindsets students might need to develop over time to thrive as freelance, project‐based, gig workers:
Developing and maintaining the motivation to self‐start when no one is setting a schedule for them.
Working backwards from a deliverable to achieve a goal using backwards planning and execution skills.
Knowing themselves and being able to reflect and capitalize on their strengths—for example, do they work best in the morning or evening, need to set a daily goal to get the work done over time, and so on.
Time management skills—for example, planning mealtimes and breaks, self‐care, taking meetings, responding to emails, and so on.
Personal responsibility—for example, arriving to meetings on time, completing tasks, and so on.
Client‐facing communication skills.
