Home › Education › Resources for Schools › Professional Learning

Seven Skills Students Need for Their Future

Share

From the cover of Dr. Wagner's book, The Global Achievement Gap.
watch video

From the cover of Dr. Wagner's book, The Global Achievement Gap.

There are two major trends in the world that pose a fundamental challenge--and many opportunities--to our educational system. One is the world is shifting from an industrial economy to a knowledge economy. The other is the rising generation--brought up on the Internet--is very differently motivated to learn. 

These two forces, argues Dr. Tony Wagner, co-director of Harvard's Change Leadership Group, compel us to reconceptualize education in this country. In his thoughtful analysis of future industry needs and education readiness studies, Dr. Wagner has identified what he calls a "global achievement gap," which is the leap between what even our best schools are teaching, and the must-have skills of the future:

  • Critical thinking and problem-solving
  • Collaboration across networks and leading by influence
  • Agility and adaptability
  • Initiative and entrepreneurialism
  • Effective oral and written communication
  • Accessing and analyzing information
  • Curiosity and imagination

Dr. Wagner points out that in today’s digital age, the “Net generation” is, among other things, accustomed to instant gratification and use of the web for extending friendships, interest-driven, self-directed learning; and are constantly connected, creating, and multitasking in a multimedia world—everywhere except in school.

In order to motivate and teach this generation, the school system must be reinvented to be accountable for what matters most. That means to do the work--teaching, learning, and assessing--in new ways.

Students must acquire knowledge, but “we need to use content to teach core competencies,” he states.

To learn more about the seven skills, and how to reinvent the education system to prepare our graduates for the 21st century, please view the accompanying video and PowerPoint. This presentation is based on Dr. Wagner's book: From The Global Achievement Gap: Why Even Our Best Schools Don’t Teach The New Survival Skills Our Children Need—And What We Can Do About It (Basic Books, 2008). The program was made possible through the generous and visionary support of the MetLife Foundation.

Author: Heather Singmaster

Discussion question

At one point in his remarks, Dr. Wagner states that "we have no idea how to teach or assess these skills." It is difficult to do systemically, but good teachers exercise these skills in the classroom all the time. What are your approaches for student skill development? And how can we bring it to scale so all students can succeed in a global knowledge economy?

 

Angela Jarman | 01:22:12 11:30pm

We find these principles very important, and it comes with a requirement that the school and the teacher learn to "let go" and allow the student to reclaim some independence in the learning process! At Tree of Life International School, we are studying how students can be guided through a core curriculum, but still be afforded the liberty necessary to get engaged and involved. It seems we need to relax the focus on the weekly plan, and increase the focus on the student's acquisition and demonstration of skills. We're looking to the result, not the process.

anonymous | 11:01:10 01:09am
I enjoyed Tony Wagner's talk. I think that the AMI Montessori method actually encourages and supports all 7 of the skills Wagner speaks of in his talk. This is a genius curriculum that is based on careful observations of development in children, with the idea of encouraging independence, self-reliance, and inner-resilience, as well as creating a basis for children to work together communally in a peaceful way. www.amiusa.org
Mohan Arun L | 10:19:10 03:04am
Dr. Wagner states that "we have no idea how to teach or assess these skills." How about the idea of 'letting learners watch someone already possessing these skills, exercise these skills'. Per Dr. Wagner, learners are accustomed to interest-driven, self-directed learning, rather than goal-directed learning. So what happens if, teachers can act like students - 'showing them how to gain the knowledge, using resources made available, from someone who possesses the knowledge already', rather than attempting to teach such knowledge.
Students | 02:23:10 09:23pm
It's right that we need to reform our schoolsystem. These 7 skills are very important not only for students, its important for all people in ouradays!
Husna Ahmed | 10:14:09 12:07pm
I agree with Dr. Wagner's seven survival skills. In today's day and age, communication is lacking amongst our children. In order to be effective in the global market, our young minds should be taught thinking skills along with speaking skills. Thinking skills will help students to effectively speak to teachers, peers and parents. While growing up I was taught that thinking keeps us from getting into trouble. This can lead to student responsibility for his/her learning. I also strongly agree with Dr. Wagner that not only thinking and speaking skills are vital but written communication as well. A good writer is able to communicate his or her thoughts on paper. Therefore, to prepare a student for the future, I feel that communication skills (thinking, speaking and writing skills) must be taught at an early age.

Post new comment

Your comments are welcome, please adhere to our guidelines

Be respectful. Personal attacks will not be tolerated; nor will profane, abusive or threatening posts.

Keep it short (150 words or less), Stay on topic.

Asia Society reserves the right to moderate all comments and remove or edit for guideline violations. Thank you.

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Type the characters you see in this picture. (verify using audio)
Type the characters you see in the picture above; if you can't read them, submit the form and a new image will be generated. Not case sensitive.